Instructional settings differ in highly consequential ways, and the challenge of designing high quality instructional materials for the web is to adapt to its special opportunities and constraints. Those special opportunities and constraints arise mainly from the possibility of engaging every student in a unique dialogue taking place apart from physically present interactional partners. There are losses in this, but also gains, and the trick is to take advantage of the gains by finding designs that are tailored to the strengths of the medium. One promising avenue for design of web-based instruction is the incorporation of argumentation protocols into instruction. As compared with a control group that only had to state an opinion on the topic and write a justification of their opinions at the beginning and at the end of the experimental period, the group engaging in argumentation with others achieved superior topical insight and superior argument quality.
Argumentation stimulates deeper processing and more critical thinking.
However, argumentation is interpersonally complex, having not only intellectual dimensions but also highly-charged relational dimensions. Among peers, argumentative exchange has a competititive quality that can make it difficult for arguers to change their minds once committed to a position. Consider how best to design argumentation processes for instruction. To promote depth processing, contradiction and confrontation should be emphasized and exploration of the grounds for belief and disbelief should be expanded. Conditions known to threaten critical discussion include artificial limitations on participation, limitations in individual ability, personal identity concerns, and hierarchical social relationships-all of which play prominent roles in classrooom communication.