Collaborative Writing Patterns in a Cloud-Based Environment

• In Event: Exploring the Internet Applications in Education

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the patterns of feedback and revision, which are the major mechanisms through which students carry out collaboration, within a cloud-based system called Google Docs in a technology-supportive K-12 district. Specifically, this paper examines students’ perception towards feedback and co-authoring in Google Docs, and how the patterns of feedback and revision differ by sources of feedback provider (i.e., teacher vs. peer) and by writing genres (i.e., biography, narrative essay, report). A total of 145 students’ 435 documents were analyzed using chi square analysis and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to understand the types and content of feedback frequently employed by students and teachers, and the effect of writing genres on patterns of feedback and revision.

Authors

• Binbin Zheng, Michigan State University

• Soobin Yim, University of California - Irvine

• Mark Warschauer, University of California - Irvine