I am currently in a Maymester class at Fisher called Digital Marketing, and the teaching format is quite untraditional. We have books to read, lectures on occasion and some basic principles we are learning about. We also have online discussion boards through Carmen. In addition, we are utilizing the idea of crowdsourcing for our final papers and projects.

What’s crowdsourcing you ask? I’m a fan of Dictionary.com’s definition of crowdsourcing: “to utilize (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation.” <-- note the without compensation part.

Each student in the class has posted the topic and general outline of the paper they are writing or the marketing plan they are creating. The idea is that other students, out of the goodness of their hearts, will comment on the topics and suggest sources that could help develop the paper or project. We can also ask questions of our classmates—Have you thought about this angle? What about this other growing trend? What are the ethical implications here?

In theory, this sounds like a wonderful idea and a great fit for a class devoted to the digital world. But…does it work?

I happened to get one comment on my topic, #FOMO, and a fellow student suggested a great TED talk video to complement my paper. However, there are several topics that no one else has pitched in any thoughts. Could it be the competitive nature of grad students? We are often graded in relation to everyone else in the class, so why should we help each other? Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with time. I’m busy writing my own paper and trying to help out others at the same time. I’ve offered a few suggestions, but I don’t have the time or knowledge to chime in on other topics.

What do you think about crowdsourcing for class? Are there situations where this would work out better than it seems to be going for our final projects? I’d love to get some more opinions and real-life experiences with crowdsourcing! It’s a fantastic way to raise funds (check out Kiva.org to lend to others in need…AND GET PAID BACK!), but I’m still skeptical about the practicality of this idea in the classroom.