Instructor Help Seeking Behaviors in Web Based Teaching Using a Learning Management System

Online education has been growing at an unprecedented rate in recent years. While much research has been conducted regarding student help seeking behaviors in web-based learning, little is known about instructor help seeking behaviors in web-based teaching. The present study aims to examine college instructors’ help seeking behaviors while using the most popular learning management system (Blackboard) in higher education. Data on all 611 instructor-initiated tickets during fall 2014 at a mid-western university were retrieved from the campus e-learning center. Initial analysis indicated that instructors sought help from the e-learning staff with a wide variety of course development and management efforts. Their help seeking behaviors also showed an interesting pattern that roughly aligned with the academic calendar.