Student-Adopted Self-Regulating Strategies of Seeking Help or Information in Higher Education in Lithuania

Abstract

Aim. The present study aimed at establishing self-regulating strategies used by Lithuanian undergraduate students when they could not accomplish their academic assignments due to a lack of necessary information. By establishing data-based evidence regarding student choices of seeking help or information made under the circumstances preventing them from fulfilling academic tasks, the study addresses the existing research gap in the field. Methods. The present research is part of larger mixed-method research (n = 309) conducted at four universities in Lithuania. The data for this study were collected from two university students’ (n = 140) responses to the open-ended question “What strategies do you use if / when you do not have all the necessary information for accomplishing your academic assignments?”. To analyse the data, qualitative methodology was chosen, and the inductive (bottom-up) content analysis was used. Results. Content analysis revealed four major categories (covering five subcategories) of student-adopted self-regulating strategies, such as using a combination of different strategies of seeking help or information, relying exclusively on the strategy of Internet search, using the strategy of seeking help from different stakeholders, and taking no action. Conclusions. It can be concluded that most students sought help proactively, i.e., they used up to three self-regulating strategies to solve the problem of lack of information necessary for their studies, on the one hand. On the other hand, it was concluded that the students who used only one strategy or did not take any action should be encouraged to seek different forms of help or sources of information, which could foster their self-regulated learning. The findings also call for research into the use of Generative AI in undergraduate studies. Cognitive value. This study contributes to research by providing evidence from a Lithuanian case on student-adopted strategies of seeking help or information relevant for the development of students’ self-regulated learning.