Strategies for Online Information Search by University Students: the Relationship between Educational Use of the Internet and Cognitive Styles

Abstract

The paper presents the results of experimental study of students’ information searching strategies on the Internet. The study was aimed to analyze the relationship between university students’ strategies of information Internet search for educational tasks and style characteristics of their cognitive activities (styles of information coding, styles of information processing and styles of cognitive regulation). The study was based on the Level model of cognitive-style characteristics (Kholodnaya, 2002). Main methods of study were experimental modelling of educational situations and testing for assessment of students’ styles of information coding, information processing and cognitive regulation. The results of experimental study allowed to identify two strategies of educational online searching (“direct online searching” and “improving online searching”) and their relationship with students’ cognitive characteristics and academic achievements: students’ strategies of educational online search are determined primarily by the characteristics of cognitive regulation. The results did not reveal a direct link between strategies educational online search and academic achievement.