If we want students to understand what and how they are learning, beyond simply recalling content, then it seems imperative that we explicitly include meta-cognitive and self-regulated learning strategies. Asking students to report on their plans and goals, reflect on their time management and progress, and then think back to what they did that helped them or didn’t help them are all important steps to encourage self-regulated learning, which can lead to strong lifelong learning beyond the college classroom. Especially in the present moment where generative AI tools can write the essay for students, we want them to be able to think about their thinking and how and why they learned something, beyond simply turning in the product that represents their knowledge. 

Learning how to learn—Implementing self-regulated learning evidence into practice in higher education: Illustrations from diverse disciplines

https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rev3.3339

Supporting thinking about thinking: examining the metacognition theory‐practice gap in higher education 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-022-00904-x

Fostering self-regulated learning in higher education: Making self-regulation visible

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1469787420982378