Collaborative Writing in E-Learning Environments

Abstract

In this article, we review the main concepts, theories and supporting tools for collaborative writing and present and discuss our tool called EdiTex. Editex supports the following activities involved in coauthoring Edition, Perception, Coordination, Interaction, and Storage. A text has an author and an identification number, besides it is composed of fragments, which can be paragraphs, phrases, sections, chapters, and these comments can be associated to each fragment. We assessed EdiTex in two case studies and the results point out that it helped the students in the task of writing an essay collaboratively. Even so, the general results showed that group composition, task nature, context and infrastructure for communication are key points for successful collaboration in groupware. In all case studies, the tasks performed were similar; all of them involving the collective production of short texts, despite the work processes have been different. The groups’ members had similar academic formation, and anyway, we observed great differences in work dynamics. Individual characteristics have strong influence; therefore the environments must stimulate, as well as exploit individualities for the success of the work.