ÓÄÊ 378.147
I. Romanets, L. Tkachuk,
Vinnitsia State Technical University,
N. Pritoliuk, Vinnitsia Constraction College (Vinnitsia)
Many instructors thought that the microcomputer would herald a new era of the teaching of economics. The reason that it would become an indispensable tool was because it could be used for problem solving, graphing, and quantitative analysis — skills which were given strong emphasis by instructors of economics. It needs to be understood that the microcomputer is just one of many educational «innovations» over the years that is expected to revolutionize economic instruction.
The instructor must understand how to use the technology, and then decide how it can help students to learn everything in the best. The instructor must also be willing to accept the ever-present risk that teaching technology may not be very effective or live up to the expectations we have for it. For some of us, the time costs and risk may simply outweigh any benefits. For others, the benefits can be substantial and will far outweigh the costs as the technology opens up new possibilities for learning and makes teaching more interesting and exciting. We seek to increase the pool of instructors that fall into the latter group — those enjoying net benefits from an instructional investment in technology.
Last years, the Internet opened up new possibilities for teaching. Computer networks permit students and instructors to improve communication via E-mail. They also facilitate searches for information and obtain data for research projects. Instructors can establish homepages that contain assignments and course information. It is doubtful, however, that the Internet will completely alter economic instruction given the past history of technological innovation in the subject. The effects will be positive, but more modest than expected in spite of what the truly committed claim can be done [2].
We can now turn to three different modern types of technology to teach management and economics and offer suggestions on how instructors might go about achieving above average returns on this investment for classroom instruction. These are television and videotapes, spreadsheets and microcomputer tutorials, and teaching applications for the Internet.
Televisions and videocassette players are now relatively inexpensive and widely available. The instructor who wants to use television can show an economic program from a prepared videotape series or a video clip from a commercial broadcast of economic news and reports. When used on a selective basis, the 30-minute programs offer variety and can be used to supplement lectures and the textbook materials. Television programs such as this one give instructors a distinct alternative to the traditional lecture. Instructors can videotape current television programs and show them to students to illustrate an economic concept or apply economic principles to current and surveys suggests that the instructor demand is low and classroom use is slight for microcomputer programs for teaching economics. Those instructors who like personal computers and economics software programs will find them effective for using in instruction. Most courses are too «packed» to include microcomputer programs as anything more than a supplement to lectures and the texts, unless the instructor finds innovative ways to use the programs.
The Internet gave new life to the microcomputers for economic instruction and opened up new possibilities for teaching. Computer networks permit students and instructors to improve communication via E-mail. They also facilitate searches for information and obtaining data for research projects. Instructors can establish homepages that contain assignments and course information. It is doubtful, however, that the Internet will completely alter economics instruction given the past history of technological innovation in the subject. The effects will be positive, but more modest than expected in spite of what the truly committed claim can be done.
The real challenge with the use of television in the classroom is making it an active rather than passive learning experience. Just showing the videotape and hoping that student will learn something from it will not be very effective. The instructor needs to make a clear connection between what is discussed in class, or presented in the textbook, and what students see on the tube. What follows are a few suggestions to make the use of television more effective for instruction.
First you should, know what economic concept or set of concepts you want the videotape segment to illustrate. A television program or video clip can cover a great deal of material, some central to the course and others completely extraneous. Pick the key points and build instruction around them. A portion of TV-program, which focuses on a few concepts you presented in class can add relevance to the topic of monetary policy that might otherwise seem quite abstract when simply read about in a textbook.
Second, prepare your students to watch the videotape. Help them to make the connection between what you discussed in class and what they will see. Give students a few questions to answer when viewing the videotape will focus their attention on the central ideas.
Third, make the post-viewing experience as active as possible. Follow-up with a class discussion of the questions you asked students to answer. You might also have students turn in written answers to your questions. Indicate how the videotape content might be used on quizzes and exams. The key idea is to design active learning activities to engage student thinking.
Fourth, when possible use shorter videotape segments. A better alternative than to have students view a full class program is to show them just part of a program or a short video clip.
The possibilities for using microcomputer software for teaching economics improved in the past decades. There are now spreadsheet programs that can be used by the instructor to create problem solving exercises and simulations/games for students. Publishers have produced an array of tutorials, simulations/games, graphics packages, and testing software to accompany their economics textbooks, especially for principles of economics. There are many instructional computer programs developed by professors for use in particular courses. We turn now to a brief description of the major types of instructional software, and assess their advantages and disadvantages.
1. Spreadsheet exercises. Simple economic experiments have been shown to be very effective in fostering understanding of the functioning of markets. Students learning can be reinforced during the experiment by using spreadsheet programs, such as Excel, Quattro Pro, or Lotus, to produce tables and graphs using the data on which the experiment is based.
Spreadsheet applications can be advantageous in supporting many other ideas from the principles courses. The ease of data transformation and the visual examples so readily available on the computer screen make it easier for students to understand the difference between intercept and slope adjustments. The students are also less reluctant to practice these skills than is typically die case when assigned exercises require graphing and tabular manipulation by hand.
Spreadsheets can also be effectively used at the intermediate level to make abstract concepts more concrete. One of the goals of intermediate theory courses is to give students an appreciation for the mathematical basis of microeconomic theory. A primary advantage of using spreadsheet exercises is that they force the student to apply what they see in the textbook graphs to the computer screen. A possible disadvantage is that spreadsheet exercises may not be very interesting or exciting for the students, and they may not be any more effective than traditional paper and pencil graphing or problems.
2. Tutorials. Publishers of textbooks have concentrated their development of software on drill and practice exercises, tutorials, and problem sets to complement the textbook used by the instructor. The main justification for tutorial software lies in the complexity of the material. As most instructors know from years of teaching, economics is difficult for students to master. A tutorial provides a way of reinforcing the text and classroom presentations without spending additional instructor or class time on a topic. They can be an exciting alternative to a traditional study guide or workbook.
These programs also make it easier to use the computer with traditional methods because of the ability to print out exercises as homework.
Tutorial software may cover the content, but often not in the most imaginative way. Students need to be sufficiently motivated and interested in learning economic content from a drill-and-practice exercise. It can be tempting for students to just press the return key to find the correct answer without really thinking about the problem and solving it. The software is also «captive» in the sense it is tied to the textbook and is usually not a free-standing commodity. The quality of the software also varies because textbook companies may not have a great deal of incentive to produce software that is another ancillary for a textbook.
3. Simulations/games. While the primary microcomputer contribution of text publishers to economic courses has been tutorial software, the primary contribution from instructors and private developers have been simulations/games. Instructors may prefer them because they have more potential for getting students involved in the course content than do drill-and-practice tutorials or spreadsheet problems. Simulations allow students to make decisions and examine their effects on the modeled phenomena, so that they become active rather than passive learners in the decision-making process. Games use competition to excite students and give them an incentive to cover the material. A simulation/game combines the best features of each to get students to look at complex situations. A simulation/game will not guarantee student interest, but when well constructed it can generate excitement and serve as an effective instructional device.
Depending upon time and resources, these simulations/games can be very complex (multiple firms and nonlinear demand functions) or very simple (duopolies with linear demand and constant marginal cost).
Class discussion of solutions and behavior strategies devised by teams is usually lively and instructive. The penetration of microcomputer simulations/games into economic courses are still limited. Most simulations/games do not explicitly present an economic concept and may cover many interrelated concepts. There is more teaching responsibility for the instructor and scarce class time must be used to make certain that students understand the concepts underlying the simulation/game. The programs also vary in quality and may be difficult to use or expensive to obtain from private developers or commercial vendors. Thus, the use of simulations/games in economic courses, already overcrowded with other content, require more determination by the instructor to make it more valuable than traditional lecture and discussion.
So, the microcomputer and economic software can enhance teaching and learning, but this cannot be done without foresight and work by the instructor. Here are a few general points to consider.
First you should, know what concept or concepts of the software will illustrate for students and assess how well you think it does the job. Following this recommendation requires that you have a good understanding of the software program and how the students will actually use it. Don't give computer assignments or conduct simulations/games with students unless you have gone through the process of doing the exercise or playing the simulation/game yourself. Be sure to know whether the computer equipment that the students will use can handle the software. Spend time identifying the key concepts that students will learn from using the software.
Second, avoid using microcomputer programs to do what can be more easily accomplished with more conventional methods. Ask yourself in what ways the high-tech software will do a better job presenting these ideas than conventional low-tech alternatives such as course transparencies, graphing the problem on graph paper, or completing a print study guide or workbook exercise. Spreadsheet exercises, tutorials, and simulations/games are most beneficial when they help students to understand a concept or evaluate their mastery of them with greater ease and at more depth than can be achieved with conventional methods. Will the new technology really improve student understanding or is it just a high-tech gimmick?
Third, figure out how you will integrate the use of software in your course. If spreadsheet exercises are used, what percent of the grade will be assigned for the completion of each assignment? How will you assess the learning from a game or simulation? What incentives will students have to do a spreadsheet exercise or tutorial? These and many other questions must be answered if software use is to be meaningful. You have to make a decision about whether you want software to be an integral part of the course, require your time to set it up and the student's time to use it, or simply a minor supplement to the textbook and your lectures.
The Internet has the potential to become a valuable new tool for teaching management and economics, if an instructor can figure out how to make the use of it. The task can be a real challenge because the rapid pace of technological change makes it difficult to imagine the many uses and applications of the Internet for teaching economics that will emerge over the next decade. Economic instructors are currently using the Internet for teaching in three basic ways—for communication, obtaining information and data, and course projects. Each one is discussed in the following sections to indicate the many creative ways that the Internet is being used.
1. Communications. Electronic mail (E-mail) is perhaps the most useful feature of computer networks that can be easily used by economic instructors with students. E-mail enhances communication between the instructor and student. E-mail lets both the student and the instructor initiate and respond when they have a free moment or have a pressing need (such as guidance on a homework problem). In addition, students who are reluctant to speak out in class or visit an instructor are encouraged by this quasi-anonymous form of communication to participate in the course and receive feedback from the instructor. E-mail will clearly become a more important communication vehicle for economic instructors in the future because it expands the opportunity to make connections with students.
Apart from communicator directly with one student, the instructor can use E-mail to send course information to all students at the same time. Some examples of materials which could be sent will include course syllabus, lecture notes, homework assignments, and test scores. This approach can reduce paper usage since the students can store and retrieve the information electronically. It also benefits students who have missed a class meeting due to illness or some other unavoidable event (and at the same time it limits the excuse of not receiving the assignment when it was handed out). Students can also "hand in" assignments, or send a draft for comments from the instructor before the final version is due. Students can post questions (and comments) about course content that other students can read and answer. Students communicating with one another on course material is often a very useful way to learn. The instructor can set up a course discussion list on the university computer.
The instructor can also help students to subscribe to «conferences» on economic topics through newsgroups and electronic bulletin boards. These topics are accessed by interested parties all over the world, and thus provide an interesting source of commentary.
2. Information and data. Most university libraries allow electronic access to their card catalogues, which is a good starting point for showing students how to access information on the Internet. Students can search for books and articles, not only in their home library, but virtually any university in the country and abroad. Search time for the student is minimized because a source can be pinpointed before ever going to the library. In many cases, requests for interlibrary loans or reprints of journal articles can be made electronically. Any time-saving procedure that reduces barriers to completing a project and makes access easier to resource materials should help to improve the quality of a term paper or report.
Another instructional opportunity created by the Internet comes from the economic and financial information that can be quickly and conveniently found to add a «real world» dimension to a class topic. In macroeconomics courses, for example, students can be assigned to track current economic statistics such as GDP growth rates, unemployment rates, interest rates, inflation rates, or productivity so that they see the connection between what is written in the textbook and what is reported in the media. Students can also access newspapers and magazines for more in-depth reporting of economic and financial news in both macro- or micro-oriented courses. During the semester, students can be assigned to find a course-related economic article, write a summary or report on it, and submit it to the instructor via E-mail along with a copy of the article. Students are more likely to participate in this information gathering and reporting because it reduces the opportunity cost associated with conventional library searches for newspapers and magazine articles.
Once the student (and instructor) moves beyond basic library and news media information, the variety of resources that can be used for teaching or research are extensive. There are on-line data bases of governmental or private organizations. If students are required to do any research where such data are used in a term paper or project, the Internet is often the best tool for acquiring data from these organizations. There are also on-line journals, papers, reports, government documents, and other items that can be used for research projects. With the enormous resources available, finding the information you or students need can be especially difficult.
3. Course Webpages. One instructional use of the Internet that puts together the best of its communication and information features is the development of a World Wide Web site for a course. Course pages can include a syllabus, lecture or class notes, assignments, reference materials, and feedback that permit better graphics and more detail than in typical E-mail listings previously discussed. The «hot links» that connect to the course materials to other relevant sites on the web are of particular value. The student simply clicks on the hot link and is connected to the source site and whatever information it contains. These links have the potential to encourage students to choose which information avenues to pursue, and get them more actively involved in the course materials or assignments.
Creation of a website for a course requires use of a web browser and software such as Netscape. Many books are available on how to create homepages and computer magazines feature frequent articles about using the web and creating a homepage. Most campuses have workshops on creating the homepage that enable the instructor to create one within a few hours of finishing the training. Economic faculty is building course web sites at an impressive rate as the time cost of creating one is becoming smaller with new software and as more instructors develop and share their expertise. Many course sites can be found on the homepages of economic departments and can be located using a web search engine, such as Yahoo.
As in the past, new technology such as the Internet will not completely alter economic instruction, but there are likely to be some changes from it.
First, economic instructors need to prepare for a different role in teaching when using the Internet. Instructors should spend less time presenting information and more time giving students a framework for processing information when using the Internet. With the Internet, the instructor serves more as a coach, a facilitator, or a reactor than as a direct conveyor of information or course controller. The use of the Internet also means that there will be more demands on the instructor to tie the course content to the «real world,» and fewer excuses for why this cannot be done, especially in such a timely and rich subject as economics.
Second, group work will be facilitated and encouraged in economic courses that use the Internet. The Internet lets students easily work on small group projects outside of class. There is greater collaboration and sharing among groups and individuals than is possible in a traditional classroom. This possibility alters the group dynamics from large-group to small-group discussion. It will also change evaluation practices from grading based solely on individual achievement to grading based on a combination of individual and group performance. The ability to work with others to produce a project becomes as important as the ability to complete a project alone. Economic instructors need to figure out a way to take advantage of the many new opportunities for group work.
Third, an economic course should be more satisfying for the students when the Internet is used for teaching. The Internet lets instructors communicate more easily with students, and vice versa. This means that the instructor can use the technology to give better guidance and feedback that meets individual needs, and that students can easily seek help from the instructors. Students can also communicate more easily with each other, which can be used to reinforce learning, do group work, and strengthen course participation. In addition, the barriers of obtaining information or knowledge are lowered, thus reducing student frustration with course material. These communication and information factors, if harnessed properly, should contribute to greater student satisfaction with an economic course.
CONCLUSION
Instructional technology has great potential to reduce reliance on the traditional lecture method which is so embedded in the teaching of undergraduate economics. Whether instructional technology—be it television, microcomputer programs, or the Internet—significantly improves student learning is far from certain because of the number of factors involved in making the technology effective. The most important one is the willingness of the instructor to spend time learning about the technology and designing ways that can be used to help students in learning. The instructor must also be willing to take the risk of using the new technology with students. Improvements in technology and the greater availability of instructional technology on campuses are reducing the investment costs and eliminating a great deal of the risk for the individual instructor. The experiences of those who have invested the time and accepted the risk suggest that incorporating new technology in a course is worthwhile for both students and the professor. It adds variety and interest that go well beyond what is possible in traditional instruction. It rejuvenates a professor's enthusiasm for teaching and reinforces the commitment to student learning. More economic instructors should accept the challenge.
REFERENCES
1. Using Technology for Teaching Economics. William B. Walstad, Ann Harper Fender, Jean Fletcher Wayne Edwards // Teaching Undergraduate Economics: a handbook for instructors. \\ USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1998 – 368p.- ISBN-0-07-290246-9.
2. Íåòðàäèöèîííûå ìåòîäû ïðåïîäàâàíèÿ ñîöèîëîãèè / À. Í. Ãîðáà÷, È. Ä. Êîâàëåâà, Î. À. Ðåäüêî, Þ. Ã. Ñîðîêà: ó÷åá.ïîñîáèå; ïîä ðåä. È. Ä. Êîâàëåâîé. – Õàðüêîâ, 2001. – 328ñ.