Abstract

This paper summarizes three field experiments involving distributed collaborative writing in traditional educational settings creating a hybrid form of distributed education. One finding shows that specialized collaborative tools allowed for parallel work, group awareness, and coordination, providing substantial advantages over traditional word processors in distributed collaborative writing. However, it was also found that advanced collaborative writing tools alone did not provide optimal results in distributed collaborative writing groups; such groups also needed high levels of process structure, which can be delivered through carefully constructed scripts. Moreover, it was found that introducing face-to-face meetings in distributed collaborative writing work did not necessarily provide advantages over work that was performed in all-distributed settings. Given these findings, this paper concludes by discussing the contributions, implications, limitations, and future research possibilities for hybrid distributed education are discussed.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2004-09-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2004.833689
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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