ERIC Number: EJ1379533
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0158-7919
EISSN: EISSN-1475-0198
Available Date: N/A
Help-Seeking Matters for Online Learners Who Are Unconfident
Distance Education, v44 n1 p106-119 2023
Online help-seeking refers to a learner's willingness to seek help in online learning environments. Counterintuitively, studies of help-seeking have found mixed results for the relationship between help-seeking and academic achievement. We hypothesized that these mixed findings might, in part, be accounted for by the confidence level of the learner. Utilizing a sample of 321 online university students (M = 32.78 years; SD = 9.53), we explored the moderating effect of self-efficacy in the help-seeking-academic achievement relationship. Aligned with the vulnerability hypothesis, when online learners were confident, they engaged in help-seeking more often than learners with low confidence. Importantly, however, when online learners were unconfident, we found that help-seeking behaviors were positively associated with academic success. Confident learners did not appear to gain any academic performance benefit from using help-seeking strategies. Our study highlights help-seeking's potential importance in improving academic success for our least confident learners, with no impact on confident learners.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Electronic Learning, Distance Education, College Students, Help Seeking, Self Efficacy, Self Esteem, Academic Achievement, Learning Strategies, Correlation, Online Courses, Student Behavior
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A