Abstract
This study examines college students’ attitudes and habits for seeking academic help. Students preferences for seeking academic help via digital and non-digital technologies are identified (N = 438). Students’ attitudes about seeking help are also analyzed. Factor analysis results indicate six attitudinal factors motivated students to seek help from peers and instructors: students’ perceived usefulness of their peers; trust of peers; their perception of instructors; preference to work independently; overall perception of the course; and, perceived threat (i.e. sense of vulnerability about their ability). Overwhelmingly, students prefer to seek help from classmates rather than instructors. Due to the cohort model of the programs –where students take all or most their courses with the same students throughout the program– they seek help more in person than via using digital resources (texting, social media). Multiple linear regression analysis indicates that perceived threat, perception of instructors, and students’ preference to work independently, are significant in predicting whether students sought help from instructors outside of class. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Highlights
When students send instructors an email or a write post on a learning management system like Moodle or Canvas asking to clarify a course assignment, this is a form of helpseeking
How did on-campus students contact peers and instructors when seeking help? Students were asked about a broad range of communication options that they could use to contact peers or instructors for seeking help. They used messaging applications, social media and even phone to communicate with classmates
Conclusions and further research This study found that help-seeking continues to be an important learning strategy for students
Summary
When students send instructors an email or a write post on a learning management system like Moodle or Canvas asking to clarify a course assignment, this is a form of helpseeking. There may be a strong negative relationship between perceived threat and formal help-seeking (r = −.48) These results by Kitsantas and Chow are consistent with other research (r = −.28) suggesting that students may prefer to seek help informally partly because it is less threatening than formal channels are (Karabenick & Knapp, 1991). Age is another personal factor that has been studied in relation to help-seeking. Older students were less likely to seek help than younger students
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