Information Sharing is Incongruous with Collaborative Convergence: The Case for Interaction

Abstract

Various authors have placed information sharing at the core of successful collaborative problem solving and learning. In this paper we report analyses of an experimental study that bring the sufficiency of an information sharing account of collaboration into question. One treatment group achieved greater convergence and integration of information in their handling of a complex problem, yet this same group shared less information in a hidden profile design. The pattern of convergence is more closely mirrored by interactivity quantified as the number of "round trips" addressing the same information items.