Learners’ regulatory actions as interleaving between moments of productive knowledge sharing during online collaboration

Collaborative problem solving in digital environments requires student groups to not only co-construct their ideas as a group but also regulate several aspects of their teamwork. Although prior research has linked group regulation to the group’s task performance, less is known about the immediate effects of regulation. Specifically, limited research has examined the types of regulation that could promote productive knowledge sharing during ongoing interactions. This study explored how six groups of varying performance levels exercised regulatory actions between moments of productive knowledge sharing (PKS) during text-based online interactions. We employed a computational technique to analyze the temporal changes in groups’ idea networks, identifying episodes where groups’ idea exchanges reached a productive level. Interpretations of students’ regulatory actions between PKS episodes were facilitated by Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Findings highlight the importance of examining multiple facets of regulatory actions at both the group and individual levels while contextualizing these actions within meaningful knowledge-sharing episodes. Socioemotional regulation was notably lacking during pre-task planning in low-performing groups. The lack of shared planning to reaffirm the group’s goal before starting the task appears to relate to groups experiencing behavioural coordination challenges, which likely reduce the chances of achieving PKS. Following instances of PKS, high-performing groups often monitored and evaluated their ideas or cognition, whereas low-performing groups focused on monitoring how the task was being completed. Patterns of individual members’ regulation across the ENA space revealed that members of high-performing groups regulated actively by diversifying their actions. The implications for supporting collaboration are discussed.