Metacognition is the engine of self-regulated learning. At the object level, learners seek information and choose learning tactics and strategies they forecast will develop knowledge. At the meta level, learners gather and analyze data about learning events to draw conclusions, such as: Is this tactic a good fit to conditions? Was it effective?…

Pedagogical agents have been designed to support the significant challenges that learners face when self-regulating in advanced learning environments. Evidence suggests differences in learners' prior skills and abilities, in conjunction with excessive didactic support, can cause overreliance on these external aids, which in turn prevents deeper…