The Computer Expert in Mixed-Gendered Collaborative Writing Groups

• Published in: Journal of business and technical communication Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 135 - 170
• Main Authors: Wolfe, Joanna, Alexander, Kara Poe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01-04-2005; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Business writing; Classrooms; Collaboration; Educational technology; Gender; Information technology; Learning; Questionnaires; Students; Studies; Teaching; Teams; Teamwork; Technical communication; Websites; Women; Writing; Writing teachers; classroom practices; gender; teamwork; technology use; collaboration
• ISSN: 1050-6519; 1552-4574
• DOI: 10.1177/1050651904272978

When mixed-gendered student teams collaborate on technical writing tasks, a single male often emerges as the group computer expert. The effects of this trend on perceptions of workload are unknown. This article reports the results of a study in which 12 mixed-gendered teams answered questionnaires on the division and perceptions of labor in their teams. Detailed case studies of four teams supplement the questionnaires. Findings suggest that computer work was highly visible, highly valued, and dominated by men. By contrast, writing was less visible and selectively recognized. Some men were credited with strong writing skills even though they did not produce writing for the project. Moreover, some students explicitly leveraged their computer expertise to avoid writing; furthermore, these computer experts rarely shared technical expertise with others in the context of the team project.