While literature suggests that college students may be less reluctant to seek help in online rather than traditional courses, little is known about how online instructors give help in ways that lead to increased student help seeking and academic success. In this study, we used theories and research on learning assistance and scaffolding, teacher immediacy, social presence, and academic help seeking to explore through a cross-case study design how three online instructors differed in their use of cognitive and social supports and how those differences related to student perceptions of support, help seeking, and performance. Primary data sources included all course postings by the instructors, interviews with the instructors, observational field notes on course discussions, student interviews, and final student grades. Archived course documents and student discussion postings were secondary data sources. Data analysis revealed that while all instructors provided cognitive NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; this is the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in the citation at the bottom of the page. Research and Development, Vol. 57, No. 2 (April 2009): pg. 169-192. DOI. This article is © Springer and permission has been granted for this version to appear in e-Publications@Marquette. Springer does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Springer.
Educational Technology
2and social support, they varied in their level of questioning, use of direct instruction, support for task structuring, and attention to group dynamics. This variation in teaching presence related to differences across the courses in student perceptions of support, student help seeking in course discussions, and final course grades. Implications for online teaching and suggestions for further research are offered.
IntroductionMany students in higher education are reluctant to seek academic help for reasons that include low self-efficacy and threat to self-esteem, a competitive classroom climate, and teachers who appear to be unresponsive or inflexible (Karabenick 2003(Karabenick , 2004Kozanitis et al. 2008). Recent studies of student help seeking in courses where all or most of the class is conducted online, however, suggest that students are less reluctant to seek academic help in these environments and, in fact, do so more frequently than in face-to-face courses (Kitsantas and Chow 2007;Kumrow 2007). In a study of 472 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate face-to-face classes in educational psychology and geography and distance courses in information studies, Kitsantas and Chow (2007) found that students in the distance courses sought help more often and reported less reluctance to seek help than students in traditional learning environments. In a similar study of 38 graduate nursing students, Kumrow (2007) found that students in a health care economics course (with 50% of the class online) engaged...
