Scripting as a pedagogical method to guide collaborative writing: university students’ reflections

Abstract

A collaboration script is a set of instructions used to improve collaborative learning among students in technology-enhanced environments. Previously, university students’ perspective has been under-represented in the study on collaboration scripts. In this article, we focus on understanding students’ experiences in a scripted collaborative writing task, especially from the perspective of following the script. The study was conducted among undergraduate students (N = 91) taking a master-level educational science course at one university each in Finland and Belgium. Divided into 25 groups, each with three to five members, the students worked on collaborative writing tasks. During their shared writing process within these groups, all students were introduced to a four-phase simultaneous sequential integrating construction script (SSCIS). Then, data from the students’ reflection notes on the collaborative writing process were analysed. The thematic analysis revealed that over half of the students highlighted how the introduced script provided them with appropriate support for the writing process; therefore, they used a script-based collaborative writing approach (52%). However, almost as many students (48%) viewed the script as inadequate or even impeding their accomplishment of the mutual writing task; therefore, they chose to deviate from it. In this group of students decided not to follow script-based writing engaged in the collective writing approach (32%), characterised as free form compared to sequential script-based writing. Other students opted for the separate writing approach (16%), leading them to divide the writing assignment into single parts among the group members and to compose the text without authentic collaboration. By focusing on students’ individual reflections, the findings of our study suggest that to enhance script-based learning processes, it is essential to provide guidance for the implementation of the script, additional content-related support or tailored choices.

Propuesta de un modelo analítico de artículos de aprendizaje colaborativo a nivel universitario publicados en los últimos cinco años

“…Independientemente de la teoría particular en la cual se apoyen, los autores, desde el socioconstructivismo, coinciden en hacer especial hincapié en las interacciones sociales. Es justamente en estas interacciones y en la negociación que los estudiantes logran construir nuevos conocimientos y generar significados compartidos (Borge et al, 2018;Heimbuch et al, 2018;Rojas et al, 2019;Hayashi, 2020;Heinonen et al, 2020;Pham, 2021;Tan et al, 2021).…”

EFL Students’ Perceptions of Collaborative Writing during Remote Teaching

“…The "division of labor" (p. 40) is, according to (Storch, 2019), the part that distinguishes collaborative writing from cooperative writing. Though students have received some training on collaborative writing prior t doing the project, it seemed that more guidance is needed to perform better collaboration (Heinonen et al, 2020;Pham, 2021a;Rezeki, 2017b).…”

How University Students Collaboratively Write a Synthesis Text. A Case Study Exploring Small Groups of Students’ Overall Approach, Their Interactions and the Group Atmosphere

“…Subsequently, groups can tackle collaborative writing tasks using different approaches. In addition, individual students have preferences regarding collaborative writing, affecting the choice for an overall approach [14].…”

“…The questions probed for a description of the writing process, which specific parts of the process went well and which did not and the reasons why, and tips for future students who would do a similar task. These reflections add to the description of their overall approach and elicit which skills are considered important for collaboration [14].…”