Abstract
The goal of this research was to investigate the effects of interface design on the participation, interaction, and achievement of students in a computer-mediated small-group discussion. Previous research indicated that computer-mediated communication systems encouraged a breakdown in the normative constraints of social interaction. Because of the unrestricted ability to participate within a computer-mediated system, any member may interject a comment or response that is out of sync with the rest of the group. This creates havoc with the flow of an interaction because the member was not properly cognizant of the current state of the discussion, through reading the preceding comments by other group members. This study investigated whether this breakdown in normative structure could be repaired by redesigning the user interface. Consequently, specific software was designed and developed to investigate this question. One version of the software used a graphic-based interface while the second version utilized the more traditional text-based interface. A sample of sixty-five students participated in the study. Subjects in the graphic-based version sent more messages and addressed them more often to an individual than subjects using the text-based interface. There was, however, no difference in the amount of participation or achievement between the two conditions. The results of this study suggest that it is possible to design an interface that encourages the use of constraints normative to group interaction. This has important implications for small-group instruction.
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