Effects of Face-to-face and Computer-mediated Constructive Controversy on

Social Interdependence, Motivation, and Achievement

Cary Roseth, Andy Saltarelli, Chris Glass

College of Education

Intro• Exponential growth in online course enrollment and

concerns about the value and legitimacy of online education (Allen & Seaman, 2010)

• The integration of online technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge is paramount (i.e., TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006)

• Purpose: move beyond questions of FTF vs. online to examine how specific affordances of computer-mediated communication (CMC) affect cooperative learning

• Specifically, we examined the relative impact of FTF and CMC versions of constructive controversy on students’ perceptions of social interdependence, motivation, and achievement.

Constructive Controversy• Constructive controversy is a cooperative learning

procedure designed to create intellectual conflict among students (Johnson & Johnson, 2007, 2009)

• 30 – 40 min procedure in which students argue conflicting views about a controversial topic while concurrently maintain cooperative perceptions

• 5-step procedure:

Media Richness• Key question: Does CMC moderate the effects of

constructive controversy? • Two views:• 1) Greater media richness offers higher quality

communication and is more conducive to relational processes (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976)• Question: Sync > Async?• Question: Video > Audio > Text?

• 2) Communicators compensate for the absence of nonverbal social cues, adapt language to the affordances and constraints of whatever form of CMC they are using (Walther 1992, 1996)• Question: Sync = Async?• Question: Video = Audio = Text?

Two FTF Theories, Contrasting Mechanisms

• Social interdependence theory (Deutsch, 1973; Johnson & Johnson, 2005 ) • Social Interdependence (Coop) Achievement

Motivation• Question: Does CMC affect students’ perceptions of

cooperative goals?• Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) • Meeting psychological needs Motivation

Achievement• Question: Does CMC affect students’ perceptions of

competence, relatedness, value, and interest?

Method• 1 (control: face-to-face) x 3 (medium: video, audio, text)

x 2 (synchronicity: synchronous, asynchronous) experimental-control design

• 7 course sections, 101 undergraduates (77 female)• Random assignment

• Class sections: FTF (1 section), synchronous CMC (3 sections), and asynchronous CMC conditions (3 sections)

• Individuals : Video, audio, text conditions respectively – Skype™ • Partners (dyads)

• Controversy: (“Should schools try to increase student’s self-esteem?”)

• Each dyad given unique activity scaffold -- Google Docs™

MethodGoogle DocsTM Online Activity Scaffold

Method• Synchronous CMC: dyads complete entire activity over

70 min. class period • Asynchronous CMC: dyads complete activity over 7 days• Dependent variables: social interdependence (i.e., Coop,

Comp, Indiv), Motivation, Achievement

MethodVideo Audio

Text

Video

Results• Main effects of synchronicity:• Cooperative perceptions• Sync > Async

• Individualistic perceptions• Async > Sync

• Motivation (relatedness & value)• Sync > Async

• Achievement (completion rate)• Sync 100% > Async 62.5%

• Achievement (knowledge)• Async > Sync

• No main effects of media

Results• FTF control compared with all 6 experimental

conditions• Cooperative perceptions

• FTF > Async

• Individualistic perceptions• Async > FTF

• Motivation (relatedness & value)• FTF > Async

• Achievement (completion rate)• FTF 100% > Async 62.5%

• Achievement• No sig differences among students completing procedure

Discussion• Results suggest that CMC synchronicity moderates

outcomes of constructive controversy.• Decreases cooperative perceptions• Decreases motivation (relatedness and value)• Decreases achievement

• Social Interdependence Theory Decreasing cooperative and increasing individualistic perceptions are relational processes by which achievement and motivation decrease under asynchronous CMC

• Self-determination Theory Decreasing relatedness represents an unfulfilled need that undermines motivation and results in decreased achievement.