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Investigating the effect of prompts on learners’ academic help-seeking behaviours on the basis of learning analytics

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Abstract

The effective use of self-regulation strategies has been considered significant in online learning environments. It is known that learners must be supported in this context. Academic help-seeking (AHS), as one of the main self-regulated learning strategies, is associated with academic success. However, learners may avoid seeking help for cognitive, affective or social reasons. They might also be undecided about where to start when they need help. Therefore, external interventions are necessary to support learners in developing effective AHS skills. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of prompts on fostering learners’ online AHS behaviour using learning analytics approaches. The research was conducted in an experimental design and included two separate experimental studies. The prompts used in the first and second studies focused on different factors that disrupted effective AHS processes. Learning analytics indicators were used as a proxy to understand the participants’ AHS behaviours in an online learning environment. The findings supported the idea that the prompts invited and guided students to relevant sources of help and fostered AHS behaviours in the online learning environment. Moreover, they contributed to the successful completion of learning tasks by up to 25%. The findings were discussed on the basis of the relevant literature, and suggestions for further research were provided.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Descriptive statistics for dependent variables

Study I

Experimental Group

Control Group

 

N

Mean

Standard Deviation

Min.

Max.

Median

Shapiro-Wilk Sig.

 

N

Mean

Standard Deviation

Min

Max.

Median

Shapiro-Wilk Sig.

AssignmentView

19

42.68

18.856

6

84

42.00

0.998

AssignmentView

20

44.30

52.392

8

259

33.50

0.000

Time Spent

19

185.47

192.371

38

935

139.00

0.000

Time Spent

20

139.35

111.309

32

517

100.00

0.000

Session

19

36.16

94.124

5

424

16.00

0.000

Session

20

15.55

9.539

5

41

13.00

0.019

View Discussion

19

662.16

2244.799

0

9736

28.00

0.000

View Discussion

20

275.35

797.772

0

3469

15.50

0.000

Start Discussion

19

1.89

3.604

0

14

0.00

0.000

Start Discussion

20

2.15

3.717

0

15

0.00

0.000

AccessResource

19

12.53

15.200

1

49

6.00

0.000

AccessResource

20

11.70

13.982

1

52

5.50

0.000

Access oth. Res.

19

2.21

2.226

0

7

1.00

0.008

Access oth. Res.

20

1.80

1.704

0

6

1.50

0.017

Access Module

19

105.47

152.340

22

709

66.00

0.000

Access Module

20

80.65

72.434

10

332

62.50

0.000

Access Videos

19

20.74

9.550

12

52

20.00

0.001

Access Videos

20

21.65

12.036

3

48

20.00

0.443

Study II 

AssignmentView

19

47.26

25.987

16

124

38.00

0.006

AssignmentView

20

48.90

99.038

0

465

30.00

0.000

Time Spent

19

173.74

144.242

10

656

124

0.001

Time Spent

20

103.25

83.404

1

356

71.50

0.003

Session

19

37.37

94.201

3

425

16.00

0.000

Session

20

13.90

10.346

1

41

11.50

0.037

View Discussion

19

761.84

2646.918

0

11488

11.00

0.000

View Discussion

20

147.35

285.091

0

930

10.00

0.000

Start Discussion

19

2.16

3.500

0

11

0.00

0.000

Start Discussion

20

1.30

2.618

0

10

0.00

0.000

AccessResource

19

21.42

18.798

1

67

17.00

0.008

AccessResource

20

17.55

18.869

0

71

10.50

0.000

Access oth. Res.

19

6.16

4.764

0

16

6.00

0.303

Access oth. Res.

20

5.05

5.176

0

18

4.00

0.001

Access Module

19

109.68

137.648

17

645

76.00

0.000

Access Module

20

80.20

105.827

1

492

47.00

0.000

Access Videos

19

5.79

4.417

0

14

6.00

0.198

Access Videos

20

5.60

4.477

0

17

5.50

0.154

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Önder, A., Akçapınar, G. Investigating the effect of prompts on learners’ academic help-seeking behaviours on the basis of learning analytics. Educ Inf Technol 28, 16909–16934 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11872-9

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