The Future of Education

This paper describes a pilot project to implement an active learning approach to develop online content analysis competences, targeted to post graduate students in the field of Public Administration. Citizens are increasingly resorting to online media to express their sentiments concerning the quality of their interactions and their experiences with Public Administration Services, and are generating unprecedented volumes of information that have the potential to provide insightful managerial information. The increasing ease of access and familiarity of individuals with Internet technologies has positioned the Web as an efficient outlet for citizens to make their ideas available to vast audiences in a fast manner [1]. This online communication has been labelled as electronic word-of-mouth, also referred as word-of-mouse, has been extensively documented in the literature, and has been acknowledged as trustworthy and effective means to influence individuals’ decisions [2].  Such outstanding availability of data is calling for the development of specific knowledge, tools and competencies. This study proposes a contribution in this direction. The reported higher education project served the twofold purpose of familiarizing students with the concepts and constructs of service quality, while offering them the opportunity to get acquainted with online user generated content, and with elementary tools to analyze and extract meaning from such content in a structured manner. Students were involved in the collection, analysis and categorization, of users’ online reviews about Public Hospitals, and Public Administration Services in Portugal.This work offers a timely contribution for the development of competences for making sense of online content, engaging students in a learning project rooted in up-to-date empirical data, therefore allowing for important gains in students’ motivation, engagement and learning. The reported learning experience shared in this paper is aligned with the increasing calls for the development of transversal competences, including problem-solving and analytical skills [3], while meeting also the demands for the qualification of individuals for making sense of data that is enabled by the proliferation of digital technologies.

Keywords: Online content, active learning, user generated content, higher education;

References:
[1] Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G., Gremler, D. D. “Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?”, Journal of interactive marketing, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 38-52, 2004.
[2] Reichelt, J., Sievert, J., Jacob, F. “How credibility affects eWOM reading: The influences of expertise, trustworthiness, and similarity on utilitarian and social functions.”, Journal of Marketing Communications, vol. 20, no. 1-2, pp. 65-81, 2014.
[3] Bell, S. “Project-based learning for the 21st century: Skills for the future.” The Clearing House, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 39-43, 2000.