Metacognitive awareness: your most important study skill

Before coming to Stanford almost two and a half years ago, I spent quite a few years in a high school setting, working directly with students teaching various components of executive functioning skills and time management, but also meta-cognitive aspects of self-awareness such as understanding how one’s reading fluency impacted the amount of time necessary for reading, how note-taking during lectures was essential to the test preparation cycle, etc. Teaching metacognitive awareness is riveting to me, especially here at Stanford, as I am always so impressed by our students, who bring such passion and eagerness in their self-study and are “all in” for the educational journey ahead.

This summer, the Learning Lab team had the opportunity to collaborate with Brandi Pretlow and our Leland Scholars Program (LSP), teaching two workshops to ninety students. Due to Covid, my team and I were two years removed from being in a lecture hall this large, so I was especially grateful for the positivity and willingness of students to engage so enthusiastically. Many students have used the resources that they were shown over the two days, including Dr. Dan Schwartz’s, The ABC’s of How We Learn and pages from our own Learning Library . They have also taken the LASSI (Learning and Study Strategies Inventory) screener and used the accompanying worksheets to set goals for themselves over their first quarter. In addition, LSP students scheduled appointments with our Learning Specialist team to understand their unique learning profiles further, gathering more strategies to add to their learning arsenal.

We hope to help you add to your arsenal, too – please check our revamped website or select a Drop-In Session. Lastly, this past summer, we enhanced the Learning Lab YouTube channel and podcast, The Filament, and readied for Fall gatherings of our student groups: a student partnership opportunity called Peer Engagement Network (PEN), ADHD Connections, Fail Better for addressing academic stressors with self compassion, Revise and Resubmit for graduate students writing dissertations, Power Hour and Focus Fridays for accountable work sessions, and a new reflective practice group, Gently Up the Stream (GUTS). We are eager to share these resources with you!

As we connect through our new student orientation events this month, please know how much we love working with students and our partners throughout the University. It is such a joy to be back this Fall, and because many previous restrictions are now lifted, we can meet our colleagues in person for the first time. We hope that students will join us between 11:00-2:00 for Focus Fridays (no registration necessary!) here in the Student Services Building, but if you still prefer Zoom meetings, we are here for that too. Connection is what it is about. There is nothing as meaningful to us as that, and we eagerly look forward to connecting with you all over the next year.