Collab_doc_maker: An automatic Google-Doc-making tool

The educational benefits of collaboration are well known. Collaborative writing platforms, such as Google Docs, provide students with opportunities to write collaboratively from any location at any time. Despite the benefits of writing collaboratively, such assignments require a number of start-up tasks that may cause mental processing irrelevant to the learning goal. One such task is the creation of shared documents and the granting of permissions to edit the document among group members. In order to avoid taxing students with unnecessary cognitive processing, the present paper posits that instructors should be responsible for creating and sharing collaborative documents. However, as this may be a burdensome task for instructors due to large numbers of students and assignments, a customized computer system, Collab_doc_maker, is introduced that automatically replicates Google Docs, organizes them into predetermined folders and subfolders, and grants editing permissions to members of student groups. Copyright © 2021 IEEE.