Institute/Session Summary:

This presentation will focus on a study that examined which reasons for avoiding help seeking and personal goal orientations predict social and computer adaptive help seeking for students enrolled in computer-based, developmental mathematics courses at a large Texas community college. First, the participants will learn about the study conducted by the presenter. Next, the participants will make predictions about the results of the study. The participants will then compare and contrast their predictions and the studies actual results. Last, the participants will discuss their own personal experiences with students and help seeking, and they will be able to identify classroom applications, limitations of the study, and directions for further research.

Learning outcomes:

• Participants will be able to apply the results of the study in their classrooms.
• Participants will be able to help identify needs for additional research in this area.

Background information about the study:

Social adaptive help seeking is an intricate process requiring cognitive and self-regulatory abilities, along with the motivation to sustain effort and persistence that leads to the learner initiating contact with another individual to effectively communicate the need for hints, additional examples, or specific explanations. The learner then must apply the help to a specific situation and analyze the episode to determine if the help was effective; that analysis will influence future help-seeking episodes. Although reasons for avoiding help and goal orientation have been examined in the context of help seeking from another person (i.e. social adaptive help seeking), researchers have not pursued how these constructs influence computer adaptive help seeking. Reasons for avoiding help seeking include students with autonomous, ability and expedient concerns about help seeking, and student goal orientation includes mastery and performance goals. The purpose of this study is to examine which reasons for avoiding help seeking and personal goal orientations predict computer adaptive help seeking.

Discussion:

After the study is described and results are discussed, the presenter will engage the audience in a discussion about their own personal experiences with students and help seeking. This will lead to recommendations for classroom applications, limitations of the study, and directions for further research. Recommendations for classroom applications include discussions about specific software tools and features that may help students overcome ability concerns and promote mastery goals in the classroom.

Presenter1 Name: Joey Alaina Offer
Presenter1 Institution: Austin Community College
Presenter1 Bio: Joey Alaina Offer works as a grant coordinator for Texas State University. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Austin Community College. In her last position at the UT Austin Distance Education Center she worked as a project manager, managing curriculum development, curriculum technology applications, and grant implementation.