This study describes the relationship between the instructor's feedback and students' metacognitive processes in an online course on democracy and multiculturalism, which was taught as part of a teacher education program. 700 postings, written by 68 students, were content analyzed along with 66 postings by the instructor, using tools designed for that purpose. A strong positive correlation was found between the instructor's responses and students' metacognitive thinking demonstrating the importance of instructor's feedback in helping to produce an environment in which students would experience learning through reflective and metacognitive processes. Our study highlights the unique potential of online courses coupled with instructor's scaffolding to promote and study students’ metacognitive reflections. Implications for the design of teacher education programs are also discussed.

Download article as PDF

Roni Reingold is at the Achva- College of Teacher Education, Israel and is Head of Teacher Accreditation Program in Civic Education at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Dr. Reingold’s research interests are in multicultural education, teacher education, and online learning. Dr. Reingold may be contacted at reingold@netvision.net.il.

Rikki Rimor is at the Open University of Isreal.  Dr. Rimor’s research focuses on construction of knowledge in technological learning environments and teachers' scaffolding in online learning environment. Currently, she is a member of Chais Center for Integration of Technology in Education and can be contacted at rimor@macam.ac.il.

Anat Kalay graduated from the Master’s program at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She can be contacted at anat_kalay@hotmail.com.