Changing Places: Conversion from the Perspective of a TAPP Course Participant to the Perspective of an Academic Researcher

Abstract

This chapter presents the experience of its authors—two students from Serbia, who participated in a collaborative academic writing Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project (TAPP)—first in the role of course participants and then in the role of academic researchers. First, we offer a descriptive account of some of the issues we, as participants, encountered during the TAPP course, related to the following: course structure and course management, social aspects of collaborative learning, and the use of collaboration tools. Then, we discuss, from the perspective of researchers, some opportunities for improvement. As TAPP’s main aim is to share insights into collaborative writing across borders and cultures, we hope that our perspectives will inspire further reflection and debate on the limitations and possibilities of collaborative learning. The perspectives developed here could also be used in the development and enhancement of similar academic courses and overall improvement of their educational outcomes, especially in terms of developing the formulation of learning objectives and the separate but pressing issue of there being a need for detailed instruction in proposal writing.