BUILDING ON ONLINE USER GENERATED CONTENT TO IMPLEMENT ACTIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

This paper describes the development and implementation of a teaching methodology that employed active learning practices to familiarize post-graduate students with service quality topics, by analyzing and classifying online consumer reviews about health services. Students developed projects to select, access and analyze samples of relevant user generated content, available in web and social media sites, and employed content analysis techniques to classify the data into meaningful categories of service quality dimensions. The content classification builds on constructs from the SERVQUAL scale, such as service responsiveness, reliability, assurance, among others. The results of the group projects were shared both in the form of written reports, and publicly presented and discussed with academics and with representatives from public administration, notably from the health sector. Online user generated content, also labelled as electronic the expanding universe of user generated content through electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM) involves statements, either positive or negative, produced by users or customers about products, services or organizations made available through multiple online sources, including opinion platforms, discussion forums, news groups, etc. This work offers a timely and relevant contribution for the development of competences for making sense of the increasing volume of online content, by means of developing learning projects 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 active learning methodologies that allow for the promotion of problem-solving and analytical skills while meeting also the demands for qualification of individuals for making sense of the increasing volume of available data that is enabled by the proliferation of digital technologies.