What's the matter with the students at George Washington and -- by extension -- elsewhere? Why tolerate this? Put aside the content, which to me would be intolerable. I'm asking about the experience.
Gene On Jun 19, 2012, at 5:58 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: > http://chronicle.com/article/Econ-101-From-College-to/132299/ > > June 18, 2012 > 3 Colleges' Different Approaches Shape Learning in Econ 101 > Econ 101: From College to College, Only the Name Is the Same > > By Dan Berrett > > No matter the college, a class in the principles of microeconomics > is likely to cover the discipline's greatest hits. > > Opportunity cost? Check. Supply and demand? Ditto. The same goes > for such topics as comparative advantage, elasticity, and market > structures. > > But these touchstones of the curriculum may only modestly > influence what a student actually learns. What matters more are a > course's unspoken attributes that colleges rarely make plain and > about which students almost never ask: For what sort of student is > the course really meant? How does the professor teach and assess > the material? And what does he or she think the discipline is all > about? > > The importance of these factors became clear during a recent > semester-long experiment during which I audited > principles-of-microeconomics courses at three institutions. As > questions proliferate about the value of college, those outside > academe are wondering what a course's name really signifies on a > graduate's transcript. What would these three building-block > classes say about the goals and rigor of undergraduate education, > and about colleges' efforts to engage students? > > Each institution chose the professor whose section I audited. One > was a research-intensive private institution, George Washington > University; the second was a regional public, George Mason > University; and the third was an online for-profit, the University > of Phoenix. > > The professors had the same basic goal: teaching students how to > think like economists. And each said that meant cultivating a > scrupulous style of analysis, one in which a proposal's costs and > benefits, both seen and unseen, are carefully examined. > > From that common origin, however, the courses diverged. > > Economics Through Models > > "I throw a lot of stuff at them and hope it sticks," says Steven > M. Suranovic, an associate professor of economics and > international affairs at George Washington. > > The 232 students in his section can attend twice-weekly lectures > or, if they miss one, catch a recording online on Blackboard, the > learning-management system. He also uses Blackboard to post > readings, lecture notes, and slides. > > Four teaching assistants lead weekly discussion sections of 25 > students, and grade the quizzes, exams, and problem sets. To Mr. > Suranovic, the homework and quizzes serve a clear purpose: > introducing students to models, which will prepare them to pursue > a major or even graduate training in the field. > > "If you're not learning models," he says, "you're not learning > what the entire foundation of the discipline is." > > Models represent the interplay of such economic factors as supply, > price, and demand, typically on an x and y axis. They are the > discipline's tool for understanding how the world works. > Mainstream economists like Mr. Suranovic rely on them to reach > conclusions about economic activity. > > But models don't come naturally to most students, Mr. Suranovic > says. Only through repeated exposure can students absorb the > discipline's syntax and come to understand how an economist > thinks. "You've got to practice," he says. > > He gives his students plenty of opportunities to do so. He assigns > six problem sets, of which four count toward the students' grades. > The first set alone requires students to answer more than 60 > questions in which they interpret nine models representing such > metrics as pizza consumed, bowling balls produced, and lawns mowed > relative to trees planted. Other homework exercises use agrarian > or industrial examples, which also dominate the illustrations from > his lectures. > > Students, for example, practice the concept of comparative > advantage through this problem: > > "Suppose Reggie has the following unit-labor requirements > producing corn and wheat: aLC = 200 hrs. per ton, aLW = 100 hours > per ton. Nigel has the following unit-labor requirements: aLC = > 300 hrs. per ton, aLW = 120 hours per ton. Use the opportunity > cost method to determine who has the comparative advantage in corn." > > Answer: "Because aLC/aLW (Reggie) = 200/100 = 2 tons of wheat per > ton of corn is less than aLC/aLW (Nigel) = 300/120 = 2.5 tons of > wheat per ton of corn, Reggie has the comparative advantage in corn." > > While such exercises may inculcate students into economists' way > of thinking, they do not whet everyone's appetite for the subject. > > At a class in February, a man and woman stride into the auditorium > 15 minutes late and approach Mr. Suranovic as he lectures about > calculating a firm's profit. They walk past him, drop their > problem sets in a box corresponding to their TA, and leave. > > I glance at the student next to me, and we both roll our eyes. A > few minutes later, he has his laptop open and his credit card out. > He is updating his Netflix account. > > After class I ask what he thinks of the course. "It's too much, > man," he says, shaking his head. "Too much work. Too much > economics. Too much math." > > Laptops are not the biggest distraction. Phones are far more > prevalent. During one lecture, a man spends nearly the entire > class on his phone playing the game Temple Run. > > But he isn't tuning out because the math is too hard. "The > professor goes over the same point again and again. I get it," he > says, smiling somewhat embarrassedly. "But don't tell him." I > never saw him in class again. > > Mr. Suranovic is well aware of what students are doing on their > gadgets but figures he is dealing with adults. It is their choice > not to pay attention to the education for which they, or someone, > is paying handsomely. Tuition, fees, room, and board at George > Washington exceed $55,000, making it one of the most-expensive > institutions in the country. > > As the semester proceeds, attendance flags. At the start of a > lecture in late April, the auditorium is about one-third full. > "It's an intimate little club here instead of a 250-student > lecture," Mr. Suranovic says. "It looks like some people have > given up." > > Some have simply made calculated choices. One student said he > would rather save money on parking. Instead of attending in person > he watches lectures online on his own time. Another, Tealye Long, > who is a freshman majoring in Spanish, said she relied almost > exclusively on Mr. Suranovic's lecture notes to study. Since they > were online, she didn't feel the need to go to class. > > Not all students were blasé. In a discussion section in March, > London Clark, a freshman majoring in journalism, answered every > question the TA asked about how firms set prices in perfectly > competitive markets while most of her classmates stayed silent. > Preparation made the difference. Ms. Clark read Mr. Suranovic's > notes before the lecture and consulted them as he spoke. She also > regularly went to discussion sections, which were half-full on the > few days I attended. > > High Expectations > > Judging solely from the volume of work, Mr. Suranovic's class > seemed to be the most rigorous of the three I audited. Besides the > four problem sets they are assigned, his students have to take > three quizzes out of a possible four, a midterm, and a final. > > The exams are tough; they include short-answer questions, some of > which require students to run calculations based on various > models. Most of the students struggle to finish the midterm in the > 50 minutes allotted. Many leave wincing or cursing. > > "We're going to pray for a curve, pray for a curve!" a woman says > as she flees. > > Her prayers are answered. Mr. Suranovic's curve is generous. He > calculates the mean, fixes it at the level of B-minus or C-plus, > and sets the curve accordingly. The mean on the midterm was 28.8 > out of 50, a failure if calculated as a raw score. On the final, > with its 100 possible points, the average was 63. > > The nearly 20-point curve seemed large, and it raised a question: > How valuable is rigor if it is not paired with stringent grading? > While Mr. Suranovic's assignments and exams demand effort, the > curve lets students off the hook. You can swing a B-minus without > learning the material well enough to technically pass either of > the tests. > > Mr. Suranovic acknowledges the dangers of grade inflation but sees > the low raw scores, which have been consistent over his 20 years > of teaching, as evidence that he simply gives difficult tests. > Those who get C's are grateful, he says. A few students do very > well, coming close to perfect scores on the exams, which tells him > the exams are appropriately difficult. > > Still, he concedes that high expectations do not necessarily > guarantee significant learning. "Are my students learning more > than they would with another professor?" he asked. "I don't know." > Deeper Concepts > > At George Mason, Donald J. Boudreaux, a professor of economics, > does not emphasize the discipline's mathematical aspects. Asking > students to run through equations is misguided, he says, because > it distorts economics into something mechanistic. > > "It's easy to run across mindless exercises," Mr. Boudreaux says. > "I want to instill a little bit of the gestalt, the deeper > worldview of how an economist views microeconomics." > > For him, the heart of the discipline goes beyond quantification. > "It's the science of society," he tells the 300 students at the > opening lecture in his section. "It's what makes the world hang > together." > > His attitude reflects the particular orientation of his > institution's economics department. Its libertarian bent and > embrace of the free-market philosophy of Friedrich Hayek, the > influential Austrian economist, place it outside economic orthodoxy. > > Mr. Boudreaux does not hide his zeal for the free market, but he > also feels his views do not affect the material he covers. > "There's very little in that class I say that even Paul Krugman > would disagree with," he says, referring to the liberal columnist > for The New York Times and Nobelist from Princeton University. > > George Mason's faculty has had two Nobel laureates of its own who > are now emeritus. It is a regional public university, one whose > stature has grown in recent years but that remains in a tier below > Virginia's more-elite public institutions like the College of > William & Mary and the University of Virginia. > > Mr. Boudreaux's class is not designed to train potential doctoral > candidates in economics but to do something more modest and > achievable. "My goal in every principles-of-microeconomics > course," he says, "is to have students who come regularly and pay > attention be exposed in an effective way to the ways an economist > thinks." > > But exposure occurs through one method alone: listening to Mr. > Boudreaux talk. His class offers a no-frills experience. There are > no discussion sections, no teaching assistants, no quizzes, and no > homework, just a three-hour lecture every Wednesday night with > little technological razzle-dazzle. > > "I don't use Blackboard. I do not know what it is," he says, then > points to his head. "All my notes are in here." > Lecturing as Entertainment > > With such a heavy emphasis on the lecture, Mr. Boudreaux treats > his course a bit like a performance. His voice is a sonorous > baritone, his humor disarming (he makes frequent references to his > taste for wine), and he dots sentences with well-placed pauses. > > "Students are really, I sense, less comfortable today than they > were 20 to 25 years ago listening to a line of reasoning," says > Mr. Boudreaux, who joined the faculty in 1985. "I'm much more > aware that I have to be something of an entertainer, just to keep > their attention." > > To teach comparative advantage, he uses an example that bears a > surface resemblance to Mr. Suranovic's at George Washington. But > Mr. Boudreaux's differs in telling ways. He creates a bit of > suspense to start: "I've got goose bumps knowing I'll be the first > person to explain this to you." > > He uses himself and a student named Sezan sitting near the front. > Suppose we are on an island, he says, and all we care about are > bananas and fish. He can pick 50 bananas a day, or catch 50 fish a > day. Sezan is better at both tasks in absolute terms; she can pick > 100 bananas a day, or catch 200 fish per day. > > It still makes sense for her to trade. Why? Because of opportunity > costs, he explains. Sezan would have to sacrifice two fish caught > for every banana she picks. What matters are the ratios, he says, > not the absolute numbers. > > "It's like magic, almost," he says. By trading, everyone is able > to tap into their talents and benefit from each other. "Each of us > can consume more than each of us can produce. Let that sink in. > This is astonishing." > > Many of his students say they appreciate his flair and consider > Mr. Boudreaux an excellent lecturer. And yet, even his theatrics > and modest expectations can fall short. His students have to do > little more than attend class. "If you show up regularly, don't > fall asleep, and you're not intoxicated you should be able to pull > a B-minus," he says. > > While attendance dips as the semester proceeds, the falloff is not > as striking as at George Washington. Still, some students at > George Mason are physically present while being mentally absent. > During one lecture in April, as Mr. Boudreaux describes the > "impossibility theorem" of Kenneth J. Arrow, several students are > beguiled by their laptops. One watches highlights of Vince Carter, > a professional basketball player, dunking. Behind him, a woman > chats online. Two others are engrossed in an animé movie. > > Such behavior occurs even though Mr. Boudreaux makes clear that he > finds it unacceptable. In his first lecture, he explains that > texting offends him. During another, he stops speaking when a > student exits. "I'll wait," he says. "It's very rude to talk when > someone is trying to leave class." > > He tries other pedagogical tricks. He often repeats key concepts, > saying them three times to telegraph material that will appear on > his exams. The repetition is intended both to accommodate the > growing numbers of exchange students from Asia and the Middle > East, and to connect in some way to his 300 students. "I can't > look students in the eyes like I can in a smaller class to see if > they're getting it," he says. > > Exams offer him the only real opportunity to gauge his students' > grasp of the material. He administers three exams, two midterms > and a final, that account for the entirety of the grade. Each > midterm consists of 30 questions, and the final has 50; they are > completed on a Scantron sheet. The tests are multiple choice, with > most questions having four options. Random chance is students' > ally; nearly one of five questions asks them to answer true or false. > > Some students finished their exams in 20 minutes, and many used > the same word—"straightforward"—to describe them. Three or four > earned perfect scores. > > "I liked this guy," Joseph Brand, a finance major, said after the > final exam. He retook the course with Mr. Boudreaux after dropping > a version of the class taught by another member of the department > because he didn't think he was learning. "As long as you learned > and listened, you did well." > > Democratizing the Classroom > > The cycle of the traditional class—lecturing students and testing > them on what you said—is the kind of thing for which Peggy V. > Douglas, an online adjunct instructor for the University of > Phoenix, has little patience. She calls such an approach the > "banking method" of education. > > "The information is deposited in these empty vessels and taken out > for test time," she says. "Online, I'd say it's easier to > democratize the classroom so that everybody is a co-teacher and a > co-learner." > > Ms. Douglas has taught for more than 20 years, at both online and > brick-and-mortar institutions. She left the tenure track to advise > colleges in finding better ways to teach students. She has also > built a parallel career in community organizing and social > justice. It is an interest that has informed her teaching and > research, including her doctoral training at the University of > Tennessee at Knoxville in environmental economics. > > In her Phoenix course, she says, "I raise questions about the > relationship between the status quo and the economy. Economics > tends to be very value-free. So I ask, 'How would you create an > economic system that is more egalitarian or democratic?'" > > She poses such questions in the course's online discussions, which > occur asynchronously, with her the 18 students in her section > logging on eight times or more during the week. There are no > lectures or exams. Students learn the material by reading four > chapters each week from the textbook Economics, by David C. > Colander. Ms. Douglas reinforces the material through online > discussions. > > The discussions, which count for 20 percent of the grade, form the > heart of the class as I experienced it. Phoenix arranged for me to > make one-hour visits to the course Web site each week for the > five-week duration of the class. In a highly mediated Web-based > teleconference, I attended the course vicariously, guided by > academic administrators who clicked on various parts of the course > site that I requested. Two public-relations officers listened in. > > In the second week of the course, Ms. Douglas asks a question to > kick off a discussion about comparative advantage and opportunity > costs. "Can anyone explain to what concept the 'no free lunch' > axiom pertains? What if someone buys you lunch? Isn't that free?" > > One student tells a story about how a salesman used to visit her > father's store when she was a teenager and take her and her father > to lunch. > > Ms. Douglas amplifies the student's comment. "Even if something > appears to be free," she writes, "there is always a cost to the > person or to society as a whole, even though that cost may be > hidden or distributed elsewhere." > > Later, she tells another student that his answer touches on the > law of comparative advantage. She explains the concept using Kobe > Bryant, the basketball player, as an example. Mr. Bryant obviously > enjoys an absolute advantage at basketball, but suppose, she > writes, that he also happens to be the fastest lawn mower in the > world. "Since he's better at mowing lawns than you, can't he mow > more cheaply than you?" she writes. "That is, if someone has an > absolute advantage in something, doesn't he automatically have a > comparative advantage in it? Can anyone explain?" > > The answer, of course, is that even though Mr. Bryant has an > absolute advantage in mowing the lawn, he wouldn't spend time > doing so because he would lose a lot more money by sacrificing > playing time on the court. > > During some discussions, students clearly grasp the concepts and > draw inferences between their lives and the topic. During others, > Ms. Douglas seems to be the one doing most of that work, bringing > the students' sometimes fumbling answers back to economic > principles. It is difficult to tell at times where the students' > efforts to apply concepts hit the mark, and where Ms. Douglas has > fleshed out what students may not fully understand or are unable > to articulate. > > What is clear is that the Phoenix students are routinely expected > to write and apply the material they are learning, and they > receive frequent feedback from an expert to correct their > misperceptions. > > Shades of Gray > > For Ms. Douglas, the goal of the class has less to do with > transmitting content like comparative advantage and more to do > with getting students to see shades of gray. When she reads online > discussions, she looks for signs of improvement in students' > ability to reason and reach a conclusion. Even though she's > judging the students' development over just a five-week period, > she says such growth plainly occurs. > > Ms. Douglas also searches for signs of growth in the students' > three papers, which account for nearly half of their grade. The > assignments range from 750 to 1,400 words, and cover such topics > as consumption, supply and demand, and the characteristics of the > four main market structures. > > The last part of their grade, accounting for about one-third of > the grade, is a group project. The final product is a 4,000-word > paper on the history of a business or industry of their choosing > (the groups selected McDonald's, Starbucks, Zappos, and Amazon), > along with an analysis of the market in which it operates and > prospects for the organization's future. Each student has to > contribute a section to the paper. > > As happens in many groups, the students have to hold one another > accountable. "Please note that words like 'dumb' are not > appropriate in formal college writing along with the use of > pronouns and ending sentences with prepositions," one student > writes to another. "I hope you do not find my comments too > critical as that is not my intention." > > Math is absent from the course at Phoenix. When one student asks > online whether there will be formulas in microeconomics like there > were in macroeconomics, Ms. Douglas responds that they will be > "implicit in the expectations" for the class because students will > need to use them to craft answers. > > "Other schools are more interested in students developing > quantitative analysis skills," Ms. Douglas explains to me later. > "So, rather than giving students a problem where they calculate > opportunity costs and gains from trade, I create a dialogue on the > discussion board to explore the applications of comparative > advantage." > > This focus on applying knowledge reflects Phoenix's traditional > niche in teaching nontraditional students. Economics is meant to > be embedded in the students' everyday experience. Ms. Douglas also > keeps in mind how her course, and the information and abilities > her students might develop, will help them after class is over. > > Some may own a businesses one day. "They've got to understand the > concept of price elasticity to sell their products," she says. "I > will spend a lot of time on that to make sure they understand the > concept, but maybe not the formula. They can look that up." > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
