Leave the Textbook at Home Teaching Economics with youtube and iTunes U

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Leave the Textbook at Home! Teaching Economics
with youtube and iTunes U

• Ramin Cooper Maysami
• ramin.maysami_at_uncp.edu
• and
• William Wendt
• Dept of Economics, Finance, and Decision Sciences
• School of Business
• UNC-Pembroke
• please view this in the power point show mode.
  Click space bar or page down to move to the
  next slide

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• Please view this as power point show, so that you
  may view both the .wmv and .avi movie clips.
• Please turn your speakers on

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This is how they do it!

• Watch it on You Tube

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• .and this is how
• we do it!!

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Involve me and I will understand
Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will
remember
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The Internet Revolution

• Internet-based learning is fast becoming an
  integral part of the academic environment
• The age of term paper projects and trips to the
  library may be near the end.

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plus the change in teaching pedagogy

• Moving from almost totally examination-based
  means of assessment to increased emphasis on
  continuous learning and project, pedagogical
  changes such as the use of open-ended cases and
  unstructured problems, self discovery and
  experimentation, and independent search and
  evaluation of information.

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• Teaching with Technology

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• The question in the mind of course coordinators
  and the administration alike, and what forms a
  testable set of hypotheses for the current study,
  is how students are likely to react to such
  pedagogical changes.

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• It is the aim of this study to examine the
  students assessment of the benefits received in
  several key learning areas through online
  learning supplements

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• The current report adapts the definition of
  E-learning proposed by Rosenberg (2001) the use
  of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array
  of solutions that enhance knowledge and
  performance.

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• It is based on three fundamental criteria
• E-learning involves networking, which makes it
  capable of instant updating, storage/retrieval,
  distribution and sharing of instruction or
  information  
• It is delivered to the end-user via a computer
  using standard Internet technology  
• It focuses on the broadest view of learning that
  goes beyond the traditional paradigms of
  training

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• One aspect of running mixed courses that should
  not be overlooked is the strong complementary
  nature of face-to-face and distance activities
  (Trentin, 2002)

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• Mixed education features a three-stage teaching
• Traditional face-to-face teaching
• A self-study phase usually based on the reading
  of articles and books and
• An online phase centered on discussion, exercises
  and collaborative work.

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• The Hypotheses
• Online learning benefits students of traditional
  classrooms

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• Several studies of courses in which grade
  distributions determine the outcome measure that
  students do as well through distance learning as
  they do in Face-to-Face (FTF) classes (Martin and
  Rainey 1993, Souder 1993, Verdui and Clar, 1991).
  
• More recent reports show cyberlearners performing
  on assessments equal to or better than FTF
  students (Arvaugh, 2000, Clark, 1999 Dbrin 1999,
  Dutoon, et al, 1999, Navarro and Shoemaker 1999,
  Trinkle 1999).

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• Neuhauser (2002) compared two sections of the
  same courseone taught FTF and one taught online
  asynchronously.
• The retention rate of 84 were identical for the
  two groups, however, the attrition rate for the
  traditional students (18-22 years) was higher
  than that for the nontraditional students,
  especially in the online class.
• No major differences in the major metricstest
  scores, assignments, participation grades, and
  final grades. However, actual scores for the
  online group were slightly higher.

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• Neo and Eng (2001) investigated student
  perception of the effectiveness of online
  learning.
• Students perceive online learning to have
  significant relative advantages to traditional
  methodologies, including saving them time,
  fitting in better with their schedules and
  enabling them to take more courses.
• They do not believe that they learn more in OL
  courses and have concerns related to being able
  to contribute to class discussion.

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Methodology

• In order to collect the feedback on the quality
  of online learning and teaching effectiveness, an
  anonymous online questionnaires was conducted
  among the students of Principles of Economics at
  the conclusion of the course.
• The survey aimed to measure both the learning
  effectiveness as well as teaching effectiveness
  via an online web-based platform such as
  Blackboard.

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• Teaching effectiveness
• Students were asked to rank three aspects of
  online
• teaching media
• taking pretest/posttest,
• online discussion forum, and
• submission of case reports
• in the order in which they have contributed
  towards
• four learning areas, namely
• analytical skills,
• critical thinking,
• feedback, and
• problem-solving skills

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Results

• For the first part of the survey on online
  learning effectiveness, we tested the null
  hypothesis that the 2 sample means were equal
  based on the results observed in 2 independent
  samples.
• The samples for this case were deemed to be
  independent as there was no relationship between
  the students in the different groups. In this
  sampling, it was appropriate to assume equality
  in variances.

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• For the first ten questions, we assumed H0 to be
  using Blackboard has improved the specific
  learning aspect and H1 to be the opposite,
  that is, that it has not.

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• The ten learning aspects are
• ability to organize thoughts and information,
• ability to analyze information (critical
  thinking)
• problem-solving skills
• oral communications
• written communications
• collaboration and interaction with classmates
• interaction with instructors
• taking initiatives to raise questions
• offer suggestions and perform tasks
• the ability to receive effective feedback from
  instructors.

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• Based on the t-test conducted, using a 2-tailed
  test beginning with 99 confidence interval, the
  significance level was then obtained and
  compared, and H0 accepted or rejected.
• If H0 was accepted, another t-test was similarly
  conducted at 95 confidence interval, if H0 was
  still accepted, we proceeded to conduct another
  similar t-test at 90 confidence interval, until
  it was rejected, then we concluded whether to
  accept or reject the H0 at the relevant
  confidence interval.

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• The results show that undergraduate freshman had
  generally agreed that using Blackboard
• had improved their
• written communication,
• interaction with classmates and
• taking initiatives,
• problem solving skills (accepted at 90
  confidence interval)
• effective feedback (accepted at 95 confidence
  interval)
• organizational abilities,
• critical thinking, and
• oral communication (accepted at 99 level).

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• However, they disagreed that the use of
  Blackboard had improved their analytical skills
  nor their interaction with tutors.

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• The use of Blackboard in this course has been
  originally intended to relieve instructors by
  providing self-tested pretest/posttests and
  online discussion forum that allowed students to
  answer fellow students questions, with minimum
  instructors involvement.
• Even the instructors feedback on case study
  report submitted online will be discussed later
  during the class rather than online.
• Therefore, the negative result that Blackboard
  had on students interaction with tutors should
  not be at all surprising.

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• In questions 11-14, the undergraduates were asked
  to rank the significance of three contributory
  online teaching media in their developing of
  analytical, critical thinking, feedback, and
  problem solving skills.

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• For attaining various learning aspects such as
  analytical skills, critical thinking,
  problem-solving skills, the undergraduates ranked
  pretest/posttest as contributed the most,
  followed secondly by online discussion forum, and
  then submission of case study report.
• Whereas for developing feedback, they ranked
  online discussion forum as contributing the most,
  followed by case study submission, then
  pretest/posttest.

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Teaching Economics with Technology

• Music Does Magic

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Teaching Economics with Technology
Music Does Magic!
What better way to catch the attention of a young
student and direct it towards social economics
than the currently-hot band, Sugarland?
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Music Does Magic!

Allow the students with best discussion
performance in the previous class pick the song
to listen to. This creates and incentive to
participate in class, as well as making the
discussion spontaneous rather than stages, since
I dont know what song will be selected.
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Music Does Magic!
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Teaching Economics with Technology
Music Does Magic!
Students hear Sugarland sing the lyrics, which is
included on the top left corner of the
song.while economic concepts appear on the
bottom left corner. I will then write these
terms, plus other related terminology and
concepts on the board for discussion after the
song is concluded.
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Music Does Magic!
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Teaching Economics with Technology
Music Does Magic!

• Topics I would choose to discuss after this song
  would include
• Inflation and Cost of living
• Mobility of labor nationally, and increasingly
  internationally
• Outsourcing and Loss of Blue Collar Jobs
• The benefit of trade in the long run (positive
  sum game where everyone wins) versus the cost of
  trade in the short run (zero sum game where some
  win at the expense of those who lose)

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Teaching Economics with Technology
Audio and Video Poscasting
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Teaching Economics with Technology
Audio and Video Poscasting
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Audio and Video Poscasting Dont need Much to
get started!
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iTunes University
Teaching Economics with Technology
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iTunes University
Teaching Economics with Technology
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Teaching Economics with Technology
iTunes University
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Teaching Marketing with Technology
I Like That Girl!
Watch it on You Tube
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Teaching Marketing with Technology

• Do you like Pepsi now?!

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Teaching with Technology

• Teaching an entire curriculum via the Internet,
  needless to say, poses unique challenges both to
  students and professors.

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Teaching with Technology

• Challenges include
• time differences,
• cultural differences,
• faculty-student interaction dynamics,
• students expectations,
• and
• student-to-student interactions.

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Teaching with Technology

• Moreover, the teaching with technology experience
  would certainly vary among classes, and as a
  matter of fact, among various disciplines and
  specializations.

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Teaching with Technology

• Consequently, challenges faced by an economics
  processor teaching a required core introductory
  class, for example, would likely be quite
  different than a management professors online
  teaching experience in a senior class relying on
  group projects as means of instruction/assessment.
  

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Teaching with Technology

• According to the University of North Carolinas
  Teaching with Technology Collaborative (2004)
  use of technology for teaching and learning
  focuses on improved learning, increased access,
  increased quality and/or reduced costs.
  Technologies offer expanded options for faculty
  and student mentoring, deeper learning,
  reflective learning, discipline-specific
  learning, community building, communication,
  interaction, collaboration, and creative
  partnerships.

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Teaching with Technology

• 2009 An Education Odyssey!
• We dont suggest replacing textbooks and
  professors with the technology yet!
• But we do suggest supplementing traditional
  face-to-face learning with technology