Cooperative learning was employed as an instructional approach to facilitate student development of spectroscopy problem solving skills. An interactive online environment was used as a framework to structure weekly discussions around spectroscopy problems outside of class. Weekly discussions consisted of modified jigsaw-style problem solving activities in which students cooperatively interpreted infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Students' use of the discussion site was monitored and revealed that they accessed discussions in the days prior to examinations. Together with attitudinal surveys, which were used to gauge student perceptions of the activities, these results indicate that students found the discussions to be a useful resource for learning spectroscopy.