“Strained and Strange”: Second-Year University Students' Help-Seeking Strategies

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3008

Keywords:

self-regulated learning, help-seeking, qualitative research, second-year students

Abstract

Second-year university students often experience a disconnection with their learning and may feel unmotivated, lack confidence, and are unprepared for the higher expectations and complex concepts of their courses. Their disconnection with their learning can be addressed through deepening the social connections between other second-year students, and instructors providing encouragement to seek help in their learning when they need it. There is scant research that examines the peer-interactions between second-years and how their interactions influence their help-seeking behaviours. This article focuses on the interactions and help-seeking behaviours of 26 students from a major metropolitan Australian university in 2021. Results show that peer interaction is highly valued by students but not easily facilitated, and the relationship between students and their instructor is foundational for future help-seeking behaviours. Implications for practice are also presented.

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Author Biographies

Lynnae Venaruzzo, Western Sydney University

Lynnae Venaruzzo is currently a doctoral student in Education Futures at the University of South Australia and her research interests relate to digital learning experiences that intrinsically motivate learners. Lynnae is the Director of Postgraduate Transformations at Western Sydney University and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Negin Mirriahi, University of South Australia

Negin Mirriahi is an Associate Professor in UniSA College and Education Futures at the University of South Australia and Associate Director of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning. Negin’s current research projects, interests, and HDR supervision focus on learning analytics to inform pedagogical change, generative AI and education, self-regulated learning, video-based learning, video analytics, and academic staff development.  

Oleksandra Poquet, University of South Australia

Oleksandra Poquet is a Professor of Learning Analytics at the School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Germany. She is a core member of the Munich Data Science Institute and an external affiliate of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning, University of South Australia. 

Shane Dawson, University of South Australia

Shane Dawson is the Executive Dean Education Futures and Professor of Learning Analytics at the University of South Australia. His current research relates to complex systems and academic leadership to evaluate adoption and applications of AI in education.

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Published

2024-02-27

How to Cite

Venaruzzo, L., Mirriahi, N., Poquet, O., & Dawson, S. (2024). “Strained and Strange”: Second-Year University Students’ Help-Seeking Strategies. Student Success, 15(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.3008

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Lynnae Venaruzzo, Negin Mirriahi, Oleksandra Poquet, Shane Dawson

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International Licence (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.