Promoting Effective Help-Seeking Behavior Through Declarative Instruction

The ability to use help-resources efficiently is an important skill in any learning environment, whether the student is in a traditional classroom or is using an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). Nevertheless, studies have shown that students’ actual help-seeking behavior is far from being ideal (Mandl et al. 2000, Aleven et al. 2001a; 2001b, Ryan et al. 1998). In this study, we present an evaluation of one way of improving such behavior – by giving the students direct instruction about efficient help-seeking behavior. Two classrooms using the Geometry Cognitive Tutor (Anderson et al. 1995) participated in the study. The instruction to the HELP group, aimed to improve their help-seeking behavior, included a walk-through example. The CONTROL group received instruction with a similar walk-through but without the help-seeking content. In two subsequent weeks, the HELP group used the system’s hints much more frequently than the CONTROL group. Though in general the students showed t...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: ITS
• Authors: Ido Roll, Vincent Aleven, Kenneth R. Koedinger
• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Et Al, Help-seeking Behavior, ITS 2004, Mandl Et Al