A teacher wants to create a collaborative learning environment where students…
2024
A teacher wants to create a collaborative learning environment where students can prepare an assignment with the
help of each other in a shared document in real time. Which tool would be most suitable/appropriate for this purpose?
Answer: B. Google Docs — ConceptEducational technology tools are classified by the instructional function they were built to perform. The class of tool meant for joint writing is the…
- A.
Ideaboardz
- B.
Google Docs
- C.
Screen cast-o-matic
- D.
Miro
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
Educational technology tools are classified by the instructional function they were built to perform. The class of tool meant for joint writing is the cloud-based collaborative document editor: a single text document lives on a server, is shared with named people or by link, and every invited author opens that same file at once, so each keystroke propagates to the other viewers within seconds and the running text stays one merged copy rather than separate emailed drafts.
A "which tool is appropriate" item of this kind is therefore settled by matching the requirements written into the stem against the function each offered tool was designed for, never by which product name is the most familiar.
Application
The requirement in the stem has three parts that one single tool has to satisfy together:
the assignment is authored jointly, so several students contribute to the same piece of work rather than one writing while the rest read;
the work happens inside a shared document, so what is produced is a written text file and not a board, a canvas or a recording;
the editing is in real time, that is simultaneous, rather than a file handed from one student to the next in turns.
Name the class of tool those three parts imply: an online word processor whose one document supports simultaneous multi-author editing.
Match each offered tool against that class by the function it was designed for, treating sticky-note boards, screen recorders and visual canvases as separate classes.
Google Docs is built for exactly this class: a document is created in the browser, shared by link or invitation with edit rights, and several people type in that one file at the same time, each seeing the others’ cursors live, while comments, suggesting mode and version history keep the joint drafting reviewable.
Cross-check
Reading the four offered tools against the instructional function each was designed for separates the classes cleanly:
Tool | Class | Designed function |
|---|---|---|
Ideaboardz | Sticky-note board | Collect short notes from a group into named columns for retrospectives and brainstorms |
Google Docs | Cloud word processor | Write and edit one shared text document with several authors typing in it simultaneously |
Screen cast-o-matic | Screen recorder | Capture screen activity with webcam and narration, then trim and publish it as a video |
Miro | Online whiteboard | Arrange sticky notes, shapes and diagrams together on a shared visual canvas |
All four are shared, browser-based and usable by a group, so sharing alone does not separate them. The discriminator written into the stem is the artefact being produced: a document that the students write together, in real time — which is the cloud word processor class, and Google Docs is the tool offered from it.