When you see a building going up on a vacant lot, it seems to take an age before any progress is made. But it is that very stage that you can’t afford to rush, that you really want to take a long time because it is the foundation which will determine the future success of the building. A year on from the initial Google Certified Innovator Academy I am still in the foundation building phase of the project. Am I not as far as expected by this point? Sure. Have I learned a lot more than expected by this point? No doubt.
I have no doubt that the ‘walls’, ‘cladding’ and ‘decor’ of my project will go up quickly when the time is right; once I have secured funding to pay for the coding then it’s simply a matter of following detailed plans and iterating quickly with the surface-level stuff. But I am so passionate about what I am trying to achieve, namely the development of metacognition and self-regulation of our learners, that I don’t want to rush that point lest all the pretty flashy stuff crumble under weak foundations. I have read and learned a great deal about the complexities of what is already an abstract concept; how the cognitive and affective domains overlap is indeed a place where there is a lot left to be mapped. But there are some concrete ideas that cannot be disputed - that metacognition can be explicitly taught to the benefit of all students - and the justification basis has goes from strength to strength. So whilst I continue to research, learn, and iterate with prototypes, so does my foundation get broader, stronger, and more refined.
I look forward to entering the next chapter of my project in which I engage the outcomes and networks from my Masters Degree in this very topic, to bring the project to the students. Bring on 2019!