How do learners experience joint writing: University students' conceptions of online collaborative writing tasks and environments

•Students' conceptions of Online Collaborative Writing (OCW) vary from coordination to collaboration.•Students' views about effective OCW environments range from fully guided to open self-directed writing spaces.•ICT proficiency is not associated with higher conceptions of OCW and productive OCW environments.•Real world experience of OCW tasks could play a critical role in the development of higher OCW conceptions.•Productive students' views of learning via OCW are rudimentary and in need of fostering.

This paper presents a phenomenographic study investigating university students' conceptions of Online Collaborative Writing (OCW) and of an effective learning environment for OCW tasks. To date, there has been little investigation of the expectations that students bring to OCW tasks and of how they interpret the OCW affordances offered to them. Knowledge about students' experiences of the OCW phenomenon and of what they conceive to be an effective OCW environment can provide important insights into the improved design and scaffolding of these collaborative learning experiences. Fifteen university students with varying levels of OCW experience were interviewed in this study. The findings showed that these students conceived of OCW in four qualitatively distinct ways, namely: a) as a way to divide work between participants in order to complete writing tasks efficiently; b) as a means to combine expertise to produce a good end product; c) as an activity involving the fusion of ideas and insights to enable a deeper understanding of content; and d) as a means to develop new skills and attitudes for collaborative work and interaction. The students saw an effective OCW environment in three distinct ways, namely: a) as a directed space prearranged by teachers; b) as a scaffolded and interactively guided space; and c) as an open space co-created by learners. University students' perceptions of OCW tasks and of effective OCW environments were broadly connected, although some students considered scaffolding and active teacher support to be essential irrespective of their conceptions of OCW.