Effects of four CSCL strategies for enhancing online discussion forums: Social interdependence, summarizing, scripts, and synchronicity

In computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL), optimizing outcomes requires specific strategies to structure and support peer interaction. This study examines four CSCL strategies thought to enhance students' cooperative perceptions in online discussion forums: social interdependence, summarizing, scripts, and synchronicity. Using an experimental-control design, 617 nursing students were randomly assigned to conditions in a semester-length online graduate-level course. As expected, summarizing and scripts had additive effects on motivation (academic efficacy, value), peer relations (epistemic conflict regulation), and academic achievement. Unexpectedly, students working alone had higher achievement scores than students in asynchronous cooperative conditions, at least in the short-term. Results were inconclusive as to whether students' cooperative perceptions or other unmeasured factors underlied these findings. Results inform theory by demonstrating further evidence that asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) represents a boundary condition for social interdependence. Results also inform practice by showing that summarizing and scripts have additive effects on motivation, peer relations, and achievement.