This presentation describes the development of a student writing community using a texting app. Students were asked to post at least once a day and respond to faculty prompts. Over time, the group has become cohesive and supportive with members reaching out to share papers and make writing suggestions.
Recent research has explored the link between student writing and the development of a scholarly identity through writing groups. Such groups have the potential to increase students' scholarly writing self-efficacy (confidence in their capability to write) through social support and discussions about writing, which help sustain their progress during the college experience (Baker & Lattuca, 2010; Kamler, 2008; Lassig et al., 2013).
One method that has been speculated to aid doctoral students in their writing and encourage progress in their program is through student communities of practice (Lassig et al., 2013). Such groups have been described as a means to reshape learning as a social experience and to shift focus from the traditional relationships with supervisors to that of peers (Baker & Lattuca, 2010; Maher et al., 2008). Three elements have been reported to make the student communities of practice successful: camaraderie, commitment, and cognition (Yalof & Chametzky, 2015). Within the sanctuary of a highly-structured community, learners are free to ask questions of peer members and develop friendships. Communities of practice (a) increase connectedness through an aligned commitment to achieve writing and scholarly competence (Wenger 1998, 2000). (b) They form a supportive environment that includes academic, social and emotional support, build relationships with diverse people, and promote mutual trust (Lassig et al., 2013). (c) The group encourages a positive and enjoyable sense of community for all members that enhances individual scholarly identities (Lassig et al., 2013). Such communities, described in the literature, tend to be in-person groups meeting at regular times. Kozar and Lum (2015) demonstrated the efficacy of such a writing group online.
We developed a writing community using the digital technology of group texting. In our case, 20 doctoral students were asked to text at least once a day for at least 6-months using the app GroupMe. A faculty member provided daily open ended prompts to get the students started. For example, “How is your writing going today?” “What is a difficult problem you have recently had in your writing, and how did you resolve it?”
Over several months, the group has become cohesive and supportive with members reaching out to each other beyond the texting environment, sharing papers and making writing suggestions. We have found it to be a minimal time investment for the faculty: Every day a prompt is sent to the group. The rest of the day, they interact between themselves, sharing ideas, software help, and making suggestions on problems. Occasionally faculty interacted if someone specifically asked him or her a question. Our presentation will share examples of texts and tips for setting up such a group. We will also share the results from a measure of social support over a 6 mon. period of time.