2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering students need to develop lifelong learning skills (ABET 7) so that they can be self-directed learners in the workplace. Self-directed learners can and do employ metacognitive regulation strategies (MRSs; i.e., monitoring, evaluating, and planning). These skills need to be developed through intentional practice. Open-ended reflection assignments that ask students to critical think about their learning processes can provide that practice. While these assignments have the potential to prompt students to identify learning difficulties, evaluate their strategies, and connect their learning experiences to build their learning self-awareness, educators need to integrate and support reflection with intentionality. Successfully embedding reflection in engineering coursework is challenging for new engineering educators and educators new to reflection. Examples of the evolution of reflection implementation in engineering courses are needed to unpack the challenges and successes of successive implementations by educators in terms of students’ demonstrated metacognitive abilities.

This study had two purposes. The first purpose was to examine change in the MRSs that engineering students used in reflections across two semesters of instruction. The second purpose was to examine whether there were differences in students’ employment of the MRSs when the educators were new to reflection and in their second year of reflection implementation and to relate these findings to the details of the implementation in each semester.

This study took place at a large midwestern university in two required engineering courses taught in sequence. Two cohorts of students participated in multiple written reflections associated with their technical engineering coursework. Cohort 1 was taught by two instructors new to reflection. Cohort 2 was taught by the same instructors in their second year of implementing reflection. Two reflections from each of the four course offerings were qualitatively coded using an a priori theory-based scheme (rubric) for assessing students’ written reflections for engagement in the MRSs monitoring, evaluating, and planning. Comparisons were made (1) within cohort to detect changes in MRSs use across two semesters of written reflections and (2) between cohorts to detect differences that can be related to changes in instruction.

For each cohort, students’ MRSs levels slightly increased across the two semesters, though Cohort 1 students’ written reflections lacked specific details necessary for deep metacognitive regulation even by the end of the second semester. There were differences between the cohorts including greater detail across the MRSs for Cohort 2. Differences in employment of specific elements of the strategies will be discussed.

From this study, it was evident that for an educator’s initial experience with reflection, one may expect students’ engagement in the metacognitive regulation strategies to be low. With adjustments in a second course offering, students’ engagement increased. From this work, new educators and those new to reflection can see how reflection in the engineering classroom may unfold and how greater experience with implementing reflections can make inroads into developing students’ self-directed lifelong learning abilities. Recommendations for first- and second-time reflection implementation will be shared with an eye towards ultimately expanding metacognitive development in the engineering curriculum.