Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
In sum, our existing data stresses that learning about complex science topics
involves deploying key self-regulatory processes during learning with hyperme-
dia. These include several planning processes (creating subgoals, activating prior
knowledge), metacognitive judgments (about emerging understanding, relating new
content with existing knowledge), and learning strategies (coordinating informa-
tional sources, drawing, summarizing). In addition, the use of these processes can
be facilitated by adaptive scaffolding by an external agent. In the next section, we
describe the MetaTutor environment.
MetaTutor: A Hypermedia Learning Environment for Biology
MetaTutor is a hypermedia learning environment that is designed to detect, model,
trace, and foster students' SRL about human body systems such as the circulatory,
digestive, and nervous systems (Azevedo et al., 2008). Theoretically, it is based
on cognitive models of SRL (Pintrich, 2000; Schunk, 2005; Winne & Hadwin,
2008; Zimmerman, 2008). The underlying assumption of MetaTutor is that students
should regulate key cognitive and metacognitive processes in order to learn about
complex and challenging science topics. The design of MetaTutor is based on exten-
sive research by Azevedo and colleagues showing that providing adaptive human
scaffolding that addresses both the content of the domain and the processes of SRL
enhances students' learning about challenging science topics with hypermedia (e.g.,
see Azevedo, 2008; Azevedo & Witherspoon, 2009 for extensive reviews of the
research). Overall, our research has identified key self-regulatory processes that are
indicative of students' learning about these complex science topics. More specifi-
cally, they include several processes related to planning, metacognitive monitoring,
learning strategies, and methods of handling task difficulties and demands.
Overall, there are several phases to using MetaTutor to train students on SRL
processes and to learn about the various human body systems. Figure 11.2 has
four screen shots that illustrate the various phases including (1) modeling of key
SRL processes (see top-left corner), (2) a discrimination task where learners choose
between good and poor use of these processes (see top-right corner), (3) a detection
task where learners watch video clips of human agents engaging in similar learn-
ing tasks and are asked to stop the video whenever they see the use of an SRL
process (and then indicate the process from a list) (see bottom-right corner), and
(4) the actual learning environment used to learn about the biological system (see
bottom-left corner).
The interface of the actual learning environment contains a learning goal set by
either the experimenter or teacher (e.g.,
Your task is to learn all you can about
the circulatory system. Make sure you know about its components, how they work
together, and how they support the healthy functioning of the human body
). The
learning goal is associated with the subgoals box where the learner can generate
several subgoals for the learning session. A list of topics and subtopics is presented
on the left side of the interface, while the actual science content (including the text,
