University students' online information searching strategies in different search contexts

Abstract

<span>This study investigates the role of search context played in university students' online information searching strategies. A total of 304 university students in Taiwan were surveyed with questionnaires in which two search contexts were defined as searching for learning, and searching for daily life information. Students' online search strategies were evaluated by the "Online Information Searching Strategy Inventory" (Tsai, 2009b). The results of paired t-tests indicated that university students' online search strategies utilised for searching daily life information were significantly better than those utilised for learning activities, especially in behavioural and metacognitive strategies. This study also drew a subsample of 20 students from the participants for in-depth interviews, to explore further the reasons for these findings. We suggest that educators need to pay more attention to helping students develop online search strategies for academic activities. In addition, only female students' metacognitive strategies were significantly different between search contexts. There may be an effect of the interaction between search context and gender on students' online searching strategies. Based on the above, suggestions are provided for future design and implementation of online information searching activities.</span>

¿Son adictos a las redes sociales los estudiantes universitarios?

“…El interrogante ¿pasan demasiado tiempo los estudiantes universitarios navegando en las redes?, confirma que estos consideran no pasar excesivo tiempo y que este no resta tiempo a sus estudios o vida académica tal y como se recoge en el estudio de Eyyam, Menevis y Doçiuer (2010), Tuñez y Sixto (2012) y Caldevilla (2010), ni a su vida personal o social fuera de Internet, de acuerdo con la idea de Muñoz (2010) de que las redes sociales están inmersas de tal modo en nuestras culturas que provocan una inteligencia colectiva, en tanto que podremos afirmar que proveen de oportunidades para el aprendizaje colaborativo y la construcción colectiva del conocimiento (Cress y Kinnenrle, 2008;Laru, Naykki y Jäivelä, 2012) Tampoco encontramos argumentos para señalar que estos estudiantes pueden ser considerados adictos a las redes, dado que no presentan los rasgos adictivos que señalan Durán y Guerra (2015) sentimiento de culpa, perder el controlenfadarse por ser interrumpido durante el tiempo que se encuentran conectados, tener trastornos de sueño, presentar un bajo rendimiento en sus estudios o desinterés por sus relaciones sociales fuera de la red y si para afirmar que fomenta la creación de una red de aprendizaje que proporcione autonomía a los miembros (Aguado, 2012). En conclusión, podríamos aventurarnos Por último, en lo que se refiere a la hipótesis referida a la existencia de diferencias entre hombres y mujeres, en el consumo de Internet y de las redes a favor de las mujeres frente a los hombres al contrario de los resultados alcanzados por Tsai, Liang, Hou y Tsai (2012), en el que reflejaban que los hombres tenían una mejor actitud y presencia ante y en Internet. Los estudios (Booth, Goodman y Kirkup, 2010;Jiménez-Albiar, Piqueras, et al, 2012) señalan como las mujeres pasan más tiempo conectadas a las redes, indicando que este lo emplean en establecer relaciones personales, mientras que los hombres prefieren o bien emplear el móvil o bien jugar a videojuegos.…”

Testing measurement invariance and latent mean differences across gender groups in college students’ Internet-specific epistemic beliefs

“…With respect to the advantages of the Internet and its vast integration into education, the digital divide in gender has been intensively concerned in the Internet-based learning environment (e.g., Chuang et al, 2008;Huang et al, 2013;Tsai et al, 2012). Digital divide referring to various inequalities in access to, and use of, technology may be conceived as a serious social problem, since some individuals may utilise the advantages of technology while others will not (Jones, Johnson-Yale, Millermaier, & Perez, 2009).…”

“…On the other hand, male students reveal more confidence to use the Internet than females do; however they tend to perceive the Internet as toy rather than tool for study (Peng et al, 2006). Within the Internet-based learning environment, the issue of a gender-related digital divide was extensively explored and debated (Selwyn, 2007;Tsai, Liang, Hou, & Tsai, 2012;Tsai & Tsai, 2010). Instead of access to the Internet, intention toward and perceptions of the Internet-based learning become the major issues of gender-related digital divide (Chen & Tsai, 2007;Huang et al, 2013).…”

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

“…Tsai et al note that an important stylistic characteristic of online search is the time of information processing [7]. The main differences in perceptive and regulative aspects of searching strategies are not related to procedural characteristics of the search, but are connected with behavioral and metacognitive spheres [8]. In general, the reviewed studies demonstrate the relationship between the preferred strategies for the online information search and particular levels of personal cognitive organization.…”