The authors showcase the use of DocuViz, an information visualization tool, as a means to support middle school students’ online synchronous collaborative writing. The purpose of this study was to explore writing outcomes when students write in groups and independently. Providing students with a tool to help them understand their individual contributions to a collaboratively written Google Doc may be one reason why group‐written essays were significantly longer and received significantly higher rubric scores when compared with the independently written essays. Results also indicated that group writing had a positive impact on later independent essay writing. Student survey results reflect positive reactions to online collaborative writing. The authors conclude with a discussion of the theoretical contributions that this study makes to New Literacies Studies and provide guidelines for teachers interested in supporting students’ writing development through technology‐enhanced strategies that position students as partners in the writing process.
Group activities that use Google Docs for simultaneous collaborative writing and editing are increasingly common in higher education. Although studies show that synchronous collaboration can bring multiple benefits, such as enhanced productivity and writing quality, little is known about these writing practices in classrooms and their impact on students' writing. Using a mixed method approach, we conducted an empirical study that explores the different styles of synchronous collaboration in 45 Google Docs documents produced by 82 undergraduate students, and how students' practices affect the specific dimensions of the final text including quality. The results suggest that (a) out of four styles, Divide and Conquer style tended to produce better quality text whereas Main Writer had the lowest quality scores, and that (b) balanced participation and amount of peer editing led to longer texts with higher quality scores for content, evidence, but not organization or mechanics. Given these results, we suggest several design features for collaborative writing systems and propose guidelines for instructional practices.
Emerging technologies, especially social media, have transformed the forms and genres of writing. Studies suggest that pedagogically sound use of social media has the potential to increase students' motivation for writing, strengthen their awareness of audience and authorship, and promote writing development. These affordances of social media expand opportunities for second language learners to engage with writing in their daily lives and can enhance students' writing development in classroom environments.
Online synchronous collaborative writing in the classroom benefits learning, but how can teachers provide support before, during, and after students write together?
The Common Core State Standards emphasize the integration of technology skills into English Language Arts (ELA) instruction, recognizing the demand for technology‐based literacy skills to be college‐ and career‐ ready. This study aims to examine how collaborative cloud‐based writing is used in in a Colorado school district, where one‐to‐one computer access with netbooks and open source software is provided to all students. Specifically, this paper highlights how the middle school students’ online writing align with the specific domains of the Common Core ELA Standards. Implications for practices are also discussed based on the challenges and affordances of using cloud‐based collaborative writing in the district.
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