Changing the Optics: Comparing Traditional and Retrieval-Augmented GenAI E-Tutorials in Interdisciplinary Learning

TL;DR

This study compares traditional and GenAI e-tutorials in interdisciplinary learning, revealing how each influences learners' information-seeking behaviors and cognitive load, informing better tutorial design.

Contribution

It provides the first behavioral comparison between traditional and GenAI e-tutorials using the three search modes, highlighting differences in awareness, focus, and exploration.

Findings

Traditional users maintain greater awareness and focus.

GenAI users exhibit more proactive and exploratory behaviors.

GenAI interactions result in lower cognitive load.

Abstract

Understanding information-seeking behaviors in e-learning is critical, as learners must often make sense of complex and fragmented information, a challenge compounded in interdisciplinary fields with diverse prior knowledge. Compared to traditional e-tutorials, GenAI e-tutorials offer new ways to navigate information spaces, yet how they shape learners information-seeking behaviors remains unclear. To address this gap, we characterized behavioral differences between traditional and GenAI-mediated e-tutorial learning using the three search modes of orienteering. We conducted a between-subject study in which learners engaged with either a traditional e-tutorial or a GenAI e-tutorial accessing the same underlying information content. We found that the traditional users maintained greater awareness and focus of the information space, whereas GenAI users exhibited more proactive and exploratory behaviors with lower cognitive load due to the querying-driven interaction. These findings offer guidance for designing tutorials in e-learning.