Assessing Collaborative Writing in Nontraditional and Traditional First-Year College Writing Courses

Autor/in	Daemmrich, Ingrid G.
Titel	Assessing Collaborative Writing in Nontraditional and Traditional First-Year College Writing Courses
Quelle	In: Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 38 (2010) 2, S.161-175 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0098-6291
Schlagwörter	Freshman Composition; College English; Collaborative Writing; Essays; Grades (Scholastic); Responses; Student Evaluation; Evaluation Methods; Student Attitudes; Writing Instruction; Writing Assignments; Program Effectiveness; Blended Learning; Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Mediated Communication + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Essay; Aufsatzunterricht; Notenspiegel; Schulnote; Studentische Bewertung; Schülerverhalten; Schreibunterricht; Computer based training; Computerunterstützter Unterricht; Computerkonferenz
Abstract	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 collaboratively written midterm paper in nontraditional and traditional introductory college composition courses. The author set out to collect data from three sources of information: (1) students' in-class essays evaluating their collaboration; (2) grades for the collaborative project as well as the final individually authored paper; and (3) student responses to the departmental course evaluations. The author hypothesized that an analysis of these three instruments would show that by coauthoring an observation report, students would gain positive attitudes toward each other, writing, and the course; and that as a result, both grades and satisfaction with the course could potentially rise. An examination of the author's collected data reveals that the outcomes of the introductory composition classes consistently sustained only one part of her tripartite hypothesis: that a collaborative writing project at midterm does indeed promote students' considerably more positive assessment of the value of the writing course. This outcome has potentially dramatic implications for the future role of collaborative writing projects in introductory composition courses. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 West Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Tel: 877-369-6283; Tel: 217-328-3870; Web site: http://www.ncte.org/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10