Adaptive vs. Fixed Domain Support in the Context of Scripted Collaborative Learning

This study focuses on how to adaptively support small groups of students during a scripted collaborative activity: Forty (40) students collaborated remotely in dyads (in lab conditions) on a task structured by a collaboration script in the domain of multimedia learning. Half of the dyads (treatment group) were supported by a domain-specific adaptive intervention in the form of reminding prompts, while the rest of the dyads (control group) were supported by an informationally equivalent fixed form of support. Our main hypothesis was that the adaptive intervention would lead to better individual and group learning outcomes compared to the fixed one. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that (a) students in the treatment group outperformed those in the control group in domain knowledge acquisition, (b) dyads in the treatment group accomplished tasks more efficiently than the control dyads, and (c) dyads in the treatment group enacted more solution-convergent interactions than the control dyads. Overall, this study provides evidence that by implementing techniques of adaptive domain-specific support during a collaborative activity, instructors can substantially improve learning outcomes.