Personal learning records : supporting metacognition cycles to improve the learning of programming

This paper describes the development and the investigation of the use of Personal Learning Records (PLR) to support the metacognition cycles. Literature provides evidence that metacognition skills are highly correlated to success in studies, especially for tasks that have a high cognitive load like computer programming and problem solving. PLR aims to support the reflection part of metacognition cycles by means of a structured self-assessment. It does so by providing friendly rubrics to three levels of proficiency (entry, intermediate, and target). The goal is to assist students in improving their metacognitive knowledge, facilitate the development of their metacognition skills and, consequently, improve their performance in a computer programming course. The system was tested empirically using the Communicability Evaluation Method and the results indicate some key parts to be improved.