Where Do Students Look for Information?

Abstract

This paper describes a study of how students used sources of information when trying to solve problems, while carrying out software development projects in their courses. The study took the form of a questionnaire, based on the hypotheses that the students would need different kinds of information, which would come from different kinds of sources, so that they would need to search various sources to find it. The paper presents descriptive statistics for the data that was obtained, and analyses the relationships within this data. The main conclusion from these results is that, while students did search a range of sources, they mainly relied on material that had been provided specifically to supplement the textbooks, and also on learning from each other. There were also some indications that they would benefit from being given more guidance than currently about where best to look for different kinds of information.