nBrowser: An intelligent web browser for studying self-regulated learning in teachers' use of technology

Teachers are required to leverage the affordances of digital technologies to facilitate student understanding of a specific domain of knowledge and to improve their teaching practice. To do so, we assume that student teachers engage in deep learning processes. However, there is a pressing need to support student teachers in regulating their own learning in order to promote the development of more sophisticated mental models for the pedagogical affordances of educational technologies. In this chapter, we describe a network-based approach to the design of computers as metacognitive tools to foster selfregulated learning. We implement and evaluate instructional principles grounded in the proposed approach in the context of a computer-based learning environment called nBrowser. The nBrowser system is designed to support student teachers to regulate their learning while navigating the web and designing a lesson plan that implements technologies into the classroom. We discuss the strengths and limitations of networkbased tutors by drawing on preliminary findings obtained with nBrowser as well as suggest future research directions. Copyright © 2018 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.