Amber Chauncey

Measuring Cognitive and Metacognitive Regulatory Processes During Hypermedia Learning: Issues and Challenges

Self-regulated learning (SRL) with hypermedia environments involves a complex cycle of temporally unfolding cognitive and metacognitive processes that impact students’ learning. We present several methodological issues related to treating SRL as an event and strengths and challenges of using online trace methodologies to detect, trace, model, and foster students’ SRL processes. We first describe a scenario illustrating the complex nature of SRL processes during learning with hypermedia. We provide our theoretically driven assumptions regarding the use of several cognitive methodologies, including concurrent think aloud protocols, and provide several examples of empirical evidence regarding the advantages of treating SRL as an event. Last, we discuss challenges for measuring cognitive and metacognitive processes in the context of MetaTutor, an intelligent adaptive hypermedia learning environment. This discussion includes the roles of pedagogical agents in goal-generation, multiple representations, agent-learner dialogue, and a systems ability to detect, track, and model SRL processes during learning.

Self-regulated Learning with MetaTutor: Advancing the Science of Learning with MetaCognitive Tools

The key to understanding complex learning with advanced learning technologies (e.g., hypermedia) lies in our ability to comprehend the temporal deployment of students’ cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and affective processes. Our chapter will focus on critically analyzing the use of mixed-method approaches to analyze the complex nature of self-regulated learning (SRL) during hypermedia learning. We will use examples from our own research (e.g., Azevedo 2008, Recent innovations in educational technology that facilitate student learning (pp. 127–156); Azevedo & Witherspoon, in press, Handbook of metacognition in education) and that of others (e.g., Biswas et al., 2005; Schwartz et al., in press; Winne & Nesbitt, in press, Handbook of metacognition in education) to present and discuss the strengths and weaknesses in using mixed methods to capture, model, trace, and infer the unfolding SRL processes during learning with nonlinear, multirepresentational computerized environments. The chapter will focus on the methods, and quantitative and qualitative analyses used to converge product data (e.g., learning outcomes), process data (e.g., think-aloud data), and log-file data collected during learning, develop coding schemes to categorize and infer the deployment of SRL processes, and the use of computational tools to examine learners’ behaviors and navigation paths. Lastly, we will present a theoretical model that integrates the various topics presented in this chapter that will guide future research and educational practices for fostering students’ SRL with hypermedia environments.

The measurement of cognitive and metacognitive control processes during the study with the hypermedia

L’apprendimento autoregolato rappresenta una modalita di apprendimento di fondamentale importanza quando ci si avvale del supporto di ambienti ipermediali. Obiettivo di questo articolo e presentare quattro assunzioni chiave che consentono la misurazione dei processi cognitivi e metacognitivi attivati durante l’apprendimento tramite ipermedia. Innanzi tutto, assumiamo che sia possibile individuare, tracciare, modellare e favorire processi di apprendimento auto-regolato durante lo studio con gli ipermedia. La seconda assunzione si focalizza sul comprendere come la complessita dei processi regolatori che avvengono durante l’apprendimento mediato da sistemi ipermediali sia importante per determinare il perche alcuni processi vengono messi in atto durante l’esecuzione di un compito. Le terza assunzione e relativa al considerare che l’utilizzo di processi di apprendimento auto-regolato possa dinamicamente cambiare nel tempo e che tali processi sono di natura ciclica (influenzati dalle condizioni interne ed esterne e da meccanismi di feedback). Infine, l’identificazione, raccolta e classificazione dei processi di apprendimento autoregolato utilizzati durante lo studio con sistemi ipermediali, puo risultare un compito alquanto difficoltoso.