Supporting Online Synchronous Collaborative Writing in the Secondary Classroom

By Jacob Steiss

Why Support Online Synchronous Collaborative Writing in the Secondary Classroom?

Our students live varied and complex literate lives outside the classroom. Adolescents write in online forums, create fanfiction in digital writing communities, and participate in literacy activities as community organizers and activists. One way we as educators can recognize the diverse and expanding literacies of adolescents is by providing diverse writing opportunities in the secondary classroom, for example, online collaborative writing. By implementing evidence-based practices to support online collaborative writing, educators can increase the engagement and relevance of classroom writing tasks, help students gain important communication skills to participate in 21st century work and civic life, and support students’ development of critical literacy skills essential for an information society.

The authors of this article, including the WRITE Center’s Dr. Jenell Krishnan, describe ways that teachers can incorporate synchronous (writing in real-time) collaborative writing in their writing instruction through a hybrid approach. This approach emphasizes face‐to‐face and online opportunities for students to write and learn from and with their peers. Such writing responds to evolving educational standards that recognize the capacity for collaboration through online platforms like Google Docs, the expanding definition of literacy (NCTE, 2020), and the need for 21st century skills. For example, the National Education Association highlights the importance of the “Four Cs” to be emphasized across content areas and through learning opportunities. Online Synchronous Collaborative Writing (SCW) addresses the 4Cs because students 

• use critical thinking skills to support group writing goals; 
• collaborate on how to add, edit, and delete text; 
• communicate concerns when the writing moves are misaligned with a student's sense of writer's craft; and 
• use creative solutions to negotiate online group dynamics.

How to use Online Synchronous Collaborative Writing (SCW) in the Secondary Classroom

Defining Online SCW as “ the social and technical act of real-time planning, drafting, and revising a text with others using a digital writing platform” (p.136), the authors outline the following considerations when introducing online SCW in the classroom: 

• What instructional sequence will best meet my students’ needs? 
• How much modeling and practice time do they need? 
• What writing skills and interpersonal factors will positively impact groups’ writing process and progress?

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While intentionally reflecting on these questions will help educators plan and implement online SCW, the authors also provide the following insights:

Select appropriate tasks

Simultaneously learning how to collaborate and write in a new genre is difficult. Thus, some classroom writing tasks necessarily require more complex thinking and skills and may not be conducive to online collaborative writing immediately. Instead, practice online SCW with a familiar genre at first so students can build on their collaboration or write using Google Docs. Planning is an important component before beginning such work. Knowing the demands of the genre, students can plan together how they will approach the text and set their own norms of collaboration (i.e., “we will not edit other’s words when they are typing).

Source: IES  Educator's Practice Guide for Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively 

In the future, students may benefit from more flexibility on how and when to work, how to set goals, and how to approach a text as groups will develop different patterns of engagement across writing activities. Moving towards more complex genres (i.e., from narrative to argumentative writing) and fluid work norms is a significant component of such work.

Source: Krishnan, Yim, Wolters, & Cusimano, 2019

Be intentional about grouping

Grouping students who vary in writing ability may provide scaffolded opportunities for students to learn from their peers. Assigning roles to students may also be useful as each student has a concrete responsibility and clearly defined way to contribute to their group’s success and learning. The following table shows three roles—time keeper, goal monitor, and facilitator.  During remote instruction, the time keeper role may need to be replaced with other roles. For example, during a process-based writing approach where a teacher uses the Google Comments function to leave in-line feedback, students could submit their drafts with comments on areas they’d like feedback. In this case, a Comment Maker role might be in need.

Source: Krishnan, Yim, Wolters, & Cusimano, 2019

It is also important to highlight the teacher’s role in creating an inclusive and safe space for collaboration. This is as essential in online collaborative work as it is during face to face group work. One way the teacher’s role is key is in setting clear and explicit instructions about what effective collaboration (as opposed to a “divide and conquer” strategy) looks like. This also happens by normalizing tensions that typically arise during online SCW and offering students ways to resolve them while in their groups. The authors recognize that building a safe, inclusive, supportive classroom culture that promotes peer-to-peer collaboration takes trust and time. Providing students with multiple experiences within the same groups offers them an opportunity to build on their previously determined norms of collaboration.

Provide examples of effective feedback and peer-to-peer interactions

​Research suggests the best feedback during the writing process is clear, constructive, and actionable. To help students provide productive feedback during collaborative writing, it is important that teachers model what good feedback looks and sounds like. It is also important to discuss when feedback is most helpful. Establishing a specific time during the writing process for formative assessment will also help facilitate timely feedback. Teachers can use rubrics for students to engage in formative assessment as seen in this previous blog. After such an assessment, students should have opportunities to collaboratively revise. This could occur with students working synchronously, when possible.

​Monitor online interactions

Students and teachers need to be aware of relative contributions and interactions in the online space. This promotes ownership of the task and ensures all students are participating and contributing. One important tool teachers can use is AuthorViz.

Source: Krishnan, Yim, Wolters, & Cusimano, 2019

This free add-on can be downloaded by teachers and students, and it shows how each student contributed to final product in a shared Google Doc. However, teachers should also acknowledge other ways of engaging like adding comments, dictating their thoughts, creating planning documents, and other forms of communication. In this way, AuthorViz is only a snapshot of how students may be engaging during online SCW. Nonetheless, this tool might help teachers understand whether groups are taking a balanced approach to online SCW, a pattern linked to longer, more effective writing in undergraduate writers.  

Although circulating the classroom may not be possible in the near future, observing writers’ interactions and offering feedback can occur during remote instruction. For example, teachers can observe their groups’ interactions through weekly small group video  groups' conferencing.  (An appointment tool might help organize this.)  Teachers might also sit in on groups’ synchronous writing as a way of providing opportunities for just-in-time Q and A.  Teachers can also offer feedback verbally using Notability or another audio tool, or in written form using the Comment function. You can find other tips for integrating technology tools into the writing process here.  

Finally, teaching online SCW remotely offers teachers the opportunity to model the 4Cs for their student-groups. We will all need to think critically about issues of equity, access, and opportunities during the 20-21 school year. We’ll also have to communicate with students in ways that work best for them. We’ll also have to get creative and be flexible, centering students’ experiences as they navigate a new way of learning. Finally, and, perhaps more importantly than ever before, we’ll need to collaborate across and within grade levels with our colleagues  to design learning opportunities that meet the needs of all learners.  While online SCW can have many moving parts and requires digital literacy, a thoughtful and gradual approach to implementing this type of writing into instruction will help students develop the social, technical, and traditional skills that are a part of the expanding definition of literacy.

Full article: Krishnan, J., Yim, S., Wolters, A., & Cusimano, A. (2019). Supporting Online Synchronous Collaborative Writing in the Secondary Classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 63(2), 135-145.

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