A Sociomaterial Lens on Crowdsourcing for Learning

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is increasingly being applied in educational contexts to explore the ideation and problem-solving capacity of large, networked groups. Research is emerging on the use of crowdsourcing in education, yet little is known about how the particular affordances of crowdsourcing platforms facilitate student learning. This paper applies sociomaterial theory to analysing a case study of a crowdsourcing experiment undertaken at the University of Sydney. It reflects on the crowdsourcing experiment as an assemblage of different relations, dynamics and materials, building on a recent typology for analysing social learning software through a sociomaterial lens. We contribute to the growing discourse around sociomaterial approaches by exploring how the material affordances of a unique online learning environment participate to produce certain kinds of learning experiences. This supports future research into the potentialities of crowdsourcing pedagogies at a time when increased online and blended learning brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has galvanised educators’ interest in exploring different online environments and approaches.

Blocked out: reflections on the potential of intensive modes of teaching to enhance post-COVID-19 graduate employability in large-scale educational settings

“…Concentrating delivery can achieve this because its successful implementation depends on peer networking. This directly aligns with findings which show that students find large lectures more inspiring when they include the facilitation of peer-to-peer interactions (Tyrrell and Shalavin, 2022). Enabling better-quality interpersonal connections is easier in the context of block teaching because the concentrated periods of time spent working together allow for a more focused, immersive approach (Goode et al, 2024).…”

“…The shift in the structure of delivery also necessitates the exploration of innovative forms of teaching practice, which can help teaching staff provide interactive learning experiences in a way that can help students who have distinct learning needs (Buck et al, 2023;Slevin, 2021). In addition, because block teaching functions at its best when it integrates peer-to-peer interaction, intensive modes of delivery can also help to overcome the kinds of social isolation that can occur within a large-scale teaching context (Buck and Tyrell, 2022;Tyrrell and Shalavin, 2022). Future research that focuses on the integration between block teaching, co-design principles and the use of advanced technology such as generative AI would be particularly insightful.…”

Mapping and Tracing the Postdigital: Approaches and Parameters of Postdigital Research

“…This is a powerful perspective for understanding and dealing with complexity, because it challenges taken-for-granted conceptions of technologies, humans, and their combinations. It opens up productive postdigital analytical possibilities for complex situations, as evidenced in the work of Gourlay (2022a), Tyrrell andShalavin (2022), andWagener-Böck et al (2023). But is this the only ontology capable of seeing the postdigital and its refusal to separate digital, material, and social activity?…”