Enhancing collaboration among undergraduates in informatics: A teaching and learning process based on crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing (CS) is a development model in which small activities are carried out through the collaboration of participants. Many organizations are developing their products through CS to parallel activities, reduce costs, and employ specialists. These factors have boosted the area of informatics, creating a new paradigm for the development of software. However, despite the widespread application of CS in informatics, the literature on teaching and learning CS for undergraduates is still very incipient, and the informatics courses aimed to maximize only the teaching of traditional development processes (Agile, distributed, etc). With this in mind, this study was developed to present the following contributions: (i) a personalized process of teaching and learning CS to the undergraduates in computing courses, and (ii) demonstrates the configuration that a classroom and/or computer lab should possess to generate a CS teaching and learning environment. To accomplishment this study, experimental trials were conducted with undergraduates in different courses in informatics. In conducting the trials, classrooms and computer labs at a university were set up simulating barriers found in CS. As results, all undergraduates have accomplished and reached the ultimate goal through CS, and the process of teaching and learning allowed for the enhancement of several factors, such as teamwork, integration, and support.