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Issues in Educational Research, 2021, Vol 31(1), 37-55.
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Creating online metacognitive spaces: Graduate research writing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Urmee Chakma, Bingqing Li and Graise Kabuhung
Monash University, Australia

This study looks into how a group of graduate research students from an Australian university created online collaborative spaces that facilitated highly productive environments for thesis writing during the global lockdown and travel restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using virtual meetings and shared digital repositories, these researchers progressed through stages in their writing from the formation of research questions, developing literature review, data collection and analysis and finally writing the discussion, each working on a different topic within the broader field of education. The study found that the regular online Shut Up N Write (SUNW) sessions created the conditions that allowed these researchers not only to share their work and solicit critical feedback, but to be aware of their own learning styles. The writing sessions became a facilitative ground in which a process and genre approach to writing allowed them to work independently, yet also drawing on advice from others that provided a greater sense of belonging. Using reflective autoethnographic narratives, and by combining genre, metacognition and third space theories, the study problematises these virtual meetings as spaces of inner growth as writers who, while learning from each other, also find their own distinctive voices in developing their theses.
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Authors: Urmee Chakma is currently pursuing doctoral studies and working as a teaching associate in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. She has been an educator for over 15 years having taught at several language institutes and universities in Australia. Her areas of research interest include Indigenous education, diasporic communities, culture and identity, citizenship studies, power and social justice.
Email: urmee.chakma@monash.edu

Bingqing Li holds a MA in English Linguistics from University College London, the UK, and a graduate degree from Monash University, Australia. Her research interests include English language teaching, integration of technology in education and teacher education.
Email: bingqing.li@monash.edu

Graise Kabuhung graduated recently from Monash University, Australia, majoring in Master of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Her research interests include environmental education, education for sustainable development and religion education.
Email: gkab0001@student.monash.edu

Please cite as: Chakma, U., Li, B. & Kabuhung, G. (2021). Creating online metacognitive spaces: Graduate research writing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues in Educational Research, 31(1), 37-55. http://www.iier.org.au/iier31/chakma.pdf


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Created 4 April 2021. Last correction: 4 April 2021.
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