Increasingly, students use the internet for self-directed learning in higher education, requiring them to develop skills to determine which information is reliable and accurate. Although the need to understand, evaluate, and promote such skills is crucial, little is known about the students’ search for and use of online sources (and the key influences of those sources) in higher education. Current research indicates both that students need specific skills to successfully engage and learn with online materials, and that university practitioners need to rethink their curricula and instructional approaches for online teaching in the age of ChatGPT and other AI-supported tools. Interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical methods can help us gain a deeper understanding of how students develop the various skills required for successful online learning, and how we can support them across domains.