Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> Apparatus is disclosed wherein analog signals produced by a plurality of sensors are multiplexed and applied to an analog to digital converter wherein each analog signal is converted to a digital word signal. The apparatus further includes circuitry which is responsive to the digital word signals when any one of such signals represents the amplitude of an analog signal above a selected value for causing a tape transport mechanism to be energized. <s> BIB001 </s> Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> The article summarizes the empirical results on relations between students' problem stages in the course of writing their research proposals for their master's theses and the information sought, choice of search terms and tactics and relevance assessments of the information found for that task. The study is based on Kuhlthau's model of the information search process. The results of the study show that there is a close connection between the students' problem stages (mental model) in the task performance and the information sought, search tactics used, and the assessment of the relevance and utility of the information found. The corroborated hypotheses extend and specify ideas in Kuhlthau's model in the domain of IR. A theory of task-based information searching based on the empirical findings of the study is presented. <s> BIB002 </s> Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> We analyzed how effort in searching is associated with search output and task outcome. In a field study, we examined how students' search effort for an assigned learning task was associated with precision and relative recall, and how this was associated to the quality of learning outcome. The study subjects were 41 medical students writing essays for a class in medicine. Searching in Medline was part of their assignment. The data comprised students' search logs in Medline, their assessment of the usefulness of references retrieved, a questionnaire concerning the search process, and evaluation scores of the essays given by the teachers. Pearson correlation was calculated for answering the research questions. Finally, a path model for predicting task outcome was built. We found that effort in the search process degraded precision but improved task outcome. There were two major mechanisms reducing precision while enhancing task outcome. Effort in expanding Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms within search sessions and effort in assessing and exploring documents in the result list between the sessions degraded precision, but led to better task outcome. Thus, human effort compensated bad retrieval results on the way to good task outcome. Findings suggest that traditional effectiveness measures in information retrieval should be complemented with evaluation measures for search process and outcome. <s> BIB003 </s> Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> Aggregated search is the task of blending results from specialized search services or verticals into the Web search results. While many studies have focused on aggregated search techniques, few studies have tried to better understand how users interact with aggregated search results. This study investigates how task complexity and vertical display (the blending of vertical results into the web results) affect the use of vertical content. Twenty-nine subjects completed six search tasks of varying levels of task complexity using two aggregated search interfaces: one that blended vertical results into the web results and one that only provided indirect vertical access. Our results show that more complex tasks required significantly more interaction and that subjects completing these tasks examined more vertical results. While the amount of interaction was the same between interfaces, subjects clicked on more vertical results when these were blended into the web results. Our results also show an interaction between task complexity and vertical display; subjects clicked on more verticals when completing the more complex tasks with the interface that blended vertical results. Subjects' evaluations of the two interfaces were nearly identical, but when analyzed with respect to their interface preferences, we found a positive relationship between system evaluations and individual preferences. Subjects justified their preference using similar rationales and their comments illustrate how the display itself can influence judgments of information quality, especially in cases when the vertical results might not be relevant to the search task. <s> BIB004 </s> Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> One of the most challenging aspects of designing an interactive information retrieval (IIR) study is the development of search tasks. In this paper, we present preliminary results of a study designed to evaluate a set of search tasks that were developed for use in IIR studies. We created 20 search tasks using five levels of cognitive complexity and four domains, and conducted a laboratory evaluation of these tasks with 48 undergraduate subjects. We describe preliminary results from an analysis of data from 24 subjects for 10 search tasks. Initial results show that, in general, as cognitive complexity increased, subjects issued more queries, clicked on more search results, viewed more URLs and took more time to complete the task. Subjects' expected and experienced difficulty ratings of tasks generally increased as cognitive complexity increased with some exceptions. When subjects were asked to rank tasks according to difficulty and engagement, tasks with higher cognitive complexity were rated as more difficult than tasks with lower cognitive complexity, but not necessarily as more engaging. These preliminary results suggest that behaviors and ratings are fairly consistent with the differences one might expect among the search tasks and provide initial evidence of the usefulness of these tasks in IIR studies. <s> BIB005 </s> Towards searching as a learning process : A review of current perspectives and future directions <s> Construct of learning in search contexts <s> One of the most challenging aspects of designing interactive information retrieval (IIR) experiments with users is the development of search tasks. We describe an evaluation of 20 search tasks that were designed for use in IIR experiments and developed using a cognitive complexity framework from educational theory. The search tasks represent five levels of cognitive complexity and four topical domains. The tasks were evaluated in the context of a laboratory IIR experiment with 48 participants. Behavioral and self-report data were used to characterize and understand differences among tasks. Results showed more cognitively complex tasks required significantly more search activity from participants (e.g., more queries, clicks, and time to complete). However, participants did not evaluate more cognitively complex tasks as more difficult and were equally satisfied with their performances across tasks. Our work makes four contributions: (1) it adds to what is known about the relationship among task, search behaviors and user experience; (2) it presents a framework for task creation and evaluation; (3) it provides tasks and questionnaires that can be reused by others and (4) it raises questions about findings and assumptions of many recent studies that only use behavioral signals from search logs as evidence for task difficulty and searcher satisfaction, as many of our results directly contradict these findings. <s> BIB006
In terms of the construct of learning, there have been at least four distinct ways of conceptualizing learning with respect to searching. Traditionally, information science researchers have conceptualized learning as context for searching. Kuhlthau's  Information Search Process Model describes information searching as a process of constructing meaning while completing a research assignment in a learning context. This model distinguishes the learning context for searching from the work context or everyday life context. For other information retrieval researchers  BIB002 BIB003 , learning is defined as conceptual change. This means that learning changes or reinforces existing knowledge structure. Learning has been also conceptualized as the interactive intention of searching. Interactive intentions refer to subgoals that a user seeks to achieve in the process of searching  . For instance, people may set the following intentions: learning domain knowledge, learning information system features, learning information retrieval skills or learning database content  . Finally, the taxonomy of learning (i.e. remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating) designed by Bloom and his colleagues  BIB001 has been used to characterize different kinds of search tasks BIB004 BIB005 BIB006 . Recently, Arguello et al. BIB004 used Anderson and Krathwohl's learning tasks  to develop search tasks that reflect different amounts of cognition and effort required to complete the tasks. Wu et al. BIB005 and Kelly et al. BIB006 also used Anderson and Krathwhol's  taxonomy when they evaluated a set of search tasks in terms of levels of cognitive complexity across multiple domains. More research is needed to better understand the construct of learning in search contexts. For the time being, it is important for researchers to define the construct of learning in each study, as learning can be defined in a variety of different ways.