Roger Azevedo, Ph.D.
Director, SMART Lab
Lead Scientist and Co-Cluster Lead, Learning Sciences FCI Cluster
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Dr. Azevedo is a Professor in the School of Modeling Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida. He is also an affiliated faculty in the Departments of Computer Science and Internal Medicine at the University of Central Florida and the lead scientist for the Learning Sciences Faculty Cluster Initiative. He received his PhD in Educational Psychology from McGill University and completed his postdoctoral training in Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. His main research area includes examining the role of cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and motivational self-regulatory processes during learning with advanced learning technologies (e.g., intelligent tutoring systems, hypermedia, multimedia, simulations, serious games, immersive virtual learning environments). More specifically, his overarching research goal is to understand the complex interactions between humans and intelligent learning systems by using interdisciplinary methods to measure cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, motivational, and social processes and their impact on learning, performance, and transfer. To accomplish this goal, he conducts laboratory, classroom, and in-situ (e.g., medical simulator) studies and collects multi-channel data to develop models of human-computer interaction; examines the nature of temporally unfolding self- and other-regulatory processes (e.g., human-human and human-artificial agents); and designs intelligent learning and training systems to detect, track, model, and foster learners, teachers, and trainers’ self-regulatory processes.
He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and refereed conference proceedings in the areas of educational, learning, cognitive, educational, and computational sciences. He was the former editor of the Metacognition and Learning journal and serves on the editorial board of several top-tiered learning and cognitive sciences journals (e.g., Applied Cognitive Psychology, International Journal of AI in Education, Educational Psychology Review, European Journal of Psychological Assessment). His research is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Natural and Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC), Canada Research Chairs (CRC), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) and the Jacobs Foundation. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the recipient of the prestigious Early Faculty Career Award from the National Science Foundation.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow Carnegie Mellon University
- Ph.D., Educational Psychology, McGill University
- M.A., Educational Technology, Concordia University
- B.A., Psychology, Concordia University
Appointments
- Professor, School of Modeling Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Associate Faculty, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Co-Cluster Lead, Learning Sciences Faculty Cluster Initiative, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Associate Faculty, Department of Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Lead Scientist, Learning Sciences Faculty Cluster Initiative, University of Central Florida, Orlando
Courses
- IDS 6262 Research Methods in Modeling and Simulation
- IDS 6267: Understanding Humans for Modeling & Simulation
- EME 6465-0001: Intelligent Tutoring System Design: Theory & Practice
- EME 6938 Special Topics: Theoretical Foundations of the Learning Sciences
- IDS 6938 Special Topics: Metacognition
Highlights
Azevedo, R., Dever, D., & Wiedbusch, M. (in press). Artificial Intelligence in personalized learning and engineering education: Multimodal approaches to individualization and adaptation. In W. Karwowski, V. Duffy, & G. Salvendy (Eds.), Advances in Artificial Intelligence Applications in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Wiley.
Azevedo, R., Hooshyar, D., Fan, Y., Wiedbusch, M., & Dever, D. (in press). Multimodal learning analytics for self-regulated learning across diverse learning technologies: Analysis, prediction, generative AI, and Explainable AI. In K. Sharma, N. McIntyre, & T. Tormanen (Eds.), Handbook of online learning measures. European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI).
Azevedo, R., Wiedbusch, M., & Dever, D. (in press). Metacognitive processes of learning in immersive virtual reality. In J. Plass, R. Mayer, & G. Makransky (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of learning in virtual reality. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Azevedo, R., Amon, M.J., Anderson, M., Mondesire, S., Guido-Sanz, F., Sottilare, R., & Wiedbusch, M. (2024). Human digital twins to support nurse practitioners’ clinical decision-making using multimodal data: A theoretical, methodological, and analytical framework. In S. Sabri, K. Alexandridis, & N. Lee (Eds.), Digital twin: Fundamentals and applications (pp. 149-172). Springer/Nature.
Azevedo, R., Bouchet, F., Harley, J., Taub, M., Trevors, G., Cloude, E., Dever, D., Wiedbusch, M., Wortha, F., & Cerezo, R. (2022). Lessons learned and future directions of MetaTutor: Leveraging multichannel data to scaffold self-regulated learning with an intelligent tutoring system. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:813632. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.813632
Azevedo, R., & Dever, D. (2022). Metacognition in multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer & L. Fiorella (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of multimedia (3rd ed., pp. 132-141). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Azevedo, R., & Wiedbusch, M. (2023). Theories of metacognition and pedagogy applied in AIED systems. In du Boulay (Ed.), Handbook of Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 141-173). The Netherlands: Springer.
Cloude, E., Dever, D., Hahs-Vaughn, D., Emerson, A., Azevedo, R., & Lester, J. (2022). Affective dynamics and cognition during game-based learning. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 13, 1705-1717.
Dever, D., Sonnenfeld, N., Wiedbusch, M., Schmorrow, S. G., Amon, M. J., Azevedo, R. (2023). A complex systems approach to analyzing pedagogical agents’ scaffolding of self‑regulated learning within an intelligent tutoring system. Metacognition & Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-023-09346-x
Kovanovic, V., Azevedo, R., Gibson, D., & Ifenthaler, D. (Eds.) (2023). Unobtrusive observations of learning in digital environments: Examining behaviors, cognition, emotion, metacognition, and social processes using learning analytics. Springer.
Molenaar, I., de Mooij, S., Azevedo, R., Bannert, M., Järvelä, S., & Gasevic, D. (2023). Measuring self-regulated learning and the role of AI: Five years of research using multimodal multichannel; data. Computers in Human Behavior, 139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107540
Wiedbusch, M., Lester, J. & Azevedo, R. A multi-level growth modeling approach to measuring learner attention with metacognitive pedagogical agents. Metacognition & Learning 18, 465–494 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-023-09336-z
| 2025 | Fellow, American Educational Research Association | |
| 2025 | Pegasus Professor, University of Central Florida | |
| 2021 | UCF Researchers in Top 2% of Their Field (see journal PLOS Biology) | |
| 2018 | Barry J. Zimmerman Award for Outstanding Contributions to the fields of Studying and Self-Regulated Learning Research, from the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Studying and Self-Regulated Learning (SSRL) Special Interest Group (SIG) | |
| 2017 | Outstanding International Research Collaboration Award sponsored by the Technology, Instruction, Cognition, and Learning SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) | |
| 2017 | Best Short Paper Award, 7th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK 2017), Vancouver, Canada |
2024-present Principal Investigator, Examining Expertise Differences in Understanding Uncertainty in Complex Interactive Game‐based Tasks Using Multimodal Data—Center for Advanced Pathogen Threat and Response Simulation (CAPTRS). $105,463
2024-present Co-Principal Investigator, Collaborative Research: IGE: Track1: Caselet: Deliberate Practice with Scalable Case-based Learning to Enhance Data Science Problem Solving Competency—National Science Foundation. PI Lujie Chen (University of Maryland Baltimore County) and Co-PI Shimei Pan (University of Maryland Baltimore County). $134,000
2024-present Co-Principal Investigator, RF: Next Generation Soldier-Ground Vehicle Interface Design: Human Digital Twins (HDT)—Clemson University. PI is Grace Bochenek and Co-PIs Carolina Cruz-Neira and Crystal Maraj (University of Central Florida). $4,839,050
2024-present Co-Principal Investigator, Human Digital Twins Graduate Certificate—Department of Education. PI is Ghaith Rabadi and Co-PIs Joseph Kider, Sean Mondesire, and Bulent Soykan (University of Central Florida). $1,154,940
2023-present Co-Principal Investigator, Multimodal Team-Performance Models for Assessing and Influencing Team-Dimension Competencies in Extended Reality—Army Research Laboratory. PI is Ryan McMahan and Co-PI Joseph LaViola (University of Central Florida). $1,069,193
2023-present Co-Principal Investigator, Collaborative Research: Open Process Models Optimizing Self-Regulated Learning in the Classroom—National Science Foundation. PI is Magy Seif El-Nasr (University of California Santa Cruz), and Co-PIs Brian Smith (Boston College), Jichen Zhu (ITU Copenhagen), and Tyler Sorensen (University of California Santa Cruz). $849,531
2023-present Co-Principal Investigator, Eradicating Misconceptions about Viruses using Multimodal Trace Data in an Intelligent Game-based Environment across Educational Contexts—National Institutes of Health. PI Barrie Robison and Co-PI Terrence Soule (University of Idaho). $1,305,582
2023-present Co-Principal Investigator, Enhancing Controlled Social Feedback Manipulations in Cognition and Health Research with Digital Twins—University of Central Florida’s College of Science. PI is Nichole Lighthall (University of Central Florida). $34,740
2022-present Co-Principal Investigator, SIP: Knight’s Digital Twin Academic Excellence Award—University of Central Florida. PI Grace Bochenek and Co-PIs Carolina Cruz-Neira, Deborah Beidel, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Michael Georgiopoulos, Maggy Tomova, and Liz Klonoff (University of Central Florida). $3,500,000
2022-present Co-Principal Investigator, CELLA 2 CERES: Connecting the Center for Learning and Living with Artificial Intelligence to CERES—Jacobs Foundation. PI Sanna Jäverlä (Oulu University), Co-PIs Inge Molenaar (Radboud University), Maria Bannert (Technical University of Munich), and Dragan Gasevic (Monash University). $2,124,269 (based on $1,990,568 Swiss Francs)
2021-present Principal Investigator, Enhancing the Impact of Modeling and Simulation Education for the 21st Century Workforce—Department of Education. Co-PIs Charles Hughes and Grace Bochenek (University of Central Florida). $1,154,998
2020-present Principal Investigator, Symbiosis: The Center for Augmented Intelligent Human-Machine Symbiosis for Solving Societal Grand Challenges—University of Central Florida. Co-PIs Damla Turgut, Peter Hancock, Mubarak Shah, and Joseph LaViola. $40,000.
Research Interests:
Advanced Learning and Training Technologies
Human Digital Twins
Human-Machine AI Collaboration
Intelligent Environments for Education and Training Across Humans and Contexts
Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning
Multimodal Process Data in Human-Machine Interactions
Areas of Expertise:
Cognition
Learning
Metacognition
Multimodal Data
Performance
Problem Solving
Self-Regulated Learning
Application Areas:
Academics
Automotive
Defense
Education
Healthcare