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.