Metacognitive instructors are aware of what they are doing and why. Before each lesson, they have explicitly considered student learning goals and multiple strategies for achieving those goals. During the lesson, they actively monitor the effectiveness of those strategies and student progress towards learning goals. Through this pre-lesson strategizing and during lesson monitoring awareness, a key component of metacognition, is developed; however, awareness is not sufficient for metacognition. Metacognitive instructors also engage in self-regulation. They have the ability to make “in-the-moment”, intentional changes to their instruction during the lesson based on a situational awareness of student engagement and achievement of the learning objectives — this creates a responsive and customized learning experience for the student.

Thoughtful teachers reflect on the efficacy of their practice. Some assignments work. Others don't. Some classroom activities lose their shine and need to be reimagined to fit the evolving needs of students. The ongoing work in the scholarship of teaching and learning offers a growing repository of pedagogical innovation, but instructors aren't always aware of the need for change. Just as we need to promote metacognitive awareness in students' learning, we need to encourage faculty to become more explicitly metacognitive in their teaching processes. To that end, we offer four building blocks as a foundation for metacognitive instruction.

While I am deliberate and purposeful in my teaching and course design, I find I skimp on the reflection part and avoid asking myself the hard questions. Why, I wonder, am I not taking time to reflect? Do I think I intuitively “get it” and that “it” is correct or the best way? Do I think that being a deliberate educator is enough (no reflection necessary)? Additionally, when I more closely consider what metacognition means, I realize I am missing the self-regulation component, the intentional changes I may need to make after the lesson or course. Reflecting and noting my observations and ideas coupled with deliberate action to improve (self-regulating) will result in my becoming a more effective metacognitive instructor.

While the mindful choice of instructional strategies is important, we believe that instructors should also remain mindful in-the-moment as they implement strategies. Questions they might ask themselves include:

• What are you doing to “check in” with your learners to ensure progress towards daily and weekly course objectives?
• What are signs of success (or not) of the use of the strategy?
• How can you adjust the technique to better meet your student needs?
• Are your students motivated and confident, or are they bored or overwhelmed and frustrated? Are your students being given enough time to practice new skills?
• If learning is not where it needs to be or student affect is not supportive of learning, what are alternate strategies?
• Are you prepared to shift to them? If not, then why not?

These prompts can help instructors adjust and refine their implementation of the chosen instructional strategy in a timely manner.

Effective teachers consciously reflect on and take action with respect to their teaching, that is, they engage in metacognition about teaching (Duffy et al.2009; Hartman 2001). Though reflection is considered a prerequisite of quality teaching in higher education, being reflective and using that reflection to adjust action is not “self-evident” (Mälkki and Lindblom-Ylänne 2012). Nor do many college instructors have time to continuously and deeply reflect on their teaching (Pfund et al. 2009) given institutional reward structures that typically weigh research productivity over teaching (Splitt 2003; Anderson et al. 2011). Within this context of teaching in higher education, the continuum that emerged in this study provides a simple, efficient mechanism to promote reflection, metacognition about teaching, and selection of student-focused teaching strategies.