An investigation of graduate students’ help-seeking experiences, preferences and attitudes in online learning

This study explored graduate students’ help-seeking preferences, attitudes and experiences based on the online classes they took at a Midwestern higher education institution. The findings indicated that the majority of the students used self-regulatory strategies in their help-seeking process striving for independent mastery of learning. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data led to four themes with respect to the help-seeking experiences of online students: Asynchronous learning; help-seeking process and strategies; self-regulation and goal orientation; student characteristics and previous help-seeking experience. The researchers suggest that helpseeking mechanisms and tools need to be structured into online classes utilizing formative assessment, collaborative community of learners and technologies that will facilitate student help-seeking.