Thursday, October 30, 2014

Week 4 PROJECT STEP: Describe a Class Issue


Class description:


  • 19 students aged 16 - 18
  • intermediate level of English
  • multicultural background 

Issue:


  • collaborative writing


How is causes problems:


  • logistical issues when two or more students work on a text together
  • the need to make endless copies on flash drives that go between students
  • no possibility to work simultaneously
  • no possibility to update drafts online
  • one student forgetting his memory stick at home = inability to share his work with his partner
  • switching back and forth between different text editors leads to formatting issues (cell spacing or tabulating distorted, images missing, ...)

Additional related issues:


  • due to the cumbersome way of working on a text or a research, students tend to lose motivation soon after starting
  • quality of work suffers
  • complaints to teacher about unreliable partners (forgotten memory stick, failure to save changes in document, ...)
  
 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Katie!

    Nice issue description. Thank you for being the first to share this. Helps a lot on coining my description.

    Best,
    Gordana from Serbia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Katie,

    Please visit this new blog I have created and leave your comment on the idea

    http://webskillswriteenglish.blogspot.com/

    Best,
    Gordana from Serbia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Katie,

    I just want to say that your issue description is very clear. I'm sure that at the end of this course, the issue on collaborative writing in your class is going to be fixed up.

    Cheer up!
    Ravaka from Madagascar

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement :)

    ReplyDelete