The Impact of Technology-supported and Triangulated Writing Tasks on a Pilot Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Subject for Construction Disciplines

This article presents findings from the technology-supported implementation of triangulated writing tasks in a pilot interdisciplinary subject for construction disciplines in a Hong Kong university, and discusses these findings in relation to the broader issues of collecting, assessing, and reporting evidence of student learning in higher education. The writing tasks were writing-intensive activities delivered through Blackboard Learn 9.1, including 5 ePortfolio-based (TreeDBNotes 3.38) individual writing assignments, at least 1 individual blog entry, and 1 end-of-semester group report. 53 students from all departments within the Faculty of Construction and Environment participated in the study. The study was driven by two questions: (i) how might these technology-supported writing tasks provide triangulated data to demonstrate student learning? (ii) what kinds of other learning evidence could be collected from these writing tasks? The directed content analysis of these writing tasks found that (i) a longitudinal inclusion of various technology-supported writing tasks had a positive effect on the attainment of the subject learning outcomes, and that (ii) the educational issues associated with student learning processes and others could also be determined from them. These results suggest that the writing tasks piloted here can serve as a rigorous alternative for demonstrating evidence of student learning. More studies are needed on the generalizability of such an alternative.