Transforming collaborative writing tasks into opportunities for learning: educational assistance and the use of rubrics in Higher Education / Transformando las tareas de escritura colaborativa en oportunidades para aprender: ayuda educativa y uso de rúbricas en la Educación Superior

Abstract

This study, framed within a socio-cultural perspective of teaching that sees collaborative writing as a learning instrument, presents an innovative teaching experience related to the use of collaborative writing tasks to foster learning, combining face-to-face and online group work sessions. The study was conducted with the participation of 13 students — organised into three different groups — taking a subject of a Master’s degree in Psychology of Education, and the two teachers responsible for delivering the subject. The results of the experience have highlighted the need to provide different learning assistance which is not solely aimed at managing meaning, but also at managing the task itself and the participation in it. The results also show the importance of embedding such assistance in the design as well as the development of the instructional process. Among the different forms of assistance available, the data show the benefits of using rubrics as tools to support the shared understanding of tasks by teachers and students and as a tool to support learning. Finally, results show that the collaborative writing tasks carried out throughout the course have been useful both for learning the content and for developing the abilities required for managing the students’ own joint activity.