A pilot study of using crowds in the classroom
Steven P. Dow, Elizabeth M. Gerber, Audris Wong · 2013
Industry relies on higher education to prepare students for careers in innovation. Fulfilling this obligation is especially difficult in classroom settings, which often lack authentic interaction with the outside world. Online crowdsourcing has the potential to change this. Our research explores if and how online crowds can support student learning in the classroom. We explore how scalable, diverse, immediate (and often ambiguous and conflicting) input from online crowds affects student learning and motivation for project-based innovation work. In a pilot study with three classrooms, we explore interactions with the crowd at four key stages of the innovation process: needfinding, ideating, testing, and pitching. Students reported that online crowds helped them quickly and inexpensively identify needs and uncover issues with early-stage prototypes, although they favored face-to-face interactions for more contextual feed-back. We share early evidence and discuss implications for creating a socio-technical infrastructure to more effectively use crowdsourcing in education.