Improving Lecture Presentations: Clickers

and Experiments.

Jose J. Vazquez-Cognet, PhDDepartment of Economics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Urbana, IL 60660vazquezj@uiuc.edu

Where Do I Teach?

Why Do We Trade?

Trade Creates Value!

Break-Ice Activity: Trading Your Gift

• It’s fun!• Clearly demonstrates how trade

increases social welfare• Uses students’ own intuition to illustrate

the concepts• Uses very little in terms of class time• Requires little in terms of materials to be

distributed to students• Can be used in classes or varying sizes

Where was your cloth made?

• The top (i.e. t-shirt) I am wearing was made in:

a) North Americab) South and Central America c) Asiad) Africae) Europe and Oceania

Are We Rational?• What is your eating strategy at “All

You Can Eat” style buffets?

a) Eat the same way I always do.

b) Eat a little more than I normally do.

c) Eat until I’m dying…

d) Don’t eat at all.

e) I can’t decide..econ is hard..I hate this class…

What Do You Think?• Should funding to public

school be based on student’s test scores?

a)Yesb)No

What Do You Think?

• Do you think “three strike your out laws” work at reducing crime?

• Is grading on a curve a better way to encourage student effort ?

• Should we legalize drugs such as marijuana?

• Should NBA teams offer bonus for the number of assists a player made during a season?

What Do You Think?

• In your opinion, my English accent is:

a)not so badb)a little annoyingc) horrible, I can’t understand

anything.d)thick, but very sexy…e)Accent; what accent?

Peer Instruction

• In what year did Adam Smith publish The Wealth of Nations?

a) 1492 b) 1776c) 1970d) 1800e) Trick question; Adam Smith did not write

that book.

Columbus lands in America

Declaration of Independence

The most awesome economist is born.

Larry King is born.

Incentive: everyone gets bonus of 0.10 pts in Exam-1 if 70% of the class gets the right answer

+

+

Peer Instruction

• What would happen to the quantity and price of Pizza sold around Campustown if a reputable newspaper publishes the results of a research study concluding that eating Pizza increases your GPA :

a) price and quantity of pizza will increaseb) price and quantity of pizza will decreasec) price of pizza will increase but quantity of pizza

will decreased) price of pizza will decrease but quantity of

pizza will increase.e) oh man, I’m SO confused, I REALLY hate ECON.

YES!

+ +

Incentive: everyone gets bonus of 0.10 pts in Exam-1 if 70% of the class gets the right answer

The Wonderful Invisible Hand

1. You are a rational, but also energy-conservation-minded consumer, whose only goal in choosing a car is to minimize the extent to which you deplete the planet's store of fossil fuels. You usually drive an average of 7,000 miles every year. If you can't afford to buy a new car, should you rent a 10-year-old Buick ($100/yr, 20 miles per gallon) or a 10-year-old Toyota ($300/yr, 40 mpg)? To make things simple, assume the price of gasoline is $1/gallon.

• Which of the two cars you would rent?

a)Buickb)Toyota

The Demand for Shave Heads• Which of the following prices reflect a price you

would be willing to pay to buy this rose from me (at the end of the poll, I will choose someone at random and that person will have to buy the rose for the price she voted)?

a) $0.00b) $1.00 c) $2.00d) $3.00e) $4.00 or more

The Demand for Shave Heads• Which of the following prices reflect a price you

would be willing to pay to see me shaving my head right here in front of the class (at the end of the poll, I will choose someone at random and that person will have to pay)?

a) $0.00b) $1.00 c) $2.00d) $3.00e) $4.00 or more

The Demand for Flipping Me• Which of the following prices reflect a price you

would be willing to pay to see me flip twice right here in front of you (at the end of the poll, I will choose someone at random and that person will have to pay)?

a) $0.00b) $1.00 c) $2.00d) $3.00e) $4.00 or more

ME

Ticket to Free Ride

• Would you donate your dollar to the public account?

a)Yesb)No

Some Benefits of Automatic Response Devices

• For students– Lower the costs of participating for each

individual student.– Increases the social benefits from most

students participating in class.

• For instructors– Increases the quality of the class through

increase participation.– Allow for “on the spot” adjustment to lecture

Automatic Response Systems: Best Practices/Issues

• Use the clickers consistently, beginning with your first lecture.

• Experiment with peer instruction.

• Choose a grading scheme that is both consistent with your objectives and easy to manage.

• Post grades regularly.

• Do not use ONLY quiz-type questions.

• Announce a high penalty for cheating.

What Do Students Think?

What do you think about Iclicker?

  45%  I like it a lot. 41%  I like it. 12%  I am indifferent.  2%  I dislike it.

0% I dislike it a lot.

Based on 400 students.