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SupportingRevisionintheCompositionClassroom

SerenaReavis
Dr.KevinOliver
ECI511601
22June2014

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Countlessfriendshaveatsometimerelayedastoryaboutanallnightcrunch
fest,writingapaperthatisduethenextdaywithoutany(oronlylittle)preparation.As
anEnglishinstructor,Istruggletonotlecturethemaboutthewritingprocess.The
writingprocessisoneofthemostdifficultskillstoteachinafirstyearcomposition
class,notbecausetheconceptischallenging,butbecauseveryfewpeopleare
committedtotakingtimewithapaper,evenifthattimeendsupbeingthesameamount
asacrunchfest,juststretchedoutoverweeks.Nonetheless,itremainsanimportant
objectiveofcollegecompositionclassroomsbecauseitholdsthemosthopefor
improvedclarityandcoherenceinessays.
Everystepinthewritingprocessiscritical,butthestageofrevisionoffersthe
mostassistanceinimprovingtheactualwrittendocumentbecausewritersandeditors
mustreadcarefullyandmakenecessarilymajorchangestothedocument(The
BenefitsofRevision,2014).1PeerReviewisaneffectivestepinthisprocessbecause
itprovidesmultipleoutsideperspectivesonthewrittenassignment.Inalsoprovidesan
opportunitytolearntoreadcritically,provideclearfeedback,andreviseone'sownwork.
Infact,TheTeachingCenteratWashingtonU(2013)suggeststhatinstructorsshould
approachpeerreviewasanopportunitytoteachtheseskillsandforstudentstopractice
them.2 Inthetraditionalseatedclassroom,peerreviewisoftencompleted
synchronouslywithprintedcopiesofanessay,butinstructionaltechnologyoffersa

"DevelopingWriters:AWorkshopforHighSchoolTeachers."2008.21Jun.2014
<http://www.learner.org/workshops/hswriting/workshops/workshop7/tan_interview.html>
2
"UsingPeerReviewtoHelpStudentsImproveWriting|The..."2013.19Jun.2014
<http://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/strategies/Pages/peerreview.aspx>

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moreeffectivewaytoincorporatepeerreviewintheclassroomandhavestudentsapply
theseskills.
Whenconsideringincorporatingtechnologytosupportthepeerreviewprocess,a
coupleofconsiderationsarereallyimportant.First,theoverallbenefitofthetechnology
andthetimeinvestedinteachingstudentstousethesystemmustbebalancedto
achievearelativebenefit(Hirumi).3Ifstudentsstruggletolearnortousethe
technology,thepeerreviewprocesswouldbecomecumbersome,likelyfailingtomeet
thelearningobjectives.Partofthebenefitcanbeachievedbytakingtimetolearnthe
technologyandprovidingsignificanttimeintheclassroomtoteachit(Winnett,2005).4
Infact,Roblyerprovidesatechnologyintegrationchecklistthatguidesteachersthrough
checkingforeaseofuse,supportmaterialfortheprogram,andmanyotherimportant
qualities(Roblyer,2010).5Atthepreparationstage,itisimportanttodeterminewhat
modificationsneedtohappenintheclassroomandinstructionanddeterminethatthose
changeswillenhancethelearningexperienceforstudents.
Traditionally,abasicwordprocessingprogramisusedincompositionclasses,
andthespellandgrammarcheckerscanaidsomestudentsintherevisionprocess,but
moresophisticatedtoolsassistinthepeerreviewprocess.Forinstance,GoogleDocs
offersthebasicwordprocessingtoolswiththeaddedbenefitofsharingdocumentsand

"DoestheUseofTechnologyImproveLearning?The..."2011.19Jun.2014
<https://www.mheonline.com/glencoemath/pdf/technology.pdf>
4
"FourChallengestoUsingTechnologyintheClassroom."2005.19Jun.2014
<http://www.iccb.state.il.us/student/resource/technology/challenges.html>
5
"EssentialCriteriaChecklistforEvaluatingInstructional..."2005.19Jun.2014
<http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/2448/2507611/Volume_medialib/IAF03.PDF>

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simultaneousreview(Cordell,2011).6Inparticular,studentscancomposeadocument
inGoogleDocsandthensharethedocumentwithcommentingprivilegestotheir
classmates.Then,eachpeerreviewercanmakecommentsonthedraft,andbecause
allcommentsaresavedonthesavedraft,peerreviewscanprovidemoreeffective
feedback,andthewritercaneasilyaccessthecommentsmadebyallreviewers(Digital
Writing101,2013).7
Inadditiontotechnologyconsiderations,instructorsshouldalsoconsiderthe
conditionsoftheclassroomandalignmentwithpedagogy.Forinstance,evenifthe
studentsknowthetechnicalaspectsofGoogleDocs,theymaynotfullyunderstandthe
collaborativeworkmodel.AsVallance,Towndrow,andWiz(2010)suggest,Effective
collaboration...requiresparticipantstocarefullyconsiderroles,responsibilities,
processes,andoutcomes(p.24).8Inaddition,tomodelingthetechnicalprocessof
GoogleDocs,instructorscanassiststudentswiththeseskillsbyapplyingtheminsmall
groupswiththewhiteboardactivity.Thewhiteboard(orevenoldertechnologieslike
projectors)canprovideanopportunitytocollaborativelyreviewandmakecorrectionsto
apaperasaclass.Aninstructorcandisplaythepapertothewholeclassandfocuson
particularparts,askingstudentsfortheirsuggestionsandfeedbackandthenmodel
appropriatewrittencommentsonthewhiteboard.Studentsbenefitfromexperiencing
thepeerreviewactivitywithoutthepressuretocompleteitindividuallyandlearnan

RyanCordell."UsingGoogleDocsFormstoRunaPeerReviewWriting..."2011.19Jun.2014
<http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/usinggoogledocsformstorunapeerreviewwritingworkshop/3310
7>
7
"GUIDEUseGoogleDocsforpeerreviews|DigitalWriting..."2013.21Jun.2014
<http://digitalwriting101.net/content/usegoogledocsforpeerreviews/>
8
Vallance,Michael,PhillipATowndrow,andCharlesWiz."Conditionsforsuccessfulonlinedocument
collaboration."TechTrends54.1(2010):2024.

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effectivewaytomakesuggestionsforimprovementastheinstructorguidesthe
discussion.
Inafullyonlineclass,webconferencingtools,suchasBlackboardCollaborate,
provideasimilarexperiencetoawhiteboardactivityinafacetofaceclassroom.In
Collaborate,instructorscanshareapaperwithstudents,andallstudentscantypetheir
commentsdirectlyonthepaper.Foreachexample,studentscancomparereactions,
suggestions,andevenwordingtounderstandboththenecessarychangesandthebest
practicesforcollaborativework.Breakoutroomscanbeusedtosupportpeerbased
teamlearning,aconceptsuggestedbyVarmaNelson(2014).9 Synchronousreview
sessionswiththeinstructorasguide,andlatersmallerteamactivities,providea
foundationforlearningthetechnicalaspectsofGoogleDocsandthecollaborative
reviewprocess.
Oncestudentshavelearnedthetechnicalandcollaborativeaspectsandpeer
reviewhastakenplace,instructorscanalsousethereviewingfeaturesinGoogleDocs
toconsiderreviewercommentsandtocompletegrading,allwithouthavingtohandle
paperorevendownloaddocuments(Kalin,2013).10 Thisprocesscreatesaseamless
exchangeofideasandcanincreasestudentunderstandingofwritinginthecollege
classroom.Thisprocessalsomodelstherevisionstepofthewritingprocessbecause
studentsreceivefeedbackfrompeers,makechanges,andthenreceivefeedbackfrom
theinstructorthatcanbeused,intheleast,ontheirnextpapers.

"SupportingStudentCollaborationinCyberspaceEducause."2013.21Jun.2014
<http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/supportingstudentcollaborationcyberspacecpltlstudywebconferen
cingplatforms>
10
"TeachingInTheCloud:HowGoogleDocsAreRevolutionizing."2013.19Jun.2014
<http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2013/11/12/teachingcollaborativetechnologymikekalin>

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Ultimately,ifeffectiveinincreasingstudentlearning,aprojectlikethiswouldbe
scaledandsharedwithotherinstructors.TheTIPmodel,mentionedinRoblyerand
Doering(2014)outlinesaneffectivemodeltotraininstructorstousethetechnology(p.
66).11AsRoblyerandDoeringpointout,themosteffectivetechnologyintegrationtakes
placewithcarefulplanning.Justasthewritingprocessenableswriterstobetter
constructwrittendocuments,thetechnologyintegrationmodelsaidindevelopingan
effectiveplanforusingtechnologyintheclassroom.

11

"PearsonIntegratingEducationalTechnologyintoTeaching..."2009.19Jun.2014
<http://www.pearsonhighered.com/product?ISBN=0136101372>