Collective intelligence is a type of intelligence, shared by a group. It emerges from collective efforts and collaboration. The term is applicable to political science, social and mass media, sociobiology and crowdsourcing. This term is used interchangeably with collective IQ, though I would attribute collective IQ to the measure of collective intelligence.

Harvard Professor Radhika Nagpal explains collective intellegence:

Internet, social networks and media are often associated with enhancement and promotion of collective intelligence. Internet provides a space where collective intelligence can be shared quickly and easily.

With appearance and development of Internet, it allowed CI, as a shared public forum, spread and flourish. The contribution and sharing of ideas by people is referred to as a learner-generated context – texts, that can be co-configurated, co-created and co-designed.

Collective intelligence is widely used in different fields, including business, IT, production and learning.

Writer and director TJ Dawe talks about his experiment in collective intelligence:

In the era of online and autonomous learning, platforms and apps that provide students with opportunity to create content are widely used in foreign language learning.

Craig Lambert conducted a study on correlation between using learner-generated content and students’ outcome. The finding indicated that learner-generated as opposed to teacher-generated content had positive effects on students’ engagement and performance.

Another study by Carlos Orus on effects of learner-generated videos for YouTube on learning outcomes and satisfaction showed positive correlation between learner-generated content and cross-curricular competencies, academic performance and students’ engagement.

My personal experience with platforms, combining learning with user-generated content such as Linoit, Quizzlet and others improve students’ engagement, motivation and academic results. It gives students a feeling of responsibility for their own results and process of learning, boost their creativity. Learning in a group, collaboration and communication, enhances learning and empower students. For teachers it is an amazing tool as it allows students to create tasks and get insights, sometimes better, than the ones that a teacher can provide.

References:

Carlos Orús, María José Barlés, Daniel Belanche, Luis Casaló, Elena Fraj, Raquel Gurrea. (2016).The effects of learner-generated videos for YouTube on learning outcomes and satisfaction, Computers & Education, Volume 95, 2016, Pages 254-269.

Lambert, C., Philp, J., & Nakamura, S. (2017). Learner-generated content and engagement in second language task performance. Language Teaching Research, 21(6), 665–680. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168816683559