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.

翻译：理解电子学习中的信息搜寻行为至关重要，因为学习者常常需要理解复杂且碎片化的信息，这一挑战在具有多样化先验知识的跨学科领域中尤为突出。与传统电子教程相比，生成式人工智能（GenAI）电子教程提供了导航信息空间的新途径，然而它们如何影响学习者的信息搜寻行为仍不明确。为填补这一空白，我们运用定向搜索的三种模式，刻画了传统电子教程学习与生成式人工智能介导的电子教程学习之间的行为差异。我们进行了一项组间研究，学习者分别使用传统电子教程或生成式人工智能电子教程，访问相同的基础信息内容。研究发现，传统用户对信息空间保持了更高的认知度和专注度，而生成式人工智能用户则表现出更积极主动和探索性的行为，且由于查询驱动的交互方式，其认知负荷较低。这些发现为电子学习中的教程设计提供了指导。