Information search behavior in fragile and conflict-affected learning contexts
Introduction
More than 1.8 billion people live in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and the number is expected to grow to 2.3 billion by 2030 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, 2018). The educational system is inherently political and can be perceived in such situations as both a victim or as a perpetrator (Al-Husseini & Elbeltagi, 2018; Pherali & Turner, 2018). In both cases, the motivation for teaching and learning is either affected negatively (Alenius et al., 2019; Al-Husseini & Elbeltagi, 2018), or positively (Pherali & Turner, 2018). Recognizing the fact that many countries touched by violence and systemic oppression are situated in Africa, Middle East and Latin America (OECD, 2018; World Bank, 2020), and that the existing body of research is skewed heavily toward the West (Young, 2014), leads us to the conclusion that little is known about whether western theories of teaching and learning are applicable to deprived societies.
Drawing upon this general gap, this paper attempts to track and interpret the information search behavior of students in a vulnerable society using literacy frameworks, studies concerning how information is produced, discovered, understood, and used (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011), and connectivism, a theory within the field of distance learning (AlDahdouh, 2018b, AlDahdouh, 2019, AlDahdouh, Osório, & Caires, 2015; Bozkurt et al., 2015, Siemens, 2005). The aim is to examine the degree to which those theories hold up in interpreting students' information search behavior in challenging contexts. The scope of the study is deliberately designed to be wide for two reasons. Firstly, previous research on information search behavior has developed into factions, each with a life of its own. These include online reading (Affouneh, Wimpenny, Ghodieh, Alsaud, & Obaid, 2018; Cho & Afflerbach, 2015; Coiro, 2011; Kiili, Bråten, Kullberg, & Leppänen, 2020), digital curation (Antonio, Martin, & Stagg, 2012; Antonio & Tuffley, 2015; Mihailidis, 2015; Song, Williams, Pruitt, & Schallert, 2017; Ungerer, 2016), copy-and-paste behavior or plagiarism (Akçapınar, 2015; Blau & Eshet-Alkalai, 2017; Chang, Chen, Huang, & Chou, 2015; Heckler & Forde, 2015; Kauffman & Young, 2015; Ma, McCabe, & Liu, 2013), and knowledge sharing (Chennamaneni, Teng, & Raja, 2012a; Teh, Yong, Chong, & Yew, 2011; Yilmaz, 2016). The holistic understanding of information search behavior is therefore dissected, which is why this current study adopts an integrative approach to behavior. Secondly, recent works, in countries suffering from structural violence and subjugation, show an increased interest in developing theoretical understanding of educational digitalization in accordance with their cultural specificities—based on the assumption that western-developed theories do not meet these requirements (Traxler, 2018; Traxler et al., 2019). Consequently, this paper questions this supposition.
Throughout this paper, the term information search behavior (ISB) refers to the way students search for, use, integrate, re-employ, create and share information when problem solving. Fragile and conflict-affected contexts (FCACs) are those countries or territories defined so by international organizations (World Bank, 2020). Taken together, the central research question guiding the current study is: To what extent ISB is significantly different in FCACs from those already known in western studies?
Section snippets
Literacy frameworks
There are literally dozens of technology-related literacy frameworks, including information literacy (Association of College & Research Libraries, ACRL, 2015), digital literacy, digital competence (Spante, Hashemi, Lundin, & Algers, 2018), critical literacy (Downes, 2015; Gainer, 2013; Rutten, Rodman, Wright, & Soetaert, 2013), new literacies (Leu et al., 2013; Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004; Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry, 2017), transliterarcy (Kathleen Dunaway, 2011), cyber
Methods
This study is exploratory in nature and was conducted remotely, where the researcher was located in different country than the participants. The approach to empirical research adopted for this study reflects a form of retrospective think-aloud protocols (RTA, also known as retrospective verbal protocol, prompted retrospective protocol and stimulated retrospective think-aloud; Ericsson, 2006; Ericsson & Simon, 1980; Kuusela & Paul, 2000; van den Haak, De Jong, & Jan Schellens, 2003; Van den
Results
Based on the consistent pattern of themes emerging throughout the course of the experiment, ISB can be summarized into four interrelated phases: (a) locating information, (b) information use, (c) remix & repurpose and, (d) knowledge sharing, as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 demonstrates how the participants flowed from one phase to another and shows the main categories under each phase. The themes under each category and their prevalence (M and SD of occurrence and the number of participants engaged)
Locating information
Formulating keywords is a poorly addressed and rarely investigated phase in the literature on ISB (e.g., Cho & Afflerbach, 2015; Kiili et al., 2008, Kiili et al., 2009). Furthermore, formulating keywords is commonly underestimated in online reading studies, that regard it as a low level behavioral skill (e.g., List & Alexander, 2019). We could not disagree more. As evident from the results of the current study, the failure to consider what to write in the search text box was one of the common
Conclusion
This study set out to examine whether ISB is significantly different in FCACs from those already known in western studies. The results of this investigation show that ISB of this sample overlaps with the expected behavior firmly outlined in connectivism and various literacy frameworks. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that ISB follows four interrelated phases: (a) locating information (i.e., formulating keywords, choosing links and evaluating content), (b) information use (i.e.,
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgements
I would like to show my gratitude to Professor António José Osório and Professor Susana Caires for their insightful comments on the earlier version of this study. My thanks go also to Ms. Hala Doghmosh who devoted her time to recruiting most of the participants in the study.
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