Crowdsourcing education

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WITH the advent of social media and the evolution of the Internet into the lifeblood of modern society, the world has never been more connected and accessible.

Through Twitter and LinkedIn, we are directly ‘connected’ to celebrities and leaders who are not just from our own countries but also from the furthest edges of the globe. The very notion of possessing a quasi-direct line of communication to the President of the United States (Twitter handle @POTUS) would be unimaginable a decade back but today anyone with a Twitter account can tweet to the most powerful man on the planet.

The Internet did not stop there. Apart from transfiguring and evolving communication, it also changed the way we collaborated. The Internet gave birth to online crowdsourcing which taps into a global crowd.

The term ‘crowdsourcing’ might be relatively contemporary – being coined in 2015 as a combination of ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing.’ However, the core concept of crowdsourcing is hardly revolutionary. Crowdsourcing divides work between willing participants to produce a cumulative result. This concept was already successful before the digital age where private or public organisations would involve their clients or members to help make decisions.

An apt example would be the crowdsourcing of the Federation of Malaya flag. When the Federation of Malaya supplanted the Malayan Union, the federal government initiated a design contest for a new flag. Three flags were presented to the public with the winning design chosen through a public poll held by The Malay Mail.

Let’s imagine if the above process was done online. It would have been infinitely more cost-effective and exhaustive due to increased accessibility to the public. Today, crowdsourcing is done online because it is easy, cost-effective, exhaustive and almost instantaneous.

Crowdsourcing is poised to disrupt the education sector even though educational institutions and relevant government ministries have the reputation of being slow to innovate and resistant to change. New players like start-ups and social enterprises are poised to shake up this sector and force institutions and individuals alike to take notice of the enormous potential of crowdsourcing.

Consider education funding for students. The cost of attending university has skyrocketed in recent years and coupled with the limping economy, it is increasingly more difficult for parents to fund their children through university.

Crowdsourcing platforms like Skolafund and GoFundMe change the playing field. Instead of students being restricted to just applying for loans, bursaries and scholarships, they are now able to pay their fees by appealing for monetary support online. The students will post up their requests on those platforms and in return, they can promise to maintain a particular Grade Point Average (GPA) or volunteer for a charity. Through crowdfunding, students can truly be empowered in pursuing their education while lightening their parent’s burden.

Apart from students, teachers can also take advantage of the tools crowdsourcing provides. Platforms like Give.my allow teachers to advertise their projects and request for monetary support from the community. This empowers and enables teachers to be more innovative in teaching.

The platform also links interested donors to passionate teachers, catalysing the formation of long-term partnerships. Apart from that, crowdsourcing also allows teachers from around the world to share and exchange materials and lesson plans, drastically improving their pedigree as educators.

Additionally, crowdsourcing could be employed to innovate the research process. Researchers working on non-confidential, public good projects can use crowdsourcing platforms to raise funds, source materials and supplies, get in touch with potential subjects or collaborators as well as increase awareness on the research subject.

Since outcomes from research are often hard to guarantee, the flexible nature of crowdfunding allows researchers to offer different deliverables. Researchers can elect to share their research or hold public exhibitions, instead of promising tangible outcomes and results. Shown the benefits of this new approach, once rigid educational institutions have been urged to follow suit.

Colleges and universities are able to use crowdsourcing to kill two birds with one stone. By engaging with their students, staff, and community, institutions can save money and fill up their own gaps quicker.

For instance, university libraries could crowdsource for more reading materials from their students. Graduating students are able to easily sell their used books to the university and the institutions save money and effort in the process.

Crowdsourcing allows institutions to connect to a community. When a community is approached by an educational institution to pitch in and help out a particular way, the community will feel engaged and consulted. The community will feel appreciated and respected as an important stakeholder in making decisions and influencing outcomes.

This integration paves the way for a community and school to exist as a single entity, rather than the institution feeling isolated or at odds with the community around it.

In conclusion, crowdsourcing has arrived and vows to change every facet of the education industry. This is good news. Constant innovation is the key to improvement of our systems and processes. In the short run, some things might not turn out the way we want it to but innovation always promises a better tomorrow.