Introduction
Some of our teachers may have been familiar with some word processing tools that support collaborative work like Google Docs or Google Drive, and now I am going to introduce another similar tool that is much easier to use and even more powerful in some ways. That is MoPad, which belongs to Etherpad you may have heard of before. It does not matter if you have no idea about any of that, I will explain and show you and I believe you will feel good with it later.
Word processor, we know the most well-known Microsoft Word is the tool generally used to compose, edit, format written materials. Whereas collaboration tools like MoPad has similar use but the difference is that it supports many people editing the same work collaboratively in real time. Click and see our video demo to feel how it works.
As you can see on the top right, there are five members in different colours in this pad and you can also see they are editing different parts of the text at the same time (of course you can also edit on others work) and the colours are clear to indicate who has edited which part, quite a good feature. The bottom right side also provides a place for chatting.
The best feature I would like to note is that it allows anyone to just go to the site, share the link and start collaborating without signing up any account, which would be super convenient and easy for students to use.
Ideas and implementations in language teaching
If MoPad is used for the teacher to give feedback to students when they are writing, it overcomes a drawback that traditional feedback has, the text being "static". Because on collaborative word processor, the editing processes of the teacher and the student are in real time - the teacher can comment on the writing process either in the good points that the learner can follow immediately or some errors. As cited in Walker & White (2013), this is a process allowing learners to benefit from Vygotsky's notion of 'more able peer' (Vygotsky, 1978).
Using MoPad in the classroom can also be a good idea if possible. Carrying out brainstorming activities on MoPad like the ones I mentioned on TodaysMeet.
Considering its editable feature, teacher can put a short article with grammatical or lexical errors and have students find out and correct these errors so that all the processes of correction will be seen by everyone. Therefore, such process of correcting errors can also motivate students since they are doing it at the same 'pad' simultaneously, collaboratively, also making a sense of competition.
Similar activities are many, such as cloze activities, jigsaw tasks etc.
Problems and advice
Collaborative work sounds engaging, but it is also very likely to fall short. Collaboration environment, like working on MoPad is very likely to become messy especially when there are many participants. More than three is actually quite a big number which needs a team leader to organise the activity. Therefore, no matter working in class or out, make the instruction and the goal of an activity as clear as possible, and choose a leader in each group (>=3), and normally the smaller the group, the better it works especially if you are newbie for this, although sometimes it also depends e types of activities.
To conclude, I want to point out as some scholars have also noted, that although technologies as such can provide a collaborative environment, it does not necessarily mean that collaboration will indeed happen in such environment, neither does collaboration itself guarantee learning. Therefore, it is probably our engagement in these activities, careful design of activities, guidance, intervention, etc that make language learning happen.
MoPad: https://etherpad.mozilla.org
Reference
Walker, A. & White, G. (2013). Technology enhanced language learning: Connecting theory and
practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 5.
practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 5.
I would definitely try this great tool to create collaborative writing tasks. The idea of a few students correcting errors\creating a text together, simultaneusly appeals to me because this can encourage students who don't particularly like working on their writing skills or need constant motivation. On the other hand,I believe collaboration can only lead to learning if people who collaborate understand the potentials of working together, see the advantages of that and know how to do it. Otherwise, people who like to work alone, work slower or feel intimidated by the idea of sharing their ideas to be evaluated by others would be put off by the task. Having students familiarize with the use of the chat box where students should support\teach\convince each other or exchange\ collide ideas is important part of the preparation of this kind of task.
ReplyDeleteYes, you have taken such an important point I agree with so much. Especially for some students who used to work alone or slow worker (like me), using collaboration tools at the beginning would be such uncomfortable. It is essential to design a kind of tasks that they feel easy to get on with
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