Web 2.0 online collaboration tools as environments for task-based writing instruction

BackgroundOnline collaboration tools have been identified as potentially effective means for enhancing student learning, motivation, and engagement in science education. However, their effectiveness in improving science education outcomes among middle school students remains uncertain.ObjectivesThe study aimed to investigate the impact of online collaboration tools on science education outcomes among middle school students, focusing on learning achievement, engagement, and motivation.MethodsA quasi‐experimental design with a pretest‐posttest control group was used in this study. A total of 60 eighth‐grade middle school students were involved in the study, with both the experimental and control groups comprising 30 students each. The experimental group incorporated the use of digital collaboration platforms, including Asana, Slack, and Team Viewer, as instrumental components of group project execution and discussion in their science lessons. Conversely, the control group adhered to the current educational approach in Turkey, characterized by the employment of an inquiry‐based learning strategy in their science instruction. Data was collected over eight weeks using a science achievement test, engagement scale, and science motivation scale.ResultsThe experimental group demonstrated significantly higher post‐test scores compared to the control group, suggesting that online collaboration tools positively impacted science education outcomes. Additionally, survey data indicated high levels of engagement and motivation among the experimental group students when using the online collaboration tools.ConclusionsThe findings support the notion that online collaboration tools can effectively enhance learning, motivation, and engagement in science education among middle school students. These results have significant implications for educators, educational institutions, policymakers, and curriculum developers. Further research is needed to examine the potential of these tools in various educational contexts and with different student populations. This will help broaden the understanding of how online collaboration tools can be integrated into diverse learning environments, potentially benefiting a larger number of students and further improving science education outcomes.

In the last decades, the fast growth of Information and Communication Technologies changed our way to communicate and share information. Traditional groups or teams frequently give way to virtual teams, working with tools for online collaboration. Interaction between persons geographically dispersed has become easier. However, the use of new collaboration tools can also bring many challenges. Some technologies, like e-mail, can create delays on reply or even misunderstandings, case the message is not well understood by the recipient. Can these new technologies improve the productivity and enhance the creativity between group members, improving also their confidence and motivation? Although virtual teams have a high capacity to adapt to constant market changes, personal interactions are still important, mainly to clarify tasks and goals. The main purpose of this study is to understand how tools for online collaboration may improve the productivity (and enhance creativity) in teamwork. This study was conducted through an internet platform and the survey was hosted online by SurveyMonkey.com. We intended to verify, among other questions, what users think about different collaboration tools, how often they use these tools, and how they perceive these technologies as adequate ways to communicate, to work with, and to improve productivity. Findings show that e-mail is the most used tool, and personal contact is still more important for teamwork than any tools for online collaboration. Our results contribute to perceive in what extent collaboration tools are indeed an asset or a barrier in teamwork. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s4p511

The increasing use of online or cloud collaboration tools in organizations creates a need for students to develop skills in the use of these tools. Instructors have an opportunity to prepare students by incorporating these collaboration tools into their courses. The use of these online collaboration tools has the potential to expose instructors and educational institutions to potential violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In this paper we will explore the benefits of collaboration, a variety of online collaboration tools, FERPA considerations when using such tools, and strategies for staying in compliance.

The instructors generally utilize conventional methods in teaching software engineering courses, where the students are provided theoretical knowledge based on text books or lecture notes. Usage of collaborative tools may be a solution to the problems of not practicing the depth of the components of the subject. This study proposes the usage of a collaborative tool, namely, Google Docs in a software engineering course based on predefined scenarios. The review meeting subject was selected for this purpose and students’ reactions were assessed with a survey after the completion of the experiments. The survey data were analysed using least square regression method. The results have shown that efficiency, certainty, satisfaction, advantage, complexity, learnability, and intention are indicators of the adoption of the online collaborative tool.

In a situation of an unexpected catastrophe, uncertainty and demand for information are constant. In such a disaster scenario, the CRISIS system arises as a tool to contribute to previous coordination, procedure validation, exercise execution, a good and frequent communication among organizations, and weakness and threat assessment for an appropriate risk management. It offers a wide variety of tools for online communication, consultation and collaboration that, up to this day, includes cartography, tasks, resources, news, forums, instant messaging and chat. As a complement, mathematical models for training and emergency management are being researched and developed. For Argentinean society, it is a necessity to switch from the current handcrafted, bureaucratic emergency management method to a decision-making management model. Previous coordination, exercise execution, a fluid communication among institutions, and threats and weaknesses assessment are required for a proper risk management. With that goal in mind, it is important to reduce confusion, avoid the duplication of efforts to fulfill the same tasks, and have access to a complete vision of the situation, generated from the data of all the organizations taking part. The CRISIS system is a secure web application, accessible to every node in a network formed by the organizations which have complementary responsibilities during prevention and response. It offers a wide variety of tools for online communication, consultation and collaboration that, up to this day, includes cartography, tasks, media (organization and resources), news, forums, instant messaging and chat. As a complement, mathematical models for training and emergency management are being researched and developed. Currently, there are toxicological and epidemiological emergency models available. The present paper analyses, from the perspectives related to risk management for emergencies and disasters, the strengths and weaknesses of the CRISIS system to be used for prevention, response and recoveries in the case of a catastrophe.

The OER is a comparatively innovative phenomenon which perhaps seen as a part of a bigger movement towards openness in advanced education including more familiar and recognized trends, for example Open Access (OA) and Open Source Software (OSS). This study introduces a web based service for collaborative authoring learning to create, share and explore dynamic contents since many problems occurred while using the current e-learning software such as Moodle and LAMS. This paper proposed the alternative e-learning software technology based on grid portal, grid computing platform and it was implemented in two courses. The conventional web based education may not suitable for collaborative tools and online collaborative authoring environment because of slow operation in searching, uploading, visualizing output, and file sharing. The new web based service offers an efficient authoring infrastructure dealing with online collaborative tools and collaborative authoring environment based on grid portal technology to solve the unequal distribution of task and compensation problem as well as investigates how to improve access and usefulness for the users of such OER. UCLA Grid Portal open source software with parallel computing system has been implemented in order to design the efficient authoring infrastructure and to implement an online graphics, animation, audio and video technology courses. The idea is to show how the environment can offer web assisted education that goes beyond providing digital learning materials. The OER, especially in the collaborative authoring activity environment in parallel computing are designed to provide students with new environment where they can share skills, knowledge, and understanding within the group members as well as to enhance students’ teamwork skills in parallel and distributed processing for high performance computing. Based on the strong foundations, hopefully the users are ready to apply their knowledge, creativity and leadership to fulfill the need of their future career development. As a conclusion, the collaborative authoring learning becomes more effective in terms of performance evaluations analysis.

This thesis deals with the broad question of how Australian universities and their teachers are meeting the changing market conditions of the 21st century. This examination occurs in the context of changing legislative and regulatory circumstances and strategic efforts to meet the broader goals of 'graduate attributes' and increased accessibility of tertiary learning. The underlying query of this thesis is how technology can assist in transcending traditional models of higher education teaching delivery. Related to this is a focus on collaborative learning, with the question of its desirability and what it might offer in terms of improved outcomes relevant to teaching and learning in higher education. These questions are primarily discussed in the context of how online environments can aid collaboration and result in both discipline specific and generic outcomes. Through a case study of Australian International Relations (IR) and Politics teachers at the undergraduate level, this thesis finds that there has been limited innovation in the online delivery of these subjects and that there is little consistency in any e-learning approaches that have been adopted. In particular, collaborative online learning is infrequently pursued. This is surprising because in a climate of increasingly market-driven higher education, collaborative online tools may offer a solution to many of the pressures teaching academics face. These findings point to a significant gap between the strategic goals expressed by universities and what is actually being delivered to undergraduates. This includes meeting ambitions in 'graduate attributes', satisfying regulatory oversight, contending with financial pressures and the societal drive to make learning more accessible to a wider audience. The thesis also examines some of the barriers teaching staff feel prevent them from utilising online collaborative methods, including perceptions of time poverty, support, skills, institutional factors and peer experience. The findings indicate that teachers of IR/Politics feel little incentive to implement online collaborations, chiefly because of time constraints,but also a prevailing sense that such innovations are not worth their investment in terms of career advancement and institutional support. Unfamiliarity with the technology involved serves to exacerbate these perceptions to the point where investing any effort in the pursuit of online approaches is seen as wasteful. A theoretical Technology-Assisted Teaching Adoption Model is proposed as a means of demonstrating the barriers to innovation uncovered by this research. Finally, this thesis explores online role play as a possible solution to some of these barriers perceived by IR and Politics teachers, as well as how such an approach could address the market factors currently shaping Australian higher education. There is strong and consistent support within the literature for role play as a collaborative learning strategy with identified pedagogical benefits. In the disciplines of IR and Politics, where much of the subject matter being studied concerns the concept of people and entities communicating and co-operating, role plays can help generate deeper and broader understanding. The thesis concludes by making recommendations as to how Australian universities can move towards fostering online innovation amongst teaching staff, both to better meet institutional goals, as well as serve their students better by producing qualities conducive to their future careers.

As businesses increasingly use collaboration tools with audio capabilities to support online meetings, it is important for universities to examine the potential value that similar tools can add to distance learning courses. This study reveals findings from MBA students regarding the perceived benefits of online meetings supported by Wimba Classroom, an online collaboration tool with audio capabilities. The results are benchmarked against the perceived benefits of students who participated in online meetings using Blackboard Virtual Classroom, an online collaboration tool that lacks audio capabilities. The central findings of the study provide evidence to suggest that collaboration tools with audio may be an important component in distance learning courses with synchronous online meetings.

The study focused on the assessment of the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) of graduate students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Science Education (MASE) program and tested the effectiveness of a blended learning approach using online collaborative tools, a learning management system, and interactive resources in Biology. The specific objectives of the study included describing the profile of MASE students in terms of computer and internet resources and skills, measuring their confidence levels in the four TPACK constructs, finding significant differences in pretest and posttest scores, and obtaining student feedback on the use of Edmodo as a Learning Management System. The study employed a one-shot pretest-posttest experimental design using a combination of online resources and face-to-face interactions. Based on the results, there was an increase in the median values before and after the intervention, as shown by the difference between the pre-median and post-median. Pre-implementation, the TPACK confidence level of the students was rated fairly confident (FC), but it increased after to completely confident (CC). This suggests that the students' TPACK confidence level improved positively using the BL approach. Likewise, the t-stat value of 10.68 indicates a significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores after implementing the blended learning approach. This suggests that the blended learning approach had a positive and noteworthy impact on the student's performance, as seen in the improved test scores. The study's results highlighted the benefits of Edmodo as well as the use of interactive online activities in their performance and TPACK as reported by the students.

The development of collaborative studies in learning has led to a renewed interest in the field of Web-based education. In this experimental study a highly interactive and collaborative virtual teaching environment has been created by supporting Moodle LMS with collaborative learning tool GREWPtool. The aim of this experimental study has been to find out the success rate of students when using an advanced and a standard collaborative tool in teaching programming languages over the Internet. The system has been tested with a total of 58 students whose aim was to learn the programming language Java. Success rate of students have been measured using two different assessments. Our results show a higher success rate when an LMS system is combined with an advanced collaborative tool during the teaching of programming languages in a Web-based environment.

This study is primarily focused on assessing the students’ logical thinking and cognitive levels in an online collaborative environment. The aim is to investigate whether the online collaboration has significant impact to the students’ cognitive abilities. The assessment of the logical thinking involved the use of the online Group Assessment Logical Thinking (GALT) test that has been conducted in two phases; before and after the online collaborative activities. The sample of respondents for this study is sixty first year Diploma in Computer Science students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Perlis, Malaysia where they were divided into fifteen collaborative groups. These collaborative groups were then engaged in a 3-hour session of collaborative activities via the Online Collaborative Learning System (OCLS). The results for this study has revealed that the online collaborative learning has significant impact to the students’ logical thinking levels with the increment of 21.7% high logical thinkers with p-value<0.05 (sig. 2-tailed). Meanwhile, the investigation of the students’ cognitive levels is being done by monitoring the students’ abilities to solve the given questions via OCLS. The questions have been previously constructed according to the Bloom’s taxonomy cognitive domain. The results have also revealed that the students at the early stage of learning programming are able to solve complex programming problems at the cognitive level Application and Analysis. There was also a strong correlation between students’ logical thinking skills with their abilities to solve problems in an online platform with r= 0.631, significant at 0.012.

Aim/Purpose: There is a huge array of educational technology tools that are now in use today. These tools have changed the way teachers teach and the way students learn. Among the many educational technology tools that are gaining popularity are the online collaboration tools. Online collaboration tools are web-based tools that allow individuals to do things together online like messaging, file sharing, and assessment. However, when new educational technology is integrated in the classroom, its effects must be determined as this is an essential component for evaluation. Having the tool is not enough, there has to be an evaluation of its quality to make it more effective. It is on this premise that the customized online collaboration tool of one university in the Philippines was assessed. The study specifically aimed to identify the perceived effectiveness of the customized online collaboration tool; and identify the effectiveness of using Usability Metrics for Effectiveness. Background: Most studies provide evaluation of newly developed software using a set of quality standards such as functionality and usability. However, there is limited evidence where online collaboration tools are evaluated on their effectiveness using user’s perception as well as assessing their usability using a set of effectiveness metrics. Methodology: The study employed questionnaire-based (n=127) and metrics-based (n=81) approaches. Data gathered were analyzed using simple and relative frequencies, weighted mean, ANOVA, and Tukey HSD (Honestly Significant Difference). Contribution: This study supplements the literature regarding the effectiveness of online collaboration tools that are used for teaching and learning particularly those that are custom-made for an institution. It provides additional information on other ways to evaluate the effectiveness of customized online collaboration tools. It likewise provides information on the difference between what the users report about the tool’s effectiveness and what the metrics show. Findings: The customized online collaboration tool was perceived to be very effective for collaboration, teaching and learning. But there is a significant difference on the students’ perception based from their courses and year levels. The customized online collaboration tool’s effectiveness as regards its application performance is poor because of design interface faults. However, the customized online collaboration tool has good completion rate. Recommendations for Practitioners: Findings suggest that the customized online collaboration tool can be an alternative tool to open-source learning platforms which faculty members may use for teaching and learning as students find it very effective not only for collaboration but for teaching and learning as well. However, errors caused by interface design problems must be addressed to yield a higher application performance rating and higher completion rate. Recommendation for Researchers: Further assessment on the tool’s effectiveness using an empirical study is recommended to provide additional definitive evidence which may support the benefits of using online collaboration tools in the classroom.

In this paper I propose that applied ethnographers should think critically and innovatively about the practice of producing fieldnotes in ethnographic research. Critical thought on ethnographic fieldnotes has been relatively underdeveloped, both in applied and academic anthropology. Moreover, as applied ethnographers our projects have particular opportunities and constraints that are unique from academic anthropology. I make a case for elevating fieldnotes as a topic of more critical discussion in applied ethnography, and for moving fieldnotes from a private practice to a social practice. I use a collaborative online tool as a case example for possible innovation. Collaborative practices present certain vulnerabilities and challenges to creating fieldnotes, but I argue that the benefits of innovating fieldnotes help to build bridges both between researchers, and between researchers and stakeholders in a project. Innovative fieldnote practices can: deepen the thinking in our research; increase our impact; help ensure that our practices are credible as applied ethnography; and make contributions to the practice of ethnography more broadly.

Writing is one of the most important skills in second language teaching, learning and assessment. Consequently, it is crucial to enhance writing ability. According to several studies, one beneficial way is using peer feedback. Furthermore, time pressure is one of those non-linguistic factors which may affect the students’ writings. This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of time pressure and peer feedback on Iranian EFL students' writing performance. To conduct this study, 69 female and male students received an Oxford Proficiency Test (OPT) and 60 homogeneous participants whose scores ranged from 150 to 169 (advanced level) were selected. They were divided into three groups of twenty and asked to write about the same topic under three different conditions. In the first group the participants had timed exam without peer feedback for 40 minutes, the second group had timed exam with peer feedback for 40 minutes, and the last group had untimed exam with peer feedback. Finally, results of a two-way ANOVA test indicated that the best performance is related to the group who received peer feedback under time pressure; next, the group who received peer feedback without any time pressure, and the last group who wrote without peer feedback under time pressure. To recap, the results illustrated that peer feedback had a significant effect, while time pressure did not have any effect on writing performance. Furthermore, it was revealed that there was no interaction between peer feedback and time pressure.

Aim/Purpose: In this study, the authors examine how an online word processing tool can be used to encourage participation among students of different language back-grounds, including English Language Learners. To be exact, the paper discusses whether student participation in anonymous collaborative writing via Google Docs can lead to more successful products in a linguistically diverse eighth-grade English Language Arts classroom. Background: English Language Learners (ELLs) make up a considerable portion of elementary and secondary public school students, as language and ethnic diversity has become the norm in the United States. The research literature finds that ELLs are statistically behind their monolingual peers on such key language and academic development indicators as writing. Educators and researchers then turn to collaborative writing with the assistance of online technology. Although it is shown in literature to be a worthwhile endeavor for students of all ages and ability levels, no studies have investigated the differences it makes, namely, in comparison to traditional face-to-face collaboration in the classroom, and to anonymous online collaboration in the virtual space. Methodology: Through face-to-face, online, and anonymous writing activities, a rubric, and a survey, this quantitative study asks if anonymous collaborative writing, com-pared to other modalities, equalizes participation among students of varying language fluencies, and if anonymous collaborative writing, compared to other modalities, affect student comfort levels. Contribution: This builds on research of online collaborative writing tools and suggests that using such tools (Google Docs in particular) is beneficial, especially for students who are building their language abilities. The study further reveals varied degree of success and student comfort level in participating writing tasks in three modalities. Findings: We ascertain that students of varying language fluencies participated more equally when they were able to remain anonymous. Face-to-face writing exhibited the highest overall scores, and students enjoyed working on Google Docs. Recommendations for Practitioners: Future and current teachers are encouraged to be open to new technologies and be creative in the use of technology to facilitate student learning. They should have the opportunity to participate in the discussion on how, not if, integrating technology impacts the cognitive, social, and cultural dimensions of teaching. Recommendation for Researchers: After this initial quantitative study on students’ reactions to various modalities of technology-supported writing formats, the next questions to ask may be how students were engaging in dialogues during face-to-face sessions or chat features of Google Docs trials, and what types of edits students are making. Researchers should turn their focus on secondary school classrooms where there is an increasing impact of technology-assisted collaborative writing on student learning and teaching pedagogy. Impact on Society: As online technology has become an integral part of daily life, it is beneficial to educators, policy makers, and classroom teachers to understand how technology can be integrated in writing programs and to what extent the integration can help boost student motivation and participation. Future Research: More longitudinal research on online assisted collaborative writing and addi-tional quantitative data are needed to further understand the complexities of the writing process in-group online writing and the nature of collaboration.