Abstract

Offering help functions is a standard feature of computer-based interactive learning environments (ILE). Nevertheless, a number of recent studies indicate that learners are not using such help facilities effectively. We compared the effects of different metacognitive supports to foster learners’ help-seeking behavior in an ILE for plant identification. Four groups of university students (n=51), each receiving a different metacognitive instruction, had to determine living plants. They had to think-aloud and were video recorded during the experiment. At the end of the session they completed a knowledge test. The surprising effect was that students in all groups were effective help-seekers. They adapted their help-seeking behavior to the complexity of the plants in an effective way. The results indicate that for students on university level effective help-seeking seems to depend largely on motivational factors.

Citation

Stahl, E. & Bromme, R. (2009). Not everybody needs help to seek help: Surprising effects of metacognitive instructions to foster help-seeking in an online-learning environment. Computers & Education, 53(4), 1020-1028. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved March 21, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/67029/.

Keywords

• Cognitive Style
• Computer Assisted Instruction
• electronic learning
• Help Seeking
• Interactive Learning Environments
• learning strategies
• media in education
• metacognition
• online courses
• pedagogical issues
• Plants (Botany)
• post-secondary education
• Protocol Analysis
• Scaffolding (Teaching Technique)
• Search Strategies
• Teaching/Learning Strategies