Examining the relationship between calibration and reflection in an online discussion environment

Calibration plays a critical role for groups to regulate future learning behaviors. There is a wealth of research on self-assessment, calibration, and metacognitive learning (e.g., Azevedo, 2009; Zimmerman, 2002), but there is a lack of research on calibration at the group level. To accurately calibrate, an accurate understanding of the assessment criteria plays an important role, and reflective activities in groups on self-assessment could provide opportunities for learners to take time thinking about their performance and correcting each other’s understanding of the criteria. This study aims to examine the relationship between learner calibration, at the group and individual levels, with their patterns of discourse in the self-reflective discussions that indicated learner understanding of the assessed items. Results show that high calibration accuracy groups had more accurate understanding of the items, while incorrect understanding in medium and low calibration accuracy groups were either ignored or agreed upon, rather than challenged.