AUBEA 2007, Swinburne University, Melbourne, July 3-5 DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF METACOGNITION IN FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATES Graham Brewer, Marcus Jefferies, Thayaparan Gajendran and Tony Williams University of Newcastle, Australia Abstract: This paper describes the theoretical basis and implementation of a delivery and assessment mechanism for student reflection in a first year construction technology course at the University of Newcastle. It discusses the results obtained from the evaluation of the first deployment and concludes with reflections on the implications for development. Keywords: Problem-Based Learning, Reflection, Metacognition INTRODUCTION The ability to reflect on ones own decision making and practice is a quality that is recognised as desirable by many professional bodies: "Skills in recognising unsuccessful outcomes, diagnosis, faultfinding and re-engineering", and "Skills in documenting results, analysing credibility of outcomes, critical reflection, developing robust conclusions, reporting outcomes " (Engineers Australia Accreditation Board, 2005); "Learning through reflection on practice and experience" (Chartered Institute of Building Accreditation Panel,2005). To develop these graduate attributes courses must be designed to provide learning experiences that facilitate deep learning, discouraging strategic, shallow approaches, and which recognise that the practice of critical reflection is crucial because it facilitates: . The evaluation of the quality of students' learning by the university . The development of the students' ability to function at the highest professional level upon graduation 56 of 389