An exploration of the relation between individual preferences and collaborative writing processes

Increased use of computer-supported collaborative learning environments (e.g. Google docs) to support collaborative writing tasks in higher education. This study aims to fill the gap in current research by studying the complex process of collaborative writing by taking into account individual, collaborative, and contextual variables and the interaction between them in order to provide appropriate support. Master students (N=50) collaborated in triads during a 90-minutes collaborative synthesis task in Etherpad, an online text editor. Individual preferences and experiences concerning collaborative writing were examined in relation to the way groups tackled the synchronous collaborative writing task.