Teaching writing to Grade nine students through online collaborative technology

النوع : Mémoire

Although many educators have theorized that interactive and collaborative technology tools are effective for providing students with motivating practice, research on collaborative and interactive technology is not conclusive. The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of using blogs, an interactive and collaborative technology tool, on motivation and performance and on overall writing quality and revision patterns of ninth graders. The project included 8 grade-nine students who volunteered to join the online media project. The project engaged these students in online and face-to-face discussions and experiential training in basic journalism skills, media ethics, writing and editing, interviewing, photography and media literacy. Students also explored the impact of new media and learnt how to blog by creating a group news blog. Training in blog publishing was provided and instruction was subsequently given during the 12 week study. Data, gathered from student questionnaires and teacher observations, were analyzed, and descriptive statistics were included. Findings reveal significant relationships between interactive and collaborative technology and students’ motivation to acquire better writing skills. Using blogs as a publishing tool inside the writing class significantly affected the students’ motivation to write and apply all the steps of the writing process. Students tended to correct first draft errors and revise and clarify their stories. As a matter of fact, the subjects who completed the online media project showed significantly better performance.