Writing an academic essay with solid arguments, proper citations, and a coherent structure remains one of the greatest challenges for university students, especially in their first years. A study conducted with engineering students in Peru confirms this with striking data: over 60% showed serious difficulties in text structure, coherence, and language use.
Many did not know how to formulate a thesis, confused essays with expository texts, and, lacking the right tools, resorted to copying and pasting from web pages without any academic criteria. The problem, the researchers point out, does not lie solely with the students: it stems from gaps in basic education and worsens when universities take for granted that writing well is something students already know how to do.
To address this situation, a research team from the Newman Graduate School and the Jorge Basadre Grohmann National University designed and validated a proposal that combines two strategies with proven effectiveness: flipped learning and collaborative writing.
The idea is simple yet powerful: before each class, students study the theoretical content at their own pace through videos, readings, and questionnaires; during the session, time is devoted to writing as a team, with the direct guidance of the instructor. In this way, writing ceases to be a solitary task done at home at the last minute and becomes the core of the class, with peer feedback, joint revision of drafts, and reflection on one's own learning process. The design was validated by 16 experts and implemented across nine sessions with 40 students.
The results were clear: the essays produced after the intervention improved significantly in every aspect assessed, from structure and argumentation to spelling and use of citations, with large effect sizes. But beyond the statistical data, what stands out most is the students' own voices: they acknowledge that before the intervention they did not know what a thesis was, that their texts lacked order and originality, and that after the process they feel capable of writing with substance and as a team.
The proposal demonstrates that teaching writing at university is neither a luxury nor a secondary task, but a necessity that, with the right design, can be addressed effectively, collaboratively, and in a motivating way.
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How to Cite: Chura-Quispe, G., García Castro, R. A., Limache Arocutipa, G. P., & Laura De La Cruz, B. D. (2024). Creation and validation of a technopedagogical design with flipped learning and collaborative writing. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 27(2), 57–81. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.27.2.38995
