Researchers and practitioners of online education have consistently emphasized the importance of facilitating peer interaction and mutual support to create a sense of community, which in turn may enhance motivation, promote extrinsic accountability, and improve learning outcomes. Despite these assertions, experimental evidence on the effects of peer support in college online courses is limited. To address this gap, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of a study-together group intervention on students' academic and non-cognitive outcomes in a for-credit online course at a public four-year college. Our findings indicate that students who were offered a study-together group reported a higher sense of belonging than those who were not. Additionally, students with lower academic preparation and lower baseline motivation demonstrated improved academic performance as a result of this intervention, while students who preferred passive interaction reported increased motivation. However, for students with higher baseline motivation and those who preferred active interaction, the intervention appeared to negatively influence their time management.

在线教育的研究人员和从业者一直强调促进同伴互动和相互支持以创造社区意识的重要性，这反过来又可以增强动机，促进外在责任感并改善学习成果。尽管有这些主张，但关于大学在线课程中同伴支持的影响的实验证据仍然有限。为了解决这一差距，我们进行了一项随机对照试验，以在一所公立四年制大学的学分在线课程中检验集体学习干预对学生学业和非认知结果的影响。我们的研究结果表明，获得共同学习小组的学生比没有参加共同学习小组的学生有更高的归属感。此外，由于这种干预，学业准备程度较低和基线动机较低的学生的学业成绩有所提高，而喜欢被动互动的学生则表示动机有所提高。然而，对于基线动机较高的学生和喜欢积极互动的学生来说，干预似乎会对他们的时间管理产生负面影响。