I recently used Google Docs for the first time to work collaboratively with others. It was for the class "Designing Curriculum and Instruction." Our group--consisting of seven members--was tasked with writing a 1-2 page executive summary of our final project.
I did not have a positive experience working in this manner. As each of us wrote our respective parts of the summary, we were all essentially adding our own pieces to a puzzle. Unfortunately, our pieces didn't quite fit together right. Those members who first added to the document ended up making the best contributions. But as more of us tried to contribute, it became more and more difficult to connect our own ideas to the many ideas already in the document. Thus, the concluding paragraphs ended up expressing ideas similar to the introductory paragraphs. We really didn't need to write more than 1 page summarizing our project, but yet our summary ended up being a sprawling 2 page document.
I wonder how we could have made our collaboration using Google Docs more effective. On solution is obvious: have fewer than seven people working together. But what if reducing the size of the group is not an option? Perhaps we could have been talking on the phone (or Skype) at the same time that we were collaboratively writing. Or perhaps we could have started earlier, so that we had time to review the document as a group after each of had all made our individual contribution. Also, since our executive summary consisted of responses to questions posed by the professor, perhaps Google Docs was the wrong tool to use for the task. Our writing may have cohered better if we had created key questions / an outline together ourselves.
When I am eventually in the position of recommending that students use Google Docs, I now know that I'll need to guide them as they learn to use it. Otherwise, this promising technology will not help them write coherent, concise essays.
