Enhancing Peer Exposure and Creating Opportunities for Bridging Social Capital Through an AI ‐Generated Summary‐Driven Learning Design in Online Discussion Forums

Background Providing discussion summaries and examples has long been recognised as an effective strategy to enhance students' engagement in online learning environments. While prior research has primarily focused on human‐written summaries and their influence on observable learning behaviours, recent advances in large language models and artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled both the generation of high‐quality AI‐produced discussion summaries and example posts and increased scholarly attention to this AI‐generated support. However, existing research has largely examined the technical performance, and little is known about the educational impact of such AI‐generated learning support, particularly in relation to students' peer interactions and the development of social capital in online forums. Objectives This study aimed to examine the impacts of an AI‐generated summary‐driven learning design (AI‐SLD) on students' viewing engagement and bridging social capital in online discussion forums. Methods A design‐based research approach was conducted with 128 university students over an eight‐week intervention. Forum log data was analysed using social network analysis to investigate changes in students' viewing activities and opportunities for bridging social capital. Thematic analysis of student interviews was undertaken to explain the behavioural and relational patterns. Results and Conclusions The findings indicate that AI‐SLD broadened students' exposure to peer contributions, strengthened overall network connectedness, and increased the opportunities for developing bridging social capital. AI‐generated summaries functioned as navigational scaffolds, helping students locate diverse perspectives more efficiently. However, AI‐SLD did not prevent the decrease in viewing activities in later weeks, suggesting that external academic workload moderated engagement.