Model of metacognition in lifelong e-learning

Metacognition can be defined as “…thinking about thinking” or “…beliefs about beliefs” (Antaki and Lewis, 1986).The research aim of this thesis was to: 1) Discuss the philosophical foundations of knowledge, cognition and metacognition. 2) Put forward example learning and e-learning theories and models and discuss these with reference to Reeves’ (1997) original model of WWW based learning. 3) Provide a ‘focus beam’ of analysis of metacognition and lifelong e-learning. 4) Analyse the extended literature review and evaluate and discuss its potential contributions (and limitations) with reference to an extended and adapted version of Reeves’ (1997) model. 5) Analyse the empirical data and evaluate and discuss its potential contributions (and limitations) with reference an extended and adapted version of Reeves’ (1997) model.The ADAPT project consisted of forty learners, twenty six male and fourteen female, aged between eighteen and sixty years. The Sitec Training Ltd and Women’s Action Forum (WAF) subjects consisted of nine learners, of which four were male and five were female, aged between the ages of eighteen and sixty. The work of this thesis was built upon a research process of the literature and empirical data gathered from the ADAPT project (first) that highlighted the potential importance of metacognition within lifelong e-learning. This led to the additional empirical research from Sitec Training Ltd (second) and the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) (third) and an extended literature review. As a result of these works, the contribution of this thesis has put forward an extended and adapted version of Reeves’ (1997) model that attempts to re-address the current absence of lifelong, cyclical and flexible aspects of metacognitive processes within lifelong e-learning. This thesis has also put forward a skeletal practical model for the delivery of lifelong distance learning