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Making crowdsourcing work. My best practices - Going Social Now
I've been advising several clients on crowdsourcing initiatives recently. Some have been product development efforts, others for marketing campaigns and one even about solving a global crisis. It has been interesting as crowdsourcing stitches together so many facets of social influence marketing. And I believe that in today's world no product or marketing campaign should be launched without some form of crowdsourcing having driven it. With that in mind, I've developed a list of crowdsourcing best practices. Tell me what you think and feel free to add your own to the list.
MOOC
Interaction in Online Courses: More is NOT Always Better
Cognitive theory suggests more interaction in learning environments leads to improved learning outcomes and increased student satisfaction, two indicators of success useful to program administrators. Using a sample of 359 lower-level online, undergraduate business courses, we investigated course enrollments, student and faculty time spent in interaction, and course completion rates, all drivers of resource consumption. Our key findings indicate that increased levels of interaction, as measured by time spent, actually decrease course completion rates. This result is counter to prevailing curriculum design theory and suggests increased interaction may actually diminish desired program reputation and growth. Introduction Administrators interested in developing effective on-line instruction must recognize there are “both technical and instructional aspects that are not necessarily intuitive or analogous to the traditional classroom” (Fredericksen, Pickett, Pelz, Swan, & Shea, 2000, p. 10).
This fall, Duke University students in professor Cathy Davidson's "This is Your Brain on the Internet" course will explore the use of crowdsourcing—when a group takes over a task typically performed by an individual—in education, putting collaborative learning methods and peer review to the test. Her undertaking could significantly change the way teachers, students and parents approach learning, and provides a powerful opportunity to link technology and the Web to the classroom. According to Eric Ferreri in an article for The Charlotte Observer, Davidson's concepts question the role of the professor . Is she an information dispenser, or simply a manager who guides students "as they figure out things for themselves?"
Is Crowdsourcing the Future of College Education?
I have advocated that technology and other key drivers have created an environment in which individual Professional Learning Communities can be networked with, not only other Professional Learning Communities, but useful individuals such as specialists, district personnel, researchers, etc. I call this model the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative . The essence of the PNLC is that the "who" of potential members and collaborators is increased exponentially because of individual members networking through collaborative technology platforms, the "what." The Professional Networked Learning Collaborative makes use of what network researchers call a “small world network.” Keith Sawyer , author of Group Genius , explains that small world networks consist of, "many densely connected small groups with less strong connections." However, on the extreme end of the collaboration capabilities created through the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative is Crowdsourcing.
Education Innovation: Crowdsourcing Education
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