The short-term goal is to help the student pass the next test, but that is not enough for long-term success. We have found that even when a student does not pass the test, they have benefited from acquiring new knowledge about themselves.
The end goal is metacognition, that is, the student becomes an independent, self-regulated learner. Metacognition involves "actively thinking about what you know, what you don't know, and how you can get better at knowing and applying what you know" (Khan & Khan, 2017).
Once the student has developed the ability to:
- recognize their own strengths and weaknesses as a learner;
- create their own bank of strategies and discern how and when to use them;
- select the appropriate strategies for the task at hand;
- transfer this self-knowledge to other disciplines;
you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped to shape a successful and independent learner.