Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 1

Using Blogs, Wikis, and Other Web 2.0 Applications to Improve Writing Ideas for All Students A Review of the Literature Jocelyn N. Anthony-Williams University of Maryland University College

Abstract

Web 2.0 has the potential to change the way that teachers instruct students in writing. As teachers and students both strive to reach the goals of their current curriculum, web 2.0 has the capabilities to assist all students, including students with learning disabilities, in improving their writing specifically in helping students to improve upon their ideas. The abilities of students to engage in synchronous and asynchronous peer feedback and evaluation through collaboration can possibly engage and motivate students to make deeper connections and broaden their thinking. While these possibilities exist, the research has been supportive but not conclusive on this claim. More research needs to be conducted on the impact that using web 2.0 applications has on the writing process as it pertains to helping students to further develop their ideas. This paper addresses the current research findings on this topic and reasserts the need for more conclusive research to be conducted.

Introduction Technology is constantly changing the world in which we live. The system

Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 3 of education is not exempt from these changes. As our global economy changes with the effects of technology, educators have a responsibility to implement technology into their lessons in order to prepare students for the real world that exists outside of the classroom. The Language Arts curriculum can be enhanced through the use of technology, specifically as it pertains to improving writing for all students, including students with learning disabilities. Web 2.0 technologies provide an excellent opportunity for students to improve their writing through online collaboration and real-time feedback. As teaching pedagogies and systems of educational philosophy move further away from objectivist formatting to the application of constructivist theory, educators are challenged with the necessity of abandoning perfunctory mechanisms and replacing them with less didactic and more hands-on, studentcentered instruction. Objective thinking and assessment still have their place in the educational system; however, the day-to-day functions of teaching are taking on a new look, one that embodies collaboration and collective thought. Since the introduction of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), education in 45 states and the District of Columbia has been officially changed to include lessons that are robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills needed for success in college and careers (CCSS, 2010). Teachers need to teach lessons that reflect the real world in their everyday classrooms. In order to be commensurate with the CCSS and to prepare students for college and their careers in the real world immediately after graduation, rote teaching that is systematic and structured has to be replaced with lessons that encourage creativity and place the learner at the center of the classroom. The CCSS is broken into two focused categories: Mathematics and English/Language Arts. A large portion of preparing students for college and the workforce is ensuring that students have solid communication skills, specifically in writing. By the time of graduation, students are expected to be skilled in informative, explanatory, narrative and argument writing that is largely dependent on their understanding of the text. In addition to comprehending the text, students are expected to write responses to the text that include analysis, valid reasoning,

and a plethora of evidence to support their stated positions. In order to complete these tasks, students writing must contain ideas that are both valid and can be substantiated (CCSS, 2010). In the 6+1 Trait Writing Model of Instruction and Assessment, ideas are stated as, the main message, the content of the piece, the main theme, together with all the supporting details that enrich and develop that theme (Education Northwest, 2014). In order to meet the writing standards of CCSS, students must be adept at not only at presenting their ideas, but relating their ideas to the text and defending their ideas with evidence that is both sufficient and relevant. In order to assist students with expounding on their ideas, teachers need to present students with different ways of creating and expounding upon their ideas.

The Alignment of Writing and Technology While students need the traditional methods of understanding how the writing process works, the process itself can be updated to reflect the current technologies available. As Elizabeth Clark states, In our nascent digital culture, the traditional essayistic literacy that still dominates composition classes is outmoded and needs to be replaced by an intentional pedagogy of digital rhetoric which emphasizes the civic importance of education, the cultural and social imperative of 'the now,' and the 'cultural software' that engages students in the interactivity, collaboration, ownership, authority and malleability of texts" (Clark, 2010, p. 27). The cultural software of which Clarks speaks includes learning through the use of technology, specifically the web 2.0 applications of today such as blogging and wiki spaces. Nadire Cavus and Kanbul Sezer (2010) state that, Technology-based learning (TBL) constitutes learning via electronic technology, including the Internet, intranets, satellite broadcasts, audio and video conferencing, bulletin boards, chat rooms, webcasts" (Cavus & Seber, 2010, p. 5826) and that "supplying the learning needs of the students has become a necessity. This necessity had made the use of new technology necessary in [the] education sector" (Cavus & Sever, 2010, p. 5826). As many teachers have experienced, writing can be challenging. Englert,

Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 5 Zhao, Dunsmore, Collings, & Wolbers, state that writing is a challenging cognitive process, and that students with learning disabilities face some of the most serious writing challenges, which affect their school performance (Englert, et al., 2007, pp. 9-10). The use of online collaborative tools is one way that teachers can help all students, those with and without learning disabilities, to overcome the challenges associated with writing, specifically with extending their ideas. In line with the constructivist, student-centered trend of education, collaboration is an experience that should be infused in everyday learning. In using web 2.0 tools, students are interacting with each other in a constructivist format.

The Power of Online Collaboration Blogs can be a powerful motivating tool for writing. In using blogs, students can create their own web pages that allow them to incorporate multimedia presentations as well as text (Boling, Castek, Zawilinski, Barton, & Nierlich, 2008). Boling et al., found that students were enthusiastic about helping each other to reword their ideas and helping their virtual partners to understand their ideas (Boling et al, 2008). This in part, is due to the level of interaction that students have with each other. Blogs allow for multiple views of written text where many people can comment and respond to the text online. Unlike the traditional classroom, blogs invite a larger sense of community and interaction among peers. Collaborative tools, such as blogs and wikis can engage students in interactions, build a sense of community, and heighten students interest in each others work. These online collaborative tools can add value to student interaction by helping to form a sense of community among students involved in the experience (Brodahl, Hadjerrouit, & Hansen 2011, p. IIP77). In a blog or wiki, students have more modes of communication than they traditionally would in a pencil and paper classroom. Online collaboration allows
"direct communication between participants, participant's interaction with the document editor, indirect communication between participants through the document editor, participants' mutual establishment of various means to refer to the artifact, participant's interaction with other participants in the chat box, online

communication in the chat box or through chat log, common understanding from interaction through shared artifacts" Brodahl et al., 2011, p. IIP78).

In 2011, researchers Goldenberg, Meade & Midouhas, conducted research on 371 students in 17 different classes from 2 different middle schools in an urban area in Maryland, and found that students who benefitted the most from an online writing program were students who had the lowest writing abilities at the beginning of the study as opposed to the lowest scoring students who used traditional pencil and paper writing techniques. While the writing ability in the overall student body did not improve, the students who made the greatest gains were the ones who initially scored the lowest on a writing ability test (Goldenberg, et al., 2011). This study emphasizes the need for technologybased, collaborative writing that will help struggling students to improve their writing through the collaborative effort of improving students ideas in writing. While this study focused on a specific writing program, this study showed that students who showed low-performance in their writing who used an online collaborative writing process were able to show progress in their writing.

Writing Improvement Through Technology In comparison to students who are not learning disabled, students with a learning disability have greater difficulties with writing text. Their ideas are often disorganized and their writing is not very fluid. These students need organized frameworks to help to structure their ideas (Englert, et al., 2007). Online, collaborative writing that takes form in a synchronous environment will allow all students, particularly students who struggle with writing due to a disability or other factors, to enhance their ideas by being engaged with other students who are having a shared learning experience regarding a shared text. The sheer use of online technologies is not the only driving factor that will improve students writing. Students still have to understand the fundamentals of writing. The advantage, however, to using online technologies is that students will take the writing experience from the solitary confines of themselves and be

Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 7 able to share it with a community of people. While students are thinking of ideas, they have the benefit of simultaneously viewing others responses and comments and can use those ideas to springboard into other ideas. Students can cognitively benefit from building on their ideas through the experience of communicating with an online community of students who have the shared experience of reading a text and synchronously or asynchronously trading ideas. Though literature exists on the educational possibilities of web 2.0 technologies, Lash Vance (2012) notes in his research that 97% of public school teachers use technology for grading papers and projecting information, but rarely for the implementation of curriculum (Vance, 2012). Due to the limitations if teachers actually using web 2.0 capabilities in the classroom, the results on the assessment of the effectiveness of web 2.0 on writing instruction are still being researched in order to draw substantial conclusions. Limitations Due to limited exposure, a large portion of students in elementary and middle schools may not know that the option for using web 2.0 tools for learning, specifically, writing instruction exists; however, students enrolled in schools of higher learning have shown a desire to use web 2.0 tools for instructional purposes. Vance conducted a survey of 1,847 freshman students from UC Riverside, and found students prefer activities that involve online social interactions while learning. While showing some support for traditional instruction, 65%- 71% of students showed an increased interest in online learning (Vance, 2012). Similarly, researchers Lin and Ching found that 32college sophomore students also found working on their writing in a collaborative environment to be a beneficial and positive experience (Lin & Ching, 2011). The students used Wikis for peer feedback during writing instruction. Students had the benefit of not only getting responses from their teachers, but also from their peers. Students were able to learn from their mistakes and acknowledged the experience as worthwhile (Lin & Ching, 2011). Some of the perceived benefits of this experience were that using the Wiki for peer feedback was an effective way to help improve students writing and help to add a meaningful experience to

learning. However, the authors caution that there is still much to be learned about the integration of peer feedback and wiki writing (Lin & Ching, 2011). While higher education as a whole may have more instances in using technology for instructional practices, students in middle and high school are not unfamiliar with technology use. As MacArthur (2009) notes, technology is having and will have a broader impact on literacy through the development of new environments for writing and forms of written communication (MacArthur, 2009, p. 99-100). According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project as quoted in MacArthurs research, 85% of teens are involved in electronic communication such as texting, emailing, sending instant messages, social networking, or blogging (as cited in MacArthur, 2009). Because of students experience in using online tools for social networking, MacArthur argues that using online tools to collaborate while writing may motivate students to write and provide useful responses to their writing or opportunities to collaborate (MacArthur, 2009, p. 100). MacArthur also adds that the effect that this tool has on learning is dependent upon the way the teacher uses the tool and admits that while this may be a worthwhile tool, the research on the effects of online collaboration used for improving writing for students with learning disabilities is limited (MacArthur, 2009).

Challenges Blogs and wikis allow students to edit other's works, but may cause some trepidation in other students who may not feel comfortable editing others' work (Lin & Ching, 2011). Some students may take issue with collaborative learning, as some students do not like to work collaboratively. In order to accomplish a system of unity, students must practice using web 2.0 applications to become accustomed to the technology before using it as a teaching and assessing tool. Like many other factors in education, student buy-in depends largely on teacher lead-in. Also, using online sources may create a tendency for students to use non-verbal information and pick and choose want they want to focus on (MacArthur, 2009). While students may be familiar with using web 2.0

Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 9 technologies for social uses, they may not know how to make the exchange to learning online. Teaching composition using technology then becomes a challenge for teachers to show students how to combine what they know with what they are learning (Clark, 2010). Recommendations To improve the effectiveness and the level of research of improving writing through collaboration and the use of web 2.0 tools, more teachers need to be involved in providing opportunities for students to these tools. To avoid the pitfalls and challenges of students not understanding how to make the connection between social uses of web 2.0 applications and the instructional use, teachers need to allow students to use the applications before engaging them in a learning process. Through the use of scaffolding, students will begin to see the purpose and benefits of use, and this portion of the experience must be didactic. Teachers should avoid the mistake of allowing the students initial experience with the blog to be a peer editing experience. Students benefit from immediate feedback, so teachers should reserve time within the actual lesson to provide immediate feedback and arrange groupings to insure that all students are involved in providing peer feedback and also receive and equal amount of peer feedback. When students have an opportunity to have written responses to text and can make contributions, these contributions can becoming meaningful to students (Purdy, 2010). References Boling, E., Castek, J., Zawilinski, L., Barton, K., & Nierlich, T. (2008). Collaborative Literacy: Blogs and Internet Projects. Reading Teacher, 61(6), 504-506. Brodahl, C., Hadjerrouit, S., & Hansen, N. K. (2011). Collaborative writing with web 2.0 technologies: Education students' perceptions. Journal of Information Technology Education, 10, IIP73-IIP103. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from Education Research Complete database.

Cavus, N., & Kanbul, S. (2010). Designation of web 2.0 tools expected by the students on technology-based learning environment. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 5824-5829. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.950 Clark, J. E. (2010). The digital imperative: Making the case for a 21st-century pedagogy. Computers and Composition, 27(1), 27-35. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1016/j.compcom.2009.12.004 Education Northwest. (2014). 6 +1 Trait Definition. Retrieved March 3, 2014 from http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/503#ideas Englert, C. S., Zhao, Y., Dunsmore, K., Collings, N. Y., & Wolbers, K. (2007). Scaffolding the writing of students with disabilities through procedural facilitation: Using an internet-based technology to improve performance. Learning Disability Quarterly, 30(1), 9-29. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from Education Research Complete database. Goldenberg, L., Meade, T., Midouhas, E., & Cooperman, N. (2011). Impact of a technology-infused middle school writing program on sixth-grade students' writing ability and engagement. Middle Grades Research Journal, 6(2), 75-96. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from Education Research Complete database. Lin, W., & Yang, S. C. (2011). Exploring students' perceptions of integrating wiki technology and peer feedback into english writing courses. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 10(2), 88-103. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from Education Research Complete database.

Running Head: USING BLOGS & WIKIS AND TO IMPROVE WRITING IDEAS 1 1 MacArthur, C. A. (2009). Reflections on research on writing and technology for struggling writers. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 24(2), 93-103. Retrieved March 3, 2014 from Education Research Complete database. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors. Purdy, J. P. (2010). The changing space of research: Web 2.0 and the integration of research and writing environments. Computers and Composition, 27(1), 48-58. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1016/j.compcom.2009.12.001 Vance, L. K. (2012). Do students want web 2.0? an investigation into student instructional preferences. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 47(4), 481493. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from Education Research Complete database.