Speakers
Description
The application of crowdsourcing in the creation of educational resources, understood as the gathering of collective intelligence for pedagogically-oriented tasks, has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Advanced internet technologies facilitate collaborative content creation between learners and educators, potentially enhancing the learning experience. Crowdsourcing has emerged as a vital aspect of online education, because it promotes the openness and exchange of resources and knowledge within communities and user groups. However there has been insufficient research of crowdsourcing application in the creation of user-generated educational materials. In the present study, we introduce an elaborated methodology intended for the design of the crowdsourced resource gathering system for creation of custom-tailored user-generated content-controlled educational materials. Crowdsourcing in education refers to an online activity wherein an educator or educational institution invites a group of individuals through an open call to directly assist in learning or teaching. However, a significant issue arises: this approach does not necessarily produce a controlled or more precisely content-controlled version of the materials. A major problem of educational crowdsourcing – loss of control by the natural controller of educational material. Consequently, this method does not necessarily produce a contentcontrolled version of the materials. As a result, a student who studies French as a foreign language might receive, for example, material on irregular verbs in English instead of relevant educational content on French vocabulary. While accurate, this content is not pertinent to their French curriculum, or even entirely distorted or false information. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate an approval stage to the resource-gathering process that includes peer review and relevant feedback. Involving students in the development of their learning materials can greatly enhance their engagement and understanding. The proposed methodology presents a scenario when a teacher invites the students to participate in creating course materials. This approach aims to promote active learning, foster a sense of ownership among students, and enrich the classroom resources with diverse perspectives. The proposed methodology uses a three-phase model and solves the issue of unsuitability by adding a content approval phase into the process. This methodology comprises three major stages of content development: 1. definition of the topic and subtopics, 2. content creation, 3. content approval. A more detailed procedure for submitting the content to the platform involves an end-user (registered or anonymous) that supplies content according to some predefined format: • During the first phase users receive the topic for contribution, then suggest relevant sub-topics and later they vote for relevant sub-topics proposed by other users; • The second phase requires users to choose a sub-topic and provide several data items; • The third phase requires user participation in a crowd-rating process in which users must vote for provided data items and work out a mechanism to solve disagreements. The approval stage plays a crucial role in this methodology, setting it apart from others. The crowd-rating process occurs twice: initially for the approval of sub-topics in phase 1, facilitating customized content creation, and later in phase 3, resulting in a controlled version of materials. If there is a disagreement among the crowd raters, various options are available: these range from increasing the number of raters to seeking input from domain experts by sending either the entire item or a portion of it, or using AI tools, like ChatGPT, to solve the conflict, or employing a combination of these approaches. The proposed methodology is currently being developed by a team of computer science specialists and will subsequently undergo testing by a group of language students who will be engaged in developing educational materials for a particular course. For example, in a high school history class, students can provide unique insights and diverse resources that enrich the learning materials. Similarly, in a university language course, learners can share and refine study aids that cater to their specific needs and interests. The type of educational materials would be specified by the teacher who assigns a specific topic to a particular student or group of students. The students follow the three steps of content development, previously discussed in the proposed methodology. We believe that this methodology along with its principles and phases, could be applied for generating educational materials across different fields and disciplines. When used in the right setting and aimed at the correct audience, crowdsourcing can offer valuable contributions and help create relevant and high-quality content.
