Reexamining the Monitoring and Managing Subdimensions of the Shared Metacognition Questionnaire in Online Higher Education

The Shared Metacognition Questionnaire (SMQ) is widely used to assess metacognition in collaborative online learning environments. Prior work has supported its two broad dimensions of self-regulation of cognition (SRC) and co-regulation of cognition (CRC), but the lower-order monitoring and managing subdimensions theorized within SRC and CRC have not been empirically supported. The present study used a split-sample exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approach with graduate students (N = 348) enrolled in 25 fully online courses. For SRC, the results provided tentative support for a two-factor monitoring–managing structure, with the managing factor performing more strongly than the monitoring factor. For CRC, neither the theorized structure nor an empirically informed alternative reached marginally acceptable fit, and item-level diagnostics pointed to potential issues of item clarity, redundancy, and content clustering. The findings (1) provide additional validity evidence supporting the use of SMQ to measure self-monitoring and self-managing; (2) extend the original SMQ development study and broader theoretical models of self- and co-regulation; and (3) offer practical guidance on the current use of the SMQ and suggestions for refining the CRC items.