A Longitudinal Study to Understand University Students' Searching as a Learning Process

Abstract Learning, or addressing a gap in one's knowledge, is an important motivator behind information‐seeking activities. The Search as Learning research community advocates that information search systems should be reconfigured to become educational platforms to foster learning and sensemaking. Modern search systems have yet to adapt to support this function. An important step to foster learning during search is to identify behavioral patterns that distinguish searchers gaining more vs. less knowledge during search. Previous efforts have primarily studied searchers in the short term, typically during a single lab session. Researchers are concerned over this ephemeral approach, as learning is not fleeting, and takes place over time. We propose an exploratory longitudinal study to analyze the long‐term searching behaviour of students enrolled in a university course, over the span of a semester. Our research aims are to identify if and how students’ searching behaviour changes over time, as they gain new knowledge on a subject; and how processes like motivation, metacognition, self‐regulation, and other individual differences moderate their “searching as learning” behaviour. Findings from this exploratory longitudinal study will help to build improved information search systems that foster human learning and sensemaking.