Observes collaborative activities in three writing classes. Offers two ethnographic reports: one illustrating the tension felt by the instructors as a result of stalled collaboration; the other demonstrating a more successful collaborative sequence. Concludes that once the instructors learned to think collaboratively, they began wholly to redesign…

Describes the collaborative process (involving authors, product managers, reviewers, students, and publication department) of the development of a first-year composition textbook that works to integrate word processing with the teaching of writing. Notes factors contributing to successful collaboration. (SR)

Asserts that a student-writing portfolio can be a powerful tool for writing instruction. Describes how students compile a portfolio, and the types of writing included. Discusses the use of collaboration in the writing process and methods of assessment. (PRA)

Offers research-based advice on how to promote effective collaboration in writing projects: (1) delaying consensus; (2) engaging in substantive conflict while avoiding affective and procedural conflict; and (3) operating in a cooperative rather than competitive climate. Notes three strategies for students and professionals to delay consensus:…

Investigates effects of a structured procedure for collaborative writing (in 2 formats) on the quality of creative writing and attitudes to writing in 8-year-old children. Finds that both formats of collaborative creative writing could be effective; however, ensuring short term gains for the more able helpers in cross-ability pairs could be…

A case study examined the collaborative experiences of students in an online business writing classroom. The purpose was to examine the same groups of students working on collaborative writing assignments in both a synchronous (real-time) and an asynchronous (non-real-time) discussion forum. This study focused on examining the amount, pattern, and…

The nature of written and oral peer feedback will be described as it occurred in seven writing courses, each with a different design of peer assessment. In all courses, peer feedback was focused on evaluation, which is one of the four feedback functions. Feedback on structure was hardly provided. Relating feedback to design features, we suggest…

When a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island was asked to take a seminar at the University of New Hampshire, she experienced a major disjunction between her theoretical perspective and that of the other students and the professor. The seminar, "History of Rhetoric and Composition," was to evolve into a book narrating 40…

Class collaboration and small group composition illustrate the embedding of cooperative learning theory in whole language classroom events. Through this experience all students participate in active learning. The teacher has a weighty role in decision making, setting of the lesson, assigning roles, and monitoring segments of cooperative learning…

Teachers at both college and pre-college levels have long realized that collaborative writing is an effective learning tool for beginning writers. Many have pointed out that collaboration in writing groups properly shifts the focus from the teacher to the student, and allows writers to take more responsibility for their own composing processes.…

Three collaborative writing faculty projects which were designed and put into effect at Santa Clara University are peer advising, composition seminars, and inter-active observation. Peer advising matched faculty members who had previously taught in the writing program on campus with instructors new to the program to serve as professional resources…

Describing a computer network communication tool which allows users to communicate concurrently across networked, advanced-function workstations, this guide presents information on how to use the Center for Educational Computing in English (CECE) Talk in the writing classroom. The guide focuses on three topics: (1) introducing CECE Talk to…

The research exploring children's perspectives on interactive writing versus independent writing was examined. Studies were analyzed to determine the perspectives of students toward writing when they experienced an interactive writing event and when they did not share this experience. Since interactive writing is a collaborative group writing…

Understanding collaborative writing as a form of networking is useful in that it highlights the fact that composition students do not have the same type of networks or networking skills. Composition assignments should take into account the digital divide and should foster networking across social class divisions because invention is a social act.…

Process and collaboration were blended into a pedagogy called collaborative composing in this experimental inquiry that tested the hypothesis that an instructional method that divides the composing process into discrete stages in a collaborative environment will improve writing performance. (HOD)