Understanding students’ metacognition to support learning of biomedical science

Presented by Dr Kay Colthorpe, Senior Lecturer, School of Biomedical Sciences

Kay Colthorpe is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Teaching Focused Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences at UQ. She was recently awarded the 2018 UQ Award for Teaching Excellence. Her teaching is underpinned by the conviction that high impact learning experiences occur when students develop a deep understanding of their knowledge and learning processes. She uses an evidence-based approach to design innovative curricula, engaging inquiry-based laboratory classes and inventive assessment tasks to create an effective learning environment and support student learning. An example of this is the novel ‘meta-learning’ assessment tasks. These tasks provide students with opportunities and prompts to critically reflect on both their understanding and learning behaviours, helping them to develop into highly self-reflective and independent learners. Kay is also a prolific pedagogic researcher, focusing on assessment, feedback, and student metacognition in the sciences. She leads the Biomedical Education Research Group, has supervised 15 honours and 3 PhD students, and has published widely on metacognition of learning, scientific skill development and blended learning.