Why does metaliteracy play a role? Why isn’t curiosity enough?

Think back to the four learning domains important in metaliteracy:

1. Affective–what you feel during and after learning
2. Behavioral–what you can do after learning
3. Cognitive–what you know after learning takes place
4. Metacognitive–your reflection on your own learning

Next, consider the metaliterate learning roles you learned about in section 1. These include roles such as producer, researcher, creator, translator and teacher.

For a start, watch this short video on the role of Translator–it will help you to understand these learner roles.

If you plan to take on one or more of these roles–and during a lifetime of learning, you will have plenty of time to do this–you have to prepare yourself. Curiosity is a great starting point, but these roles demand action of you after you have started your learning journey. Consider the questions you might ask yourself about just one of the roles, Producer:

• Have you organized a collection of resources on a particular topic? Do you curate content by using bookmarking tools or platforms? Have you shared this curated content, using social platforms such as Pinterest, to help others find information on the topic? Have you added your own annotations to curated resources to guide users on the value and quality of the content?
• Have you compiled diverse outside resources to create something new?  Have you provided appropriate attribution to the original content creators?

Each role has similar questions associated with it–questions that challenge you to understand that meaningful learning and action based on that learning involve responsibilities.