This paper reports on a writing group pilot programme implemented at a South African university. Drawing on literature, anonymous student evaluations and facilitator observations, it discusses the use of writing groups for supporting postgraduate academic writing practices. Developed within a broader postgraduate academic writing support…

While the affordances of face-to-face and online environments have been studied somewhat extensively, there is relatively less research on how technology-mediated learning takes place across multiple media in the networked classroom environment where face-to-face and online interactions are intertwined, especially in the context of language…

Collaborative learning theory points to knowledge construction as an outcome of peer interaction, justifying widespread implementation of collaborative activities (like small group discussion) that scaffold toward individual writing projects. This article offers a qualitative investigation into the process of collaborating with peers and the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design collaboration mechanisms for groups, particularly those who are performing mandatory collaborative writing of Wiki pages. Design/methodology/approach: This research study utilized six design science research methodology steps. Two case studies were conducted to understand how a MediaWiki with…

We approach the construct of social presence (SP) from a socio-cultural perspective, taking it as an essential component of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) process. We present a qualitative case study in which sixteen student-teachers carried out a computer supported collaborative writing activity in small groups during six weeks.…

This pilot study was designed to explore EFL teachers' and students' online interaction during wiki based collaborative writing activities. It aims to explore the collaborative behaviours that students engaged in and to what extent the teachers' intervention can promote students' collaboration. The study has a multiple qualitative case study…

There is a growing need to design learning experiences in higher education that develop collaborative and mediated social writing practices. A wiki way of learning addresses these needs. This paper reports findings from a case study involving 58 postgraduate students who in small groups participated over eight weeks in a mediated collaborative…

Some recent proposals on CSCL scripts have suggested that one key factor for their effectiveness is the ability of the teacher to adapt the scripts to the students and to the specific teaching and learning situations. In this context, this paper presents a multiple-case study dealing with the relationship between the assistance given by the…

This work demonstrates how a Wiki can be mapped into different learning stages during group-based lab reporting via an adequate scaffolding structure. The scaffolding structure of the Wiki-based group report is comprised of six constructs in sequence: Appendix, Methods, Results, Analysis, Introduction and Conclusion. The scaffolding structure was…

Within the framework of research that describes the processes of collaborative knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments, the present work has three objectives: (i) the identification of the strategies of six small groups of university students for the elaboration of written products in a CSCL…