Collaborative writing through GoogleDocs: An individual reflection

Abstract

Communication is one of the 21st-centuryskills students need to acquire. The communication skill, of course, covers both oral and written form, especially in this digital era. Therefore, the teaching of writing should become of one of our priorities. Writing is a process, not merely a product. However, we commonly neglect the writing process since we cannot observe or accompany students in all stages of writing: planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading. The presence of technology can help teachers to address this issue. This paper will describe in detail what the writer has experienced in an online course while he was doing the collaborative writing assignment. It is a self-reflection on how technology has a connection with English language teaching.  It will present how GoogleDocs as collaborative software can integrate students, who are from different countries: Taiwan, Croatia, Turkey, and Indonesia, to collaboratively do all stages of writing. It will explain how this activity promotes some advantages for the students: the joy of writing, the collaborative value in work, and technology literacy. It will also share the step-by-step ideas on how to apply GoogleDocs for teaching writing so for those who are interested in utilizing this tool can use it in their classroom. Finally, it is expected that this article can increase teachers’ awareness that the use of technology will benefit both the teachers and the students in the learning process.