Affordable Learning Solutions An Example SJSU AL$ Workshop June - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Affordable Learning Solutions – An Example

SJSU AL$ Workshop June 13, 2012 Mike Jerbic Econ 100W Lecturer www.sjsu.edu/people/stephen.jerbic

From Last Time

• Students appeared to accept $75/course as reasonable

and appropriate for class books and materials

• Students willing to trade “quality” for price. Some

students won’t buy anything

• Products usability varied and could become unwieldy

– Licensing terms, rental/renewal periods, technology incompatibilities, technology duplication and overlap leading to costs of managing complexity

• Using these materials requires a willingness to innovate

Presentation Objectives

• How I assess materials: selection criteria
• Example of my choices for affordable learning resources
• Example from last semester’s pilot
• Lessons learned, warnings, recommendations to you

Improve student reasoning and expression skills within an economics perspective or point of view.

Resource Selection Criteria

• Cost: Total student material cost not to exceed $75

– Rule of thumb from last time

• Quality: Good enough to accomplish my purposes.

– Contains material I need to teach or exemplify – Minimal cost to me – Nice to have: flexibility to customize, range of options

• Schedule/availability

– Available before class, in enough time for me to review in the summer – If “free,” on the web, no access controls to material, I consider material effectively in the public domain and can refer students to it

• Meets requirements of

– Students – Academics – Industry decision making

“Free Stuff” That Supported a Class Project

• Articles from the New York Times, Economist, other publications
• PG&E Website for electricity rates, responses to regulatory agency

actions

• CA CPUC, CEC website for electricity policy and decisions
• SSRN for articles

– Some from Harvard University – Some from commercial, for-profit consulting firm – Law journal articles

• TED-talks, You-Tube, podcasts

– Follow links from above if useful

• Online Purdue OWL resource
• Local Industry association chapter meetings
• Industry standard publications/materials

“Free Stuff” from Last Semester

My Last Econ 100W Class

$35-45 in print, $28 in Kindle $17 to e-rent $12 in print, $10 in Kindle $6-7 in print, $5 in Kindle $40-129 print $0-35 digital www.wikisource.org

“The Art of Being Right” by Arthur Schopenhauer $0

My own slides!

Pilot I Ran Last Semester

• Purpose: Determine whether I should this book

next semester to provide reference resources in remedial grammar

• Student Assignment: Optional extra credit points

to use and review selected chapters in this book

• Required a short essay on
• how the student used the book
• how it impacted writing
• how I should teach it
• whether it was worth $25 digital price
• whether I should use it next semester
• 23 signed up to do this extra credit, 13 delivered

a paper

Pilot Results

• No answers to exercises in book. Needed answers to check work
• Students would read online through Flatworld Knowledge’s online

web reader rather than pay money for portable e-book or printed

• book. Worth $25 only if the free online version unavailable
• One student who had a free access to ebook preferred online book
• Student’s don’t generally own e-readers. They use smartphones and

laptops exclusively

• Preferred book to Purdue’s OWL
• Use in the beginning of the semester

Take-Aways

• Material prices vary widely – you may need to work to find out the

full range of options. Publishers offerings change

• From my pilot, students choose the version readable on a full-up

computer or smartphone. Student’s don’t use e-readers yet.

• Anticipate functional problems with e-readers and e-books. Verify

combinations of e-books and e-readers you recommend to your students

• Negotiate with content providers to make resources more affordable
• I will have to develop my own presentation/instructional materials
• Pilot provided enough information to use the FWK book next

semester

• Students don’t see value in outside the classroom opportunities (at

least not the ones I organize!)

Warnings

• Instructor materials may be weak. Check them carefully or commit

to making them yourself

• Students require incentives to experiment with you outside of the

classroom

• “Free stuff” requires a lot of your time to select, structure, and use.

Results may not cohere

• Technology may have bugs, and students will likely choose least

cost alternative.

• Articulate the least cost alternative that is sufficient for you. You

don’t have to accept the “free” version necessarily

Recommendations to You: Be Willing to Innovate

• Give yourself permission to experiment
• Involve students – be honest with them regarding your

purpose, methods, reasoning

• Give incentives to help you – they won’t help you for free
• Ask publishers, technology providers for help when you

see problems. Be willing to articulate problems, follow through.

• Negotiate pricing alternatives with publishers
• Expect weak supporting materials that you’ll have to

supplement

• Post slides you present

Questions