Using Technology to Enhance Writing by Ferdig Richard E.;Rasinski Timothy V.;

Author:Ferdig, Richard E.;Rasinski, Timothy V.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Solution Tree
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Source: Laurie O. Campbell. Used with permission.

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Figure 13.1: Sample brick summary frame.

Collaborative writing can broaden global awareness, as was the case in the Cultural Crossovers Project. Its aim was to create a new virtual community between schools from different countries. During the 2012–2013 school year, eighth-grade students from Malaysia and the United States engaged in a collaborative writing adventure and created the website Cultural Crossovers. Students from both nations collaborated locally (within their school) and virtually (with the school in the other country) to write about cultural aspects of each country that they considered important. Together, the students from both countries wrote about topics like holidays, slang words, school tuition, social networking, and field trips. They enriched the writings on their collaborative website with images and video. The teachers involved in this successful project developed the collaborative writing assignment out of a desire to provide students with a global learning experience and to foster global communication and understanding (Nexus International School, 2013).

Another example of technology-mediated collaborative writing includes graduate teachers in a technology teacher certification program who used Google Docs as a means to facilitate a book chat. The teachers interacted in groups of three or four and answered a series of questions related to the book. The teachers found that they were able to develop their own thoughts more fully as they read other responses and left questions for other collaborators. One aspect of their book chat was to create a collaborative conclusion statement in thirty words or less for each chapter. Students worked both synchronously and asynchronously to craft these statements. The collaborators attributed the benefits they derived from the assignment to the method of collaborative writing. These included feeling support from others during their book chat project, establishing long-term collegial relationships, and finding a means to broaden their professional development. One teacher from this project went on to adapt the activity with her own professional learning network.

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