Case Study in 21st Century Skills

The Case Study

Exploring the Roles of Google Docs and Peer e-Tutors in English Writing

Description

Researchers in southern Taiwan conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of peer e-tutoring in English via Google Docs and grounded in a combination of online collaborative learning theory and Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory. The tutors consisted of eleven senior English majors, and the test students consisted of forty-four freshman non-English majors. The study followed the participants for two consecutive semesters, during which the researchers monitored the students’ progress, as well as their self-reported experiences with and perceptions of peer e-tutoring via Google Docs. Over the course of the year-long study, students completed twelve writing tasks, including four writing exams, a midterm, and a final. The test students’ teachers recorded their observations of student learning, in reflection logs. And the researchers conducted individual and group interviews with the teachers and students at the end of the study (Lin & Yang, 2013).

 

At the beginning of the first semester, researchers familiarized the students and teachers with Google Docs. The utilization of Google Docs by the participants in the study was as follows:
 

Tutees	Tutors	Teachers
Compose group compositions and discuss writing tasks with group members	Serve as facilitators to encourage student writing in progress	Design instruction guides and deliver them to students
Receive teacher and tutor feedback and ask for further explanation about the feedback when needed	Monitor students writing in progress and provide feedback and comments	Monitor student writing in progress and provide correction to tutor feedback when needed

(Lin & Yan, 2013, p. 84, Fig. 2)

The researchers used the following questions to drive their research:
 

1. What are students’ perceived benefits or challenges regarding the integration of Google Docs into an English writing course?
2. What are the impacts of peer tutoring activities on students’ writing processes? (Lin & Yang, 2013, p. 82)

The researchers found (1) that the majority of participants in the study had positive attitudes towards e-tutoring via Google Docs and “were satisfied with their meaningful interactions with peer e-tutors”; (2) that e-tutoring via Google Docs “enhanced [participants’] English writing skills”; and (3) that participants “reported a desire to engage in similar practices in the future” (Lin & Yang, 2013, p. 79).

 

Analysis
 

Although this study’s assessment focuses on the benefits of e-tutoring via Google Docs in the English classroom as it pertains to English language learning and is not specifically concerned with the benefits of using Google Docs in education as a means for acquiring 21st Century skills, we may easily see the benefits such a practice would have promoting the student outcomes espoused by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2009). And, were the researchers’ driving questions altered to reflect inquiries pertaining to those outcomes, we might conduct the same study with a different purpose.

 

The modern workplace and life in general require new competencies and literacies. Traditional print and television media are quickly being replaced by digital media, yet many schools, colleges, and universities are slow to incorporate new media literacies into their core curricula, thereby failing to prepare students for life in the modern era. At the same time, traditional modes of communication are changing, yet many schools, colleges, and universities still insist on traditional text- and speech-based assessment. If used at all, new media literacy and technology skills are novelties or electives. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an organization dedicated to promoting these very competencies in K12 education, is trying to bring these issues to the forefront of the academic world.

 

“Framework for 21st Century Learning” outlines the partnership’s system for 21st Century Student outcomes and support, with focuses on the integration of core subjects and 21st Century themes under the umbrella concept of promoting “life and career skills”; “learning and innovation skills”; and “information, media, and technology skills” in K12 education (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009, p. 1). The document further breaks these categories into specific competencies.  And when we apply these 21st Century outcomes and competencies to Lin and Yang’s study, we clearly see
 

1. the integration of a core subject with a 21st Century theme
1. English
2. civic literacy
2. the promotion of life and career skills
1. flexibility and adaptability
2. initiative and self-direction
3. social and cross-cultural skills
4. productivity and accountability
5. leadership and responsibility
3. the promotion of learning and innovation skill
1. creativity and innovation
2. critical thinking and problem solving
3. communication and collaboration
4. the promotion of information, media, and technology skills
1. information literacy
2. ICT (information, communications, and technology) literacy

     (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009, p. 2)

Evaluation
 

Even though this study does not specifically evaluate the 21st Century skills being learned, the participants’ use of Google Docs for online collaborative learning does exemplify the skills and outcomes promoted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2009), as well as the effective use of technology in the classroom. The focus on teaching English using a sociocultural model represents the integration of a core subject and civic literacy. And the learning and use of a new technology system for online creation, collaboration, and communication represents the remainder of the competency outcomes listed above.

Participants demonstrated flexibility and adaptability in adopting and succeeding with a new technology. They demonstrated (1) initiative and self-direction in becoming competent with a new program, (2) social and cross-cultural skills in their successful online communication, (3) productivity and accountability by completing all assignments and keeping personal observation logs, and (4) leadership and responsibility in the tutoring process. The creation process in a new learning environment demonstrated creativity and innovation, while peer tutoring activities conducted through online collaboration demonstrated critical thinking and problem solving outcomes, as well as communication and collaboration outcomes. And finally, the participants’ successful integration and use of a new technology demonstrated ICT literacy.

 

As we noted before, even though this particular study was focused on English language learning outcomes, we may easily see how the same study conducted with driving questions related to 21st Century skills would allow us to draw different conclusions. We may even logically assume that the activities of the participants in the study do in fact equip students with 21st Century competencies. However, without further research, how well the use of Google Docs in the English classroom helps students actually meet the outcomes espoused by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2009) remains unknown.

References
 

Lin, W., & Yang, S. C. (2013). Exploring the roles of google.doc and peer e-tutors in english writing. English Teaching, 12(1), 79-n/a. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1017168.pdf

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2009). Framework for 21st century learning. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework.pdf