Qualitative User-Centered Requirements Analysis for a Recommender System for a Project Portfolio Platform in Higher Education Institutions

The integration of digital technologies in education has led to major changes, including the rise of project-based work. However, learners often face challenges in navigating through the abundance of available resources. To tackle this issue, a recommender system is being designed to support a digital project portfolio platform. The system aims to improve transparency, networking, collaboration, and cooperation among educational stakeholders. Personalised recommendations are crucial to match resources to individual learners' needs, improve their experience and foster potential collaborations and entrepreneurial ideas. To achieve this goal, understanding the learner's requirements is essential. This study aims to investigate the needs of students in the development of a recommendation system for a project portfolio platform in education through an extensive literature review and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The study involved interviews with seven students from different study programs and educational departments using pre-designed mockups and presentation slides. The results showed that students considered the use of a user-centred recommendation system for a project portfolio platform in educational institutions to be important and valuable. Further research could include other study programs in the qualitative survey. The representativeness of the overall findings can then be evaluated using quantitative methods.