This collaborative autoethnography explores the shifting power dynamics in a youth-adult research partnership within a participatory design research project focused on a youth-led online writing community. The authors, a former high school teacher/now doctoral student researcher and former high school students/current co-researchers, analyze their…

For faculty members, writing is often the task that is perpetually set aside due to demands of teaching and service in a university setting. Faculty writing groups are one way to encourage commitment, consistency, and support for a successful writing agenda. The purpose of this article is to illustrate one successful example of a thriving virtual…

Using video recordings of a collaborative writing task carried out on a shared computer in an English as a foreign language class, this chapter explores the "epistemic ecology" of correcting spellings, where knowledge of spelling is unevenly distributed, i.e. the knowledge available to the typist, the other student (the non-typist) and…

This paper explains details of a creative writing project aimed at increasing students' motivation to write in English and develop collaboration skills. Forty-eight first-year -- A2-B1 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level -- English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners enrolled in a reading and writing course at a…

This article provides an update to the author's overview of developments in second language (L2) online writing that he wrote in 2008. There has been renewed interest in L2 writing through the wide use of social media, along with the rising popularity of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and telecollaboration (class-based online exchanges).…

The increasingly widespread use of social software (e.g., Wikis, Google Docs) in second language (L2) settings has brought a renewed attention to collaborative writing. Although the current methodological approaches to examining collaborative writing are valuable to understand L2 students' interactional patterns or perceived experiences, they can…

There is a dearth of research into teaching strategies and learning approaches for units involving sensitive topics that can provoke an emotional response in students. In a business ethics unit, attempts to strike a balance between conceptual knowledge and theory and skills training can be challenging because the unit can involve personal,…

This paper argues that narratives, specifically literature and memoir, offer a way to build empathy and understanding by moving readers to deeper levels of text interpretation and critique. The paper examines a new literacy framework, Life Histories, that uses talk, collaboration, writing, and performance to understand the complex relationships…

A systematic review of relevant literature was conducted to provide a source of information and practical guidelines for teachers and teacher educators to consider instructional methods for using digital tools in elementary language arts classrooms to promote literacy. Focal studies are highlighted to provide rich descriptions of practical uses…

Institutions of higher learning are increasingly asked to defend curricular and pedagogical outcomes. Faculty must demonstrate that simulations are productive tools for learning, but a review of the literature shows that the evidence of their effectiveness is inconclusive, despite their popularity in the classroom. Simulations may in fact help…

Twenty-first century technology has changed the way tools are used to support and enhance learning and instruction. Cloud computing and interactive white boards, make it possible for learners to interact, simulate, collaborate, and document learning experiences and real world problem-solving. This article discusses how various technologies (blogs,…

Learning happens through interaction with others. The purpose of this study is to investigate how online interaction patterns affect students' text revisions. As a sample, 25 undergraduate students were recruited to play multiple roles as writers, editors, and commentators in online text revisions. In playing different roles, they chose to read…

Over the past two decades, writing centers have steadily been expanding services and materials they offer online. The way students write and communicate about their writing continues to change, and the writing center has increasingly been looked upon as a site through which technology and writing have the ability to converge in the form of…

The use of social technologies, such as wikis and chats, has brought a renewed attention to L2 collaborative writing. Yet, a question that still remains to be answered is the extent to which learners' writing is enhanced when using these tools. By analyzing learners' individual and collaborative writing, this study (a) explores L2 learners'…

Composition teachers have generally embraced collaborative learning in the years since Kenneth Bruffee published his first article promoting its advantages in "College English" in 1972. But assigning collaboratively written papers in an introductory college writing course is still rare. This study assesses the benefits and drawbacks of assigning a…