from Inquiry, Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 1998, 47-51
© Copyright 1998 Virginia Community College System
Abstract
Activities involving multimedia technology enhanced students' learning in and the instructor’s enthusiasm for economics courses.
In the fall of 1995, I was awarded a professional development grant in the form of one course reassigned time to investigate and research multimedia tools for teaching principles of economics. The title of the grant was "Independent Research in Multimedia Technology in the Field of Economics." "Multimedia" was a term that I used in my research project to indicate any and all methods which utilize audio, visual, computer and playacting components (experiments).
Purpose
The impetus to apply for such a grant was the realization that enrollment in economics courses has been steadily declining. This phenomenon was not limited to our school or even our country. I happened to come across an article from the London Times which stated the same problem for British students, citing their lack of interest in the discipline as being the result of complacency on the part of instructors who failed to "dress up" the courses to entice students.
Being an economist and an educator by choice, I was naturally alarmed by the trend. I am also a true believer in the value of a strong economics background for students as a useful tool for their lives and careers; therefore, I decided to find out if a refurbishing of the course would make a difference in student retention.
Description/Methodology
I feel that experiments have proven to be most engaging tools and the ones that have received the most positive feedback from students. There is a growing body of literature that can be used as a source for classroom experiments. Many universities have faculty who consistently use experiments to illustrate numerous concepts. Students seem to feel engaged in the learning process when they can "act out" some roles and observe results first hand. Some of those experiments were designed to take a few minutes of class time; others lasted two class periods. All were performed before the actual economic concept was introduced to the students. As judged by test results, those concepts seemed to be well assimilated.
I will describe a typical successful experiment. It is titled "The Widget Factory" and was contributed by Dr. J. Brauer, Augusta College, Georgia, although I have somewhat modified it. The equipment needed is minimal: sheets of a paper, a flat surface, a stapler, a pen. The product was defined as folded, stapled, sheets of paper, with an "X" across it. This is the actual experiment: labor is the variable resource (students) and one adds labor to the fixed capital (stapler, flat surface, pen) to produce the product from raw materials (sheets of paper). This simple exercise powerfully illustrates the "law of diminishing marginal returns": students observe that, as more and more labor is added to the fixed resource, eventually the total product starts to diminish. From that, we construct tables and graphs for total product, average product, and marginal product. After class, all of the data can be typed up and handouts distributed with student-generated production tables and the subsequent graphs.
My research also included other educational aids; in fact, it was a semester-long project during which I consulted public libraries, our campus library, the Internet, publishers, colleagues, our audiovisual department, and the Federal Reserve, as well as books that I have purchased. The result is a compilation of methods and techniques which range from games and experiments (such as the one I have just described above) to news clips, movies, interactive software, microfilms, and newspaper articles from different decades.
Some other resources that I found valuable were videos and films. One example of a great series can be found on PBS, an offshoot of the "Jim Lehrer News Hour." It contains a series of timely topics which are analyzed in an informative and engaging manner by their economics analyst, Paul Solman. The videos present such topics as international trade, inflation, and unemployment. Solman uses real examples to illustrate economic concepts. Students respond well, especially because of the length of those segments: an average of fifteen minutes. I found that longer pieces do not usually capture their interest.
Results/Discussion
The positive aspect of my research can be described as a series of intangibles stemming from the process itself. Ironically, as I searched for ways to inspire my students, I experienced a strong resumption of the ideals that propelled me to teaching in the first place. Looking for new ways, I found a strengthening of my initial love, enthusiasm and commitment for teaching, for the subject matter, and for my students.
The process was not without much frustration, and the difficulties were mainly due to hardware limitations, breakdowns, and lack of accessibility. The benefits were not without tremendous cost (in terms of time, expenses, energy) to the instructor, and they also did not meet with universal acceptance from the students. It seems that some students feel more comfortable with the traditional lecture style, where the instructor feeds them the information that they needed to know "for the test."
An important lesson I learned was that computers cannot and should not be viewed as the solution to every classroom problem or challenge. They constitute one tool and have many limitations. I expect that software will become more useful as more computers are used in the classroom; but as of now, most of the simulations that I have tested were ancillaries to textbooks, with very few alternative choices. The drawback is the fact that one must adopt the text in order to be able to use the computer software, yet it may not be one’s book of choice. Also, I found that most of the software contained errors or was not "user friendly" and did not lend itself to effective classroom use. Although computers have tremendous potential to engage students (for example, putting them in charge of fiscal or monetary policy, and have them react to events and have the computer tabulate their results), I can only hope that new software will be soon developed which will be interesting, useful, and productive. As of yet, the choices are very limited.
I also found that the project was too large in scope for a one-semester deadline, as set up by the grant award. I would like to have separated the two courses to research them individually. Macroeconomics and Microeconomics have different approaches and require different skills. The methods are not the same and a separate time frame should be devoted to each, and there are different resources and applications.
Although one needs time to gauge the success of any new methodology, I daresay that results are positive overall, judging by most students’ feedback. Perhaps the greatest benefit of this research has been the renewal of my personal commitment to teaching, to excellence, and to always being open to change and experimentation, with the goal of improving the quality of my instruction. I believe in the willingness to try new methodologies as being vital for educators. This is worth pursuing further, and I intend to do so on an ongoing basis. I have included a list of resources related to economics instruction.
Sources for Experiments:
1. VCU, which has large collection of experimental economics.
2. University of Arizona, which conducts annual workshops on using experiments in the classroom.
3. Expernomics, a newsletter which details experiments, and whose subscription is free to faculty members
4. Reed College, which has integrated experiments into their curriculum via a lab requirement for economics students.
5. Davis, Douglas and Holt, Charles: Laboratory Experimentation in Economics, Princeton University Press, 1993.
6. Delemeester and Neral. Classroom Experiments: A User’s Guide, to accompany John Taylor’s Economics: Houghton-Mifflin, 1995.
7. Friedman, Daniel and Sunder, Shyam. Experimental Economics, a Primer for Economists: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
8. Kagel, John and Roth, Alvin. The Handbook of Experimental Economics: Princeton University Press, 1995.
9. Ortman and Colander, Experiments in Teaching and in Understanding Economics, written to accompany Economics, by David Colander.
10. Journal of Economic Education
11. Journal of Economic Inquiry
12. International Journal of Game Theory
Web Sites: University of Arizona and Economic Science Association.
Software Sources:
1. EcoSim (davies@academ.wvwc.edu)
2. WinEcon, (Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK).
3. Macrosim (Buffland Software)
4. Fairmodel (MACRO, Inc.)
5. Mathematic Notebooks, to accompany Varian’s Microeconomic Analysis.
6. Economics Tutor, by Daniel K. Benjamin, to accompany Miller’s Economics Today.
7. SIMCITY, published by Maxis (contact http://www.mwc.edu/ rrycroft/ urbanregional.html)
Laserdisc and VHS Sources:
1. Mary Poppins (to illustrate future value, present value, compound interest, bank runs)
2. Roger and Me (efficient allocation of resources, structural unemploy-ment laissez-faire, labor issues).
3. Greed
4. The Efficient Expert
5. Wall Street
6. PBS series with Paul Solman
7. Series of segments in Laserdisc that accompanies Miller’s Economics Today
Miscellaneous Sources:
1. CNBC’s program Money Club
2. National Association of Investor’s Corporation (for stock market game).
3. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Concord Coalition (Washington, DC)
4. Center for Community Economic Research (University of Berkeley, Califor nia).
Web Sites (Miscellaneous items):
1. http://gsmith.pomona.edu/pedagogy.pdf
2. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ (Economics education Web)
3. http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ksosin/webteach.pdf (bibliography on technology and teaching economics)
Journal Sources: (Technology and Teaching)
1. Agarwal, Rajshree and A. Edward Day. 1997. "The Impact of the Internet on Economic Education." Allied Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting. January 5, 1997: 1-24.
2. Grimes, Paul W. and Margaret A. Ray. 1993. "Microcomputers in the College Classroom - A Review of the Academic Literature." Social Science Computer Review. Vol.11, No. 4, Winter.
3. Manning, Linda. 1996. "Economics on the Internet: Electronic Mail in the Classroom." Journal of Economic Education. Summer 27(3): 201-04.
Clara V. Pereira Ford, better known by her peers and students as "Kaya," is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Northern Virginia Community College. She believes that student motivation is a vital component of the learning process, and she is always on a mission to capture that spark. Kaya holds a Master’s degree in Economics from George Mason University and is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Arts for Community College Education Program.