Using Question Prompts to Support Ill-Structured Problem Solving in Online Peer Collaborations

&The present study investigated the effects of question prompts and online peer collaborations on solving illstructured problems. Sixty undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups: collaboration with question prompts, individual with question prompts, collaboration without question prompts, and individual without question prompts. They were asked to solve real-world ill-structured problems in a case scenario. The results revealed significant effects of question prompts in ill-structured problem solving at both overall and univariate levels. However, there was no significant effect of online peer collaboration and no significant interaction. This study has implications for instructional designers and educators in designing collaborative learning activities with technology support.

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