Chapter 1: Introduction

Beginning with Nelson-Le Gall (1981), theoretical and empirical work over the past 30 years—including that of such contributors as Nadler, Goode, van der Meij, Dillon, Ryan, Butler, Newman, Zimmerman, and others—has established help seeking as a critical self-regulated learning strategy. That conclusion is evidenced by numerous journal articles, by two previous edited volumes devoted to the topic—Strategic Help Seeking: Implications for Learning and Teaching (Karabenick, 1998) and Help Seeking in Academic Settings: Goals, Groups, and Contexts (Karabenick & Newman, 2006)—and by several chapters and encyclopedia entries (Karabenick, 2011; Karabenick & Berger, 2013; Karabenick & Newman, 2009, 2010).

Research has consistently focused on help seeking in classrooms (e.g., Newman & Goldin, 1990; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998) involving interactions between teachers and peers and interactions among peers (e.g., Butler & Shibaz, 2008; Karabenick, 2004; Karabenick & Knapp, 1991; Ryan & Shim, 2012; Ryan & Shin, 2011). For some time, however, it has been evident that advances in technology would have important implications for help seeking (e.g., Keefer & Karabenick, 1998; Wood & Wood, 1999). That trend is due to the veritable explosion of information and communications technologies (ICT) that provide access to virtually unlimited information and helping resources, as well as the development of interactive learning environments and systems that are designed to deliver learner and context-sensitive help. Reflecting these developments, two journal special issue sections—one in Computers & Education (Puustinen & Rouet, 2009) and the other in Learning and Instruction (Mäkitalo-Siegl & Fischer, 2011)—recently presented innovative research on technology-supported help seeking. Furthermore, help seeking has been featured in the January 2012 Special Theme Section: (Adaptive and Intelligent Systems for Collaborative Learning) of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Learning Technology Newsletter (Graf, Karagiannidis, & Demetriadis, 2012).