This research will plan, build and evaluate a computer-supported cooperative problem solving environment that teaches people how to solve problems by working together. The environment is based on a communication competency model that assumes that a group's effectiveness depends upon the performance of communication competencies (or skills) that aid groups in solving problems. The model provides a preliminary categorization of the various communicative competencies that, in turn, can be represented in a computer-supported cooperative work environment through online tools designed to support related communication functions. Several precursors of this system have been developed by the principal investigator and were designed to teach effective problem solving skills, assess mission success, and support computer-supported cooperative problem solving for an information retrieval task. This work extends that research by developing a special computer-supported interface that can be used to investigate how to teach people to use communication competencies in order to solve problems more effectively.
