Metacognition, Self Regulation, and Self-regulated Learning: A Rose by any other Name?

This commentary reviews the distinctions researchers make in defining metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning along with the methods used to explore these constructs. Bandura's notion of reciprocal determinism (1977) is revisited in the context of situated learning, whereby interactions between the person, behavior, and environment take on new meaning when examining learning and affect in specific contexts where knowledge is constructed through interacting with all that the environment affords, be that material or human. The interaction between the mind and environment continues to be an interesting question with regard to these three constructs, and this interaction can be explored by using computers as cognitive tools. Technology-rich environments are described that provide opportunities for assessing and validating metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning with future directions for assessing co-regulation of teams of learners.