Introduction
The needs for online academic help-seeking and flipped learning Over the past two decades, teaching and learning processes have been influenced by technological, instructional and pedagogical advances (Chou & Tsai, 2002; Kavanoz, Yuksel & Ozcan, 2015). Nowadays, students’ demands are transforming because their study habits and learning strategies have already changed due to the pervasiveness of the Internet (Persico & Pozzi, 2015). Regardless of which teaching or learning mode is used, students’ learning outcomes are one of the most important things for educators. In order to keep up with the rapid evolution of the education environment, teachers must update themselves on the potential of new teaching approaches frequently, and apply those to their instruction. Even though computers, digital tools, and educational technologies have been deemed as benefits to the education field, the potential advantages are not comprehensively understood (Wu, Kuo, Jen & Hsu, 2015). As a result of the educational revolution, many colleges and universities now offer online programs or digital courses (Wei, Peng & Chou, 2015). Convinced that information technology (IT) can improve their teaching quality, relationships with their students, and provide students with effective educational experiences, many teachers have devoted themselves to apply IT and make effective use of it in class (Persico & Pozzi, 2015). A blended learning environment such as flipped classroom allows students to discover their own problems, encourages them in active learning and to have an open-minded attitude to create an atmosphere of cooperative learning (Tsai, Shen & Lu, 2015). Moreover, a web-based learning environment is helpful for improving learners’ help-seeking behaviours and influences their learning processes (Makitalo-Siegl & Fischer, 2011). Therefore, students’ online learning experience and related processes is a popular research topic, and has recently been investigated by several teams (Roby, Ashe, Singh, & Clark, 2013; Tsai & Tsai, 2013). However, online learning also introduces some difficulties; for example, students may suffer alienation and isolation when they study in an online environment (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004; Tsai, 2013a). Thus, the authors of this study applied online academic help-seeking (OAHS), which refers to the spontaneous behavior of students requesting assistance from others or peers through the Internet (Cheng & Tsai, 2011), and investigated the effects on students’ learning in a flipped course. In the 1990s, it was found that students felt physically isolated when they participated in online courses (Cereijo, Young & Wilhelm, 2001; Daugherty & Funke, 1998), especially when the instructor could not immediately provide feedback to learners (McIsaac, Blocher, Mahes, & Vrasidas, 1999). This problem remains till today; students suffer isolation when they study in an online environment and this situation is often considered to be unavoidable (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004). In Taiwan, most students of compulsory education are taught by didactic, or spoon-fed, education. Upon entering college and participating in an online course without teacher’s on-the-spot support, students may not concentrate on learning materials, especially when seduced by potential distractions such as playing online games, surfing shopping websites, watching online series, and being addicted to social networks (Tsai, 2013b). The importance of students’ involvement, self-efficacy, and self-directed learning Online, blended learning, or flipped learning (FL) provides flexibility and accessibility. Different from traditional teaching approach, FL refers to instructors asking students to watch prescribed videos before class with other teaching materials to acquire knowledge and basic concepts, while the following in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions of that content (Davies, Dean, & Ball, 2013).
