CoSolve: A system for engaging users in computer-supported collaborative problem solving

Recently there has been a trend toward online collaborative problem-solving. However, many systems either lack enough structure for participants to know where they can contribute or are too restrictive to allow collaborative solving. In this paper, we present our research prototype, CoSolve, a website that helps users cooperatively solve problems in a novel manner: solving sessions are represented visually as state-space search trees which solvers collaboratively generate, traverse and interact with online. We describe the problem-posing and problem-solving processes in our system, and present the affordances we designed for encouraging self-reflection and collaboration in the problem-solving process. Finally, we present observations from a user study conducted with teams of solvers who used CoSolve to solve a city-building problem. Users found CoSolve easy to use and helpful in problem solving. In addition, the study provides evidence that the state-space-search organization of problem-solving activity can serve effectively as the framework for human interaction in a computer-supported collaborative problem-solving system.