Metacognitive Load - Useful, or Extraneous Concept? Metacognitive and Self- Regulatory Demands in Computer-Based Learning

Introduction The environment(s) we live in are becoming ever more complex (Field, 2006). To meet the demands of contemporary and future learning environments and work places, the complexity of curricula, learning environments, and learning tasks has increased accordingly (van Merrienboer & Sluijsmans, 2009). In this context, complexity is not something we should try to avoid in general. Certain levels of complexity are actually necessary to stimulate and foster higher-order cognitive and metacognitive processes (Sawyer, 2006). However, there is a challenge as well: Increasingly complex and rapidly changing learning demands encounter the relatively stable and limited cognitive equipment of humans. Increasingly powerful computers and high-resolution computer screens make it possible to display ever more complex arrangements of texts, pictures, animations, and sounds simultaneously. In an ideal world, learners would make flexible use of such complex arrangements and blend new information together with their background knowledge into increasingly rich mental models. Facing difficulties or impasses, learners would actively pose relevant questions, persistently hunt for answers, critically evaluate the quality of the answers retrieved, construct deep explanations of the subjective matter, apply the explanatory content to difficult problems, and consciously reflect on these cognitive activities (Graesser, McNamara, & VanLehn, 2005, p. 231). Empirical results, however, reveal several problems that learners usually encounter in rich learning environments. For example, they often have difficulty extracting and integrating information from complex displays (e.g., Ainsworth, 2006). Learners often have problems interacting effectively with the multifarious options that rich media environments usually offer (e.g., Clarebout & Elen, 2007). Related to the interaction problems, learners frequently have trouble effectively monitoring and regulating their learning activities (e.g., Azevedo, 2002). Such findings suggest that we need to balance the degree of complexity that is technically feasible with what is cognitively achievable and, therefore, educationally desirable. A general question that arises is whether and how humans' capabilities can keep pace with these rapidly changing demands. In the context of computer-based learning environments (CBLEs), a related, but more specific set of questions arises, namely how effectively can learners utilize the various features that CBLEs s offer nowadays to acquire knowledge and skills in different domains (e.g., mathematics or biology)? What difficulties do learners typically encounter when interacting with CBLEs? How are such difficulties explained by contemporary psychological theories? What cannot be explained well and where should we, therefore, modify, extend or combine contemporary theories? And finally, how can CBL be made even more effective? The overall goal of this article is to contribute to our understanding of factors that can account for the typical difficulties learners encounter in CBL. In the following I argue that, especially in individual learning in front of a computer screen (which is becoming and will remain an increasingly more common and important learning setting nowadays), successful learning depends primarily on learning environments that support not only learners' cognitive, but their metacognitive and self-regulation activities as well. Although there is growing interest in supporting all kinds of such activities, three factors are often overlooked. First, unless they are fully automatized, all these activities compete for limited mental resources. Second, as with cognitive demands that do not always benefit learning, some metacognitive and self-regulatory demands might not always be beneficial either. Third, learners will or cannot always take full advantage of the support offered. The latter will usually initially depend on different types and degrees of expertise on behalf of the learners. …