7.5.5: BYOD any device can do

I have had a two prong experience in the use of BYOD any device can do in two different contexts with two very different results.

 One experience was with teacher trainees at the National Teachers’ College where we started with a 1:1 desk tops with the trainees. The basis was that each trainee was to have a google account to enable uniformity and ease of access to the class blog. After having  created  a google account and also after having the link to the class blog, each student was free to use any device anywhere anytime to access the classroom blog and write a constructive blog post while ‘listening’ to others as well.

This was at Kaliro National Teachers’ College. I was in Kampala. I monitored their responses. I guided their learning. I encouraged collaboration and the refining each other’s posts. (From the comfort of my office)  Each student was working on their own but under one platform- the class blog. At the beginning their blog posts were messy and rambling but their writing improved progressively into writing short sharp formulaic blog posts.

The teacher trainees enjoyed this new experience in which they felt responsible for  their own learning, collaborative spirit replaced the competitive one, they listened to their own and to other students voices and in doing so built their knowledge  co- constructively. Theirs was a hands- on experience with BYOD any device can do.

At one institution of Higher Learning I had been tasked with teaching English to students from the Francophone countries. I opted to use the mobile phone in the class with each student using their own. We downloaded the Merrian Webstar dictionary which formed the basis of learning English in the classroom.

Here too the students worked a lot on their own, collaboratively navigating, comparing the words or phrases in French and English, and checked pronunciation and spelling, I was a guide, nudging the students on.

Alas! My class had to be stopped because I was not ‘teaching!’

BYOD in the classroom is possible only if the Head of the institution believes in student-centred learning and appreciates the 21^st Century learning.

7.4.4 TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING SPACES

My experience with the consensus-building process is that it placed knowledge construction/building among us participants within the two groups of Technology group and Construction group rather than between us and the tutor.

Consensus building encouraged each of us  to coordinate different points of view, which in turn enhanced reasoning, higher order thinking skills and self-reflection  that promoted shared knowledge construction since we had to ‘actively listen’, be ‘listened’ to, and reach consensus. Consensus building promoted a ‘group- as –a - whole’ collaboration growth and learning. It is a great way to learn.

On the other hand, technology in the hands of our students means that the classroom walls become almost theoretical; no longer would each room need to contain them and their learning, they would have access to everything and everyone that could possibly help them along in their learning journey.

I will illustrate using three examples:

With devices like iPads for example, students are no longer confined to a computer lab. As soon as an assignment is available students can work on it inside their classroom, at home, while waiting on the bus, in between classes, etc. Mobile classroom technology can bridge the gap between classroom and home learning.

 Skype can connect one classroom with any other. It can connect the learners to individuals, experts or colleagues that can offer them insight to without them (experts) having to leave their own workplace. The teacher could take the opportunity to make connections with schools from around the world and benefit from an exciting mutual relationship. The teacher in Uganda could ask American students how they are taught about The Great Gatsby or slavery or civil rights, or ask South African students what it is like to live day to day, post-apartheid. These first-hand cultural experiences and reflections could be invaluable to Ugandan students, and more importantly it helps reinforce the idea of global citizenship.

YouTube for example, allows students voice an opinion or an idea to the rest of the world, and it is just possible, (Check my latest video on this link: https://youtu.be/KTEtGK2wxNk) that if they get it right, the rest of the world might respond. This kind of global feedback is utterly incredible and frankly inspiring, and the power of something like this as a learning tool cannot be underestimated.

Technology used well can be inspiring. Technology used well can break down boundaries.

However, what is harder to achieve in the delivery of online learning, is to harness that element of social support that many students need as they hit challenges. It is hard to find the online equivalent of the individual chat /face to face interaction at the end of a class with a struggling student or the group of students who naturally have a face to face discussion over an issue , and take solace in discovering that they are not the only ones who find a topic difficult.

7.3.4 Technology: Change :Learning spaces

This unit has forced me into evaluating how far our own Ugandan education institutions are moving away from the basic classroom and towards embracing new technology tools in teaching and learning. I will show case four  types of technology embrace and use:

Kyambogo University has developed an e learning Management system (KELMS) which encourages all trained staff to develop content for at least two course units in their area of expertise and upload it in the e-platform. As a result of this, quite a number of working class students have already expressed interest to study online.

Makerere University is using technology to augment traditional teaching materials and methodologies through using the net as a major teaching aid – supplementing texts which are costly, in short supply and often out of date.

 As a result, Makerere now has a large number of web-based courses available from reputable universities. As an example, over 900 courses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are available for web based learning (http://ocw.mit.edu/). The set of courses includes a wide range of disciplines from Aeronautics to Writing (almost A–Z). This OpenCourseWare is freely available, and Makerere has mounted a local mirror copy18 of the entire set of courses.

Facilities such as MIT’s I-Labs (online laboratories) is helping to relieve the pressure and deliver world-class instructional materials (I-Labs are now in trial and will be widely deployed with the help of MIT and Carnegie grants). Students of Architecture no longer use drawing tables – They do all of their work using CAD/CAM software tools and facilities.

At a broader level, a  robust Teacher training in the integration of ICTs in teaching and learning sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning (CCTI) and  using  the Learning management systems (LMSs) is currently on going. Through this platform the participants (as I am doing here) are able to access the platform using a password. CCTI works modules with our instructor based in South Africa the instructor selects and presents the material to us. Sometimes we work individually sometimes we are organized in groups with opportunities for (online) discussion, we work through the materials at roughly the same pace, reflect on our blogs and assessment is by end-of-course tests.

The advantage of using an LMS (CCTI) platform here is the nature of its multimedia content. Text, video and audio are fully integrated. Also the online discussion is mainly asynchronous and the course content is available at anytime from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Above all, the CCTI platform is also flexible enough in many ways that break away from the traditional classroom model.

Finally, The British Council together with the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) and the Ministry of Education organized the third Teachers Forum  26th- 28th October 2016 , with the theme “Digital Literacy: The Effective Use of ICT in Enhancing the Quality of Education.”

Gayaza High school attended the forum and show cased how ICT integration is working for them. The deputy Head Teacher had this to say

"Technology helps us as teachers the way we deliver information in the classrooms. It is a great teaching aid in creating of content by not only the teachers... but thanks to ICT students too can." 

Gayaza High School has proven that ICT can be used in making learning practical and activity based. As an example, through Video shooting, students visited the market and designed marketing tools. As a teaching aid, peer learning is more simplified and exciting. Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUYrGJbkZM

See how far we have come?

7.2.4 Reflect ; THE WIKI AND THE WARMWARE

I learnt that the term ‘Wiki’i is a Hawai'ian word meaning "fast" or "quick."

That is it!

In using the wiki I was able to edit the various pieces and parts of web page by reading, writing and thinking concurrently. In this manner I were able to build on others’ knowledge – adding deleting improving – an indication of Wikis ability to demonstrate that knowledge is both cumulative and ever-changing.

I appreciated that Wikis help track versioning, capturing the history of all edits so that I was able to track who contributed and how they contributed. Thus I was able to ‘track changes’ inadvertently. Above all, the collaborative aspect of the wiki highlights the concept that reading, writing and learning should not be done in isolation in the classroom.

To edit a wiki, I did not use need any additional software other than the browser.

In the classroom I would use a wiki because wikis encourage participation of everyone and also the validity of contributions are  made for the collective good rather than the individual although through this process an individual writer completely loses his/her personal voice ( which is important for a budding writer)

On a funny note,at one moment I lost all my edits because I closed the tab before I had hit the ‘Save’ button.

Quotable quotes: A reflection of my learning

 Warmware are “the people who use or operate (often very unsuccessfully) the software running on the hardware” (Urban Dictionary definition)

The recent OCED report Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection states that “the successful integration of technology in education is not so much a matter of choosing the right device, the right amount of time to spend with it, the best software or the right digital textbook. The key elements for success are the teachers, school leaders and other decision makers who have the vision, and the ability, to make the connection between students, computers and learning.” If this is the case, why is so little time and money spent on this crucial “missing link” in ICT integration?

                          

Is CCTI making this connection? Is Uganda making this connection?

                                                 

7.1 LEARNING SPACE AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

While engaging in this activity my companion was the task, my computer, the tutorial, my phone and myself. ‘Far away’ were the tutor and my fellow course mates. I worked largely with the first three and less obviously with the last two. I started working in Kampala and carried my laptop and WIFI along to Lira (up country) where I am now writing this.

What then is a learning space? Is it different from a learning environment?  I needed learning space-(Physical) someplace anywhere where I could sit and work freely with concentration. This space also included having a laptop (hardware and software), electricity and a reliable network.

I would not have successfully produced the video annotation if the learning environment was not conducive: the factors that influence learning - learning resources and technology, means of teaching and modes of learning (the CCTI platform), and connections to societal and global contexts, human behavioral and cultural dimensions, including the vital role of emotion in learning. Therefore, Space becomes environment when it is stretched to include a broader sense of place, as well as the people who participate and the culture in which these elements are situated. The idea of environment invites a wider range of participants: administrators of various levels and functions, faculty, guest experts, librarians, IT staff, instructional designers, and learning theorists and researchers. The term implies a multiplicity of players, forces, and systems interacting. Environment is dynamic—changing in response to influences from outside or arising inside.

In doing all this I became a producer of knowledge, my skills of critical thinking and creativity were stretched taut, I collaborated with my course mates and shared my video on you tube. I conclude with this thought:  technologies and teaching methods will continue to evolve means that the job of creating effective learning environments is a journey, not a destination.

The lingering question here is: Is Uganda ripe enough to allow traditional classrooms change into a highly flexible production studio? 

6.9.4 Lessons Learnt

                                                            

I struggled through this course.  Lesson six was quite heavy and demanding. The Web-quest was a big challenge.

The WebQuest is something any one can do. However, it was such a put-off for me because it was more demanding than I could imagine. Why does it encourage the teachers do design projects in the same way? Especially at the tasks and process. I tried my hand at creativity with Literature and it was thrown out. Why is it so restricting? My mind stopped working!

I learnt that the teacher can create a WebQuest from examining the problems in his vicinity and, with the children deeply involved in an investigative problem-solving and later on work together collaboratively, their minds can be sharpened in many ways.

I am still staggering under the weight of getting a total grip of the Web Quest. I am determined to use it with Literature. Literature is about life. The substance of literature is born out of life experiences and I will think out of the box and the restrictions of the Zunal to come up with a successful project in Literature.

Prossy Sengooba. Edward Ayo… without you having gone out of your way , I would have been a drop out by now….A million thanks for holding my hand and directing it purposefuly. I promise you  a treat at Cafe Javas.

6.8.4 Formative and Product Assessment

I was forced to rework my webquest after a mind clarification process. My web quest centers on  a writing project - in order to produce a magazine for a newspaper based on Uganda’s celebration of her Golden Jubilee of independence in the year 2012 titled: memoirs of Uganda at 50.

From developing this project gave me the following insights:

The writing process is in self an evaluation process  provided the teacher gives the learners the guiding questions for each step of process assessment. It is in this regard that I provided questions that prompt their thinking during the process phase and also a self –evaluation questionnaire at the end of the project: refer to my Zunal (in the conclusion). The purpose of this is to   help the student reflect on their own work and thus assess it objectively.

The students worked together in teams to polish their projects before they presented the final product for a general class evaluation. It is at this point that I used the rubric I had created as an assessment for the finished product (product assessment).

Conclusively, finding the right assessment method depends on what you are really trying to assess in terms of skills or knowledge or understanding.

Oh Gerald has just condemned my work as a mere assessing of writing skills- not a challenge at all- lacking in the elements of a good project. I am shot at the back. I have ran out of ideas, I have worked so hard to put the work together. Anyone with an idea of what and where and how I can improve? Visit my webquest at: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=325524  Thank you.

6.7.4 The Processing phase

                                                

This may sound academic but it is what I learnt while constructing the step-by-step process phase. It is akin to the ‘body’ of an ordinary lesson plan except that the learners work a lot on their own and the output is the end-product of what the web quest is about.

It is quite demanding for the teacher to make the process phase short clear and to the point; laying down tasks clearly and concisely. These tasks   can be divided into sub  tasks which include collaborative group roles and descriptions of roles to be played or perspectives to be taken by each learner. Putting the learners in Collaborative groups enables them learn how to solve problems and interact socially and take ownership of their learning. On the other hand, students are also left to learn on their own   and get together afterwards in order to share knowledge. The teacher provides the hyperlinks as a guide to the resources that the students will use to research, analyze and draw conclusions about the data they have gathered or the problem they have solved. The teacher can also provide a template on to which the learners respond or pose a research question.

6.4.5 : The Webquest and Role Play

Role play is defined as pretending to be someone else or pretending to be in a specific situation that you are not actually in at the time.

How is it used in a WebQuest? It is enhanced by wrapping motivational elements around the basic structure by giving the learners a role to play and scenario to work with. Students (players) are given some information about the problem. Students self-select the roles and give themselves pseudonyms in order to investigate an issue from more specialized perspectives. While playing out the role and analyzing the sites, selected by the teacher, they become “experts” on a certain aspect of the problem. So, finally, they complete real world task and create a presentation or a product to demonstrate their knowledge. In this way, “knowledge and skills are learned in the contexts that reflect how knowledge is obtained and applied in everyday situations”.

The difference between the role play in a WebQuest and the role play I used to conduct in my Language classroom is that the former is in the form of a big project, involving self –directed learning and investigation, promoting higher order thinking and creativity in order to solve a real world problem while the latter involved a very short skit focusing more on the acting but relegating the critical thinking, investigative skills and the creation of a new product to demonstrate knowledge.

This is an eye opener for me.

6.4.4 The Challenge Phase

       
                         

The challenge phase of the project posed a real challenge to me. What should constitute the introduction? The tasks? What they? How should I approach these? I tried and failed. Tried and failed. Tried and failed again and again. Why?

I had steeped myself in the realm of failing to  un-learn and opening  up  to re-learning something new, new methodologies, new approaches and above all to open my mind to inventiveness and creativity. Gerald forced me out of my reverie by pointing out over and over again what constitutes a good introduction and what constitutes a good task.

Finally, I have come to appreciate that the introduction serves to whet the appetite of the learners, this needs to be written in a learner - friendly language. The introduction needs to lend itself gently to the tasks. The tasks which gain energy from the introduction,   describes the activities’ end-product – which in my case, is a presentation of an interview report conducted among the youth living in various contexts: Village, town, city- what drives their decision- making?

Anyhow- the struggle continues…I have just received a review that I need to improve the nature of my tasks and that some of them are too menial and redundant!  - Re learn, unlearn and over learn, Nellie- and Kudos to Gerald the tutor.

6.3.4 :thinking about WebQuests

"For never was a story of more woe
 Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 5.3

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.
I do and I understand."
— Confucius

The marriage between the overriding question of my Webquest ‘What drives the choices we make?’  and my experience in creating a WebQuest resulted into  the image and quotations above.

"A WebQuest," according to Bernie Dodge, the originator of the WebQuest concept, "is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to allow learners focus on using information rather than on looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation."  

WebQuests give students a task that allows them to use their imagination and problem-solving skills. Communication, group work, problem solving, and critical and creative thinking skills are encouraged more than having students memorize predetermined content. The answers are not predefined and therefore must be discovered or created.

WebQuests allow students to explore issues and find their own answers particularly with controversial issues – My overriding question was ‘What drives the choices we make?’  Through a careful study of the characters in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the students were expected to process the information in meaningful ways and reach moral and ethical decisions guided by facts from the play and their life experiences.

Creating the WebQuest was a challenge to me in that I had to learn how to navigate the pages and also discover that I could use Microsoft Word to work my responses and copy and paste it to the Web Quest. In that manner I was able to save my data bundle, work better and smarter. WebQuests forces me to organise my information into manageable sections and also gives me the flexibility to work as I edit my work on the go.

6.2.4: EXPLORE. ANALYZE. PRESENT Shakespeare's tragedy ROMEO AND JULIET

EXPLORE. ANALYZE. PRESENT

Level:

Grade V Teacher trainees of English Language and Literature in English:  PBL Romeo and Juliet Program

Project Overview Duration:

5 weeks

Text:

William Shakespeare’s tragedy ROMEO and JULIET 

Project idea:

Great tragedies resonate throughout time. After a close reading of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet you will explore the story of these star-crossed lovers and examine the problems the characters in this play face. These problems reflect the problems people, especially teen-agers, face today.  You will think carefully about the motivations of the characters and the circumstances surrounding the tragic outcome of the play. You will research the real-world problem of what motivates people to do what they do in your groups and collaborate using google Docs in to developing its solution using evidence to support the claim, and presenting the solution through a multimodal approach.  (Combining print text, visual images, soundtrack and spoken word as in film or computer presentation media.)  Finally, you will respond effectively in a text response essay at the completion of your study.

We will be looking very closely at developing in you the following 21st century skills: critical & creative thinking, collaboration, self-monitoring and self-direction, leadership and project management skills.

We will be looking at achievement this curriculum standard:  Students create a wide range of text to articulate complex ideas. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, building on others’ ideas, solving problems, justifying opinions and developing and expanding arguments.

Driving Question:

What drives the choices we make?

6.1.4 Project Based Learning

 According to http://bie.org/about/what_pbl Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.

 Problem Based Learning is learning through a team of students identifying and trying to solve a real-world problem over several weeks. It is a type of inquiry or learning through doing. It is the ongoing act of learning about different subjects simultaneously achieved by guiding students to identify, through research, a real-world problem (local to global) developing its solution using evidence to support the claim, and presenting the solution through a multimedia approach based in a set of 21st-century tools.

Students show what they learn as they journey through the unit, interact with its lessons, collaborate with each other, and assess themselves and each other. They do not just take a test or produce a product at the end to show their learning.

The videos have given me a new perspective about learning – the strongest point about PBL which will be contrasted with the traditional mode of learning:

Traditional learning- which is the guiding approach of the Ugandan Education system prescribes what is to be learnt on a specific day. The daily lessons that teach a skill fit within a unit based on a topic or theme. However, each lesson works independently and can function without being embraced in a unit that connects them all in a learning story. Instead, PBL couches lessons in a tale- a tale about a problem that must be solved or an activity that must be developed. The learning happens along the way towards the presentation of the solution. With PBL, you learn this when you need it. Learners use the knowledge they get guided by real world professional experts who enrich the teacher’s knowledge.

The strongest aspect of PBL is its flexibility and the working relationship among the collaborative partners. Each partner brings different resources to the table: space, material resources, facilitation skills, academic knowledge, or time. Partners work together to allow each to lead in their areas of strength, to create learning opportunities for each other, to provide feedback, and to support each other’s work throughout the project they are involved in.

PBL does not ask the teacher to replace the subject content. It asks that the teacher create a vehicle in which to communicate their content. If PBL is a play, then the math or science or history or writing -- or whatever the teacher wishes to teach -- make up the scenes that propel each act toward the final curtain call.

The challenge with PBL for both the learners and teachers is in coming to understand one’s own power and privilege and the unwillingness to engage in critical self-reflection and introspection. This   perception can affect both community work and the co-creation of knowledge causing challenges in the service-learning environment.

5.8.4 Final Reflections on innovative teaching and learning

Did I gain any knowledge during this course? How will this change my perspective towards teaching and learning?

In the first place, the tenements of innovative teaching and learning can be summarized using this image:

Secondly, gamification is the use of game elements and game design techniques in non- game contexts while Game Based Learning as the adoption of games for educational purposes

Educational gamification is a Five Step Model  as shown below: (Adapted from Huan and Soman (2013)

 Step 1: Understanding the target audience and context

Step 2:  Defining learning objectives

Step 3:  Structuring the experience

Step 4:   Applying gamification elements

Furthermore,Knowledge building is governed by the following knowledge building principles:

Constructive use of authoritative sources

 Drawing content from the readings and experiences, along with additional information sources, as data for one’s own knowledge building and ideas -  improving processes.

Democratizing Knowledge

 Treating, all participants as legitimate contributors to the shared goals of the community; all have a sense of ownership of knowledge advances achieved by the group.

Epistemic Agency  Mobilizing personal strengths to set forth one’s ideas and to negotiate a fit between personal ideas and ideas of others, using contrasts to spark and sustain knowledge advancement rather than depending on others to chart that course for another.

Idea Diversity

 Playing an active role in putting forward different ideas to create a dynamic environment in which contrasts, competition, and complementarity of ideas is evident, creating a rich environment for ideas to evolve into new and more refined forms.

Improvable Ideas

 Treating  all ideas as improvable by aiming to mirror the work of great thinkers in gathering and weighing evidence, and ensuring that explanations cohere with all available evidence.

Knowledge Building Discourse

One’s contribution to discourse serves to identify shared problems and gaps in understanding and to advance understanding beyond the level of the most knowledgeable individual.

On collaboration:

When is idea-sharing collaboration? If  a specific problem needs to be  solved (purpose),  involving  a specific set of people in generating ideas (team), with  a method for handling ideas that are generated (processes), this then is an example of legitimate collaboration.

Learning through social learning:

The table below shows some of the most popular social media types and their main purposes.

Name	URL	Function
Facebook.	www.facebook.com	Registered users can create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages and photos. Includes automatic notifications when users update their profile
Google Plus	https://plus.google.com	Real-life sharing though the web including messages, video conferencing and photographs.
YouTube	www.youtube.com	A video-sharing website.
Twitter	www.twitter.com	A micro-blogging platform where users
LinkedIn.	www.linkedin.com	A social network for business-related and professional networking
Flickr.	www.flickr.com	Primarily a photo sharing website
WordPress	www.wordpress.org	An open-source blogging platform.
SlideShare	www.slideshare. net	A presentation sharing website.
Wikipedia	www.wikipedia.org	An online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Del.icio.us	http://delicious.com	A social bookmarking website where you can share URLs with your contacts.

 What is Photo Story? (adapted from wikipedia) Microsoft Photo Story is a free application that allows users to create a show and tell presentation from their digital photos. The software allows the user to add narration and background music to create a Windows Media Video movie file with transitions and pan and zoom effects.  Once a photo story has been made it can be played on Windows Media Player or burned to a DVD or CD.

What does this mean to me as a teacher?

 Innovative teachers:

·         Are alert to new ideas, forge them into something uniquely their own, test them, and persist until their students are engaged and their teaching is transformed.

·         Are passionate about teaching:

·         Recognize the need for freedom to learn:

·         Cultivate professional knowledge and skills.

·         Are confident, yet aware of what they don’t know and keep themselves vital

5.5.4 REAL WORLD COLLABORATION

The collaborative experience

The greatest gain from this collaborative scholarship was the integration of the strengths of multiple viewpoints in a synthetic endeavor that no single member of the group could have completed independently.

All the collaborators benefited from the healthy exchange of ideas in a setting defined by mutual respect and a shared interest in the topic. The variety of responses helped the collaborators create a product that reflected a wide range of perspectives and was thus more complete and comprehensive. Each collaborator was actively involved in building knowledge enabling all the members to think critically about related issues. In this manner, the group was able to take ownership of the material.

The Use of Google Docs in an English Language Classroom

Google Docs is user-friendly and can facilitate collaborative writing in the language classroom. To achieve this, students can first form small groups and receive a writing assignment. They can then co-author a piece of text using Google Docs, giving comments to other collaborators and editing other collaborators’ drafts in real time (Synchronous communication).

Google Docs makes it very easy to produce co-edited documents that are only accessible to selected users, all under one interface, with full a revision history. The teacher can easily place comments in the comments box and in the margins, the students receive   instant feedback.  This way, the teacher can help with the writing process and not just the finished product. Peer editing with Google Docs allows the teacher to watch the discussions that go on between students during the editing process.

With Google Docs, Sharing and commenting provide students with opportunities to receive immediate feedback on their writing from teachers and peers in the 24/7 classroom. The integrated reference tools and smart spell checker provide students with convenient writing support right on the page. The built in research tool expands opportunities for students to engage in real world writing and streamlines the process of creating links and citations with a handy one click feature.  For students using a variety of sources in their writing, Google Docs integrates seamlessly with EasyBib.

With the features of Google Docs, collaborative writing is no longer bound by time and space. If the students cannot finish the writing task within class time, they can save their work, store it online, and then continue writing anytime and anywhere.

With the use of Google Docs, it is expected that students not only can have stronger motivation to write collaboratively, but also that their higher-order thinking skills, such as evaluating and commenting on peers’ written work, can be enhanced. Google Docs affords better feedback and better collaboration, which leads to better writing.