Crowdsourcing in Higher Education: Theory and Best Practices

Abstract

The widespread use of crowdsourcing strategies in higher education institutions improves the performance of students by using collective initiatives to enhance the skills of each student, efficiently optimizes the lecturing process by exchanging and pooling research materials, and also improves the financial situation of alumni by encouraging crowdfunding of tuition. We identify four main areas in this study where the use of crowdsourcing strategies plays an important role in the success of alumni in institutions of higher education. The proposed “crowd teaching” approach optimizes lecturing, allowing lecture notes to be shared and exchanged according to the various curricula of Higher Education Studies. With “crowd learning”, students learn by execution on collaborative projects in which different students share (effectively) teaching each other under the guidance of the lecturer, learn the necessary skills to achieve the project’s goals and solve the proposed issue. In relation to accessing funding, the tuition fees of students can be financed by crowdsourcing approaches through “crowd tuition” and even “crowdfunding” can be used to procure laboratory and classroom content or the learning stays of students abroad. Using this crowdsourcing tool, students can find assistance in paying university taxes and also have an interest in further learning with other students. The application of crowdsourcing to education allows for optimization of the institutions’ budget and a more effective use of learning time, leading eventually to better outcomes for students.