Promoting collaboration through resource interdependence to enhance collaborative concept mapping

Interest in collaborative concept mapping studies has grown steadily over the years. However, insufficient studies compare collaborative concept mapping with other similarly robust collaborative activities. Another limitation is that existing collaborative concept mapping studies seldom elaborate on the extent of participants' interactions with each other. To address these limitations, this study uses a 2 x 2 factorial design in which collaborative activity (concept mapping vs. summary writing) was crossed with resource distribution (interdependence vs. independence). Participants (n = 428) were assigned to dyads, and the 214 dyads were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. The dependent measures were immediate and delayed retention and transfer, and cognitive load. Results indicated a significant main effect for resource distribution for immediate recall. However, no other significant effects were obtained indicating that the conditions yielded comparable learning outcomes. Theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the results are discussed, and future research directions are presented.