Help seeking in online collaborative groupwork: a multilevel analysis

Abstract

This study examined predictive models for students’ help seeking in the context of online collaborative groupwork. Results from multilevel analysis revealed that most of the variance in help seeking was at the individual student level, and multiple variables at the individual level were predictive of help-seeking behaviour. Help seeking was positively related to group role identity and handling groupwork challenges. In addition, full-time and older students were less likely to seek help in online groupwork. Meanwhile, help seeking was negatively related to the number of previous online courses taken. At the group level, ‘peer-oriented reasons’ was a statistically significant predictor for help seeking. The major results were discussed in relation to the previous research findings in this area, and in the general context of online collaborative groupwork in e-learning.

Keywords:

• help seeking
• groupwork
• homework
• online learning

Notes

1. WebCT (Course Tools) is an online learning environment system for e-learning offered by Blackboard. More details about this system are available from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCT.