Cyborgs’ collaborative writing in Virtual Learning Environments

In this article, collaborative writing in Virtual Learning Environments is studied through the cyborg metaphor. The cyborg is a hybrid, it is not online or offline, it is not human or machine, it is a mixture or a fragment. Technologies are seen as our partners and we are as much formed by them as they are by us. The cyborg metaphor is examined through interviews with thirteen Finnish upper secondary school students. Digital spaces and collaborative writing enhance and disrupt what students do and how they interact while embedded in complex material worlds. Online collaborative writing can dissolve and establish boundaries empowering students to write better texts or restraining student agency. It is understood as weaving a digital tapestry of new coding practices while living on the edge of an information explosion where information and identities are fluid.