Comparing the Different Dimensions of Students’ Help Seeking Behaviors in E-Learning Courses and on Campus Courses based on their Demographic Factors

Abstract

Introduction: Help seeking is one of the meta-cognitive strategies that are used by learners in self-regulated learning. The main purpose of this study was to compare the dimensions of students’ academic help seeking in e-learning courses and on campus courses.Materials and Methods: The research used a descriptive-survey method. The statistical population consisted of all virtual and on campus students of Isfahan University in three majors of librarianship, Management and MBA in 1389-1390. 300 students were selected by stratified random sampling method. For gathering data a self-made questionnaire was used. This questionnaire was made according to Verhaselt (2008) inventory. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its reliability was found to be 0.94, using alpha coefficient of Cronbach’s.Results: The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the virtual and on campus students in terms of different dimensions of help seeking behaviors (p≥05). There was a significant relationship between help seeking aspects (types, resources, threats, avoidance and cultural beliefs) and students’ academic achievements and their satisfaction. Regarding this, there was a statistically significant difference between the virtual and on campus students.Conclusion: From the results of this study we conclude that the virtual universities and producers of educational media could identify the students’ attitudes toward help seeking behaviors and investigate the reasons for help seeking avoidance. Having recognizing the related issues, we can develop and expand the culture of help giving and help seeking behaviors and decrease a lot of problems learners might face.

Keywords

• help seeking
• virtual
• demographic factors
• self-regulation
• satisfaction