Магистрант Айдаркулова А.Ж., к.п.н. Тургинбаева Л.В.

Региональный социально-инновационный университет, Казахстан

Южно-Казахстанский государственный педагогический институт, Казахстан

USE OF GOOGLE AAPS IN COLLABORATIVE WRITING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Collaboration is pivotal to the way students learn. Students learn so much from interacting with one another and working together. Collaboration enhances students’ social skills, teaches problem solving skills, and promotes critical thinking. Collaborative learning is student-centered.

Google Docs is an effective platform for facilitating collaborative writing. S.L. Roberts (2013) explains how Google Docs can be used to host silent discussions that engage all learners. In a silent discussion, a question is posed on a Google Doc, and the Doc is then shared with all students in a class (or posted in Google Classroom as an assignment). Simultaneously, students type their responses to the question. They are able to view what their peers are saying as they craft their own responses [1, p. 134]. S.L. Roberts (2013) highlights key benefits such as increased time for students to reflect and generate their responses. Students are not put on the spot and required to develop a hasty verbal response in a silent discussion. All students have a voice in a silent discussion. With more time to reflect on a response, the quality of student work increases, and deeper understanding of the content is achieved [1, p. 135].

Additionally, collaborative writing can be used for journaling in Google Docs. Small groups of students can collaboratively participate in reflective journaling. They can respond to one another’s journal entries by posting comments or suggestions. The revision history feature of Google Docs allows one to see changes made to the Doc, and earlier versions can be restored at any time if collaboration goes wrong [2, p. 36].

A second instructional practice that promotes collaborative writing is digital storytelling. Using Google Slides, students can collaborate on a presentation. Each student or a group of students is assigned a slide to share their contributions about the learning topic. D.W. Denton (2012) recommends providing expectations about the content of each slide. Upon culmination of the activity, the collaborative presentation can be displayed in a whole group setting, or students can individually review the shared presentation on their own devices [2, p. 39].

The possibilities for collaboration with Google apps are endless. With collaborative writing activities, literacy skills can be promoted in any subject.

· Collaboration strengthens writing skills and improves communication

· Sense of responsibility to complete a task improves growth in personal awareness

· Sharing of ideas with a diversity of opinions and styles promotes positive personal and cultural identity

· Sharing of expertise with peer editing develops critical thinking skills

Using the iPads, collaborative writing can happen easily in the Google Environment. Students can use either Google Slide or Google Docs to create and share the writing assignment.

There are various forms of collaborative writing that can be developed via Google Slides and Google Docs.

Forms of collaborative writing by means of Google Apps

Persuasive Writing (debate) using Google Slides or Docs

· A pair of students chooses to debate a topic on the same document.

· Give topics such as “Every child should or should not have a tracking device placed on them” or “Uniforms”, etc.

· One student creates the doc/slide and shares to partner

· When completed the writing, the students would edit, giving a strong argument for one, or decide to let the reader choose [3, p. 150].

Research Writing Using Google Slides

· Students in pairs or triads, research a topic together dividing the topic  into subtopics

· One Student creates a Google Slide and shares with group

· Students are each responsible to present the information on their own Google Slide pages, within the original document

· Remind students that this is an oral presentation, with visual cues

· Show students how to turn on the speaker’s notes, where they can add script to refer to in presentation [3, p. 150].

Narrative writing using Google Document

· Give students a genre of a traditional/parody story to rewrite (Fractured Fairy Tale, Animal Story, Fable)

· Divide students into pairs or triads

· One student creates the doc and shares with the group

· Put a table on the document, so that each student has a place to write

· The (2×6) table could include: Introduction, Setting, Protagonist, Antagonist, Problem, Attempt to Solve 1, Attempt to Solve 2, Attempt to Solve, Solution, Conclusion

· Students divide the task and write in their chosen cell

· Completed text can be copied and pasted into another application [3, p. 151].

Литература:

1. Roberts S. L., The ‘chalk talk’ 2.0: Using Google Docs to improve the silent discussion in social studies. The Social Studies, 104, 2013, p. 130-136.

2. Denton D. W., Enhancing instructional through constructivism, cooperative learning, and cloud computing. TechTrends, 56(4), 2012, p. 34-41.

3. Suwantarathip O., Wichadee S., The effects of collaborative writing activity using Google Docs on students’ writing abilities. The Turkish Journal of Online Education, 13(2), 2014, p. 148-156.