Volume 11, Issue 1, 1997
CHEER / CTI Centre for Economics Questionnaire results:
a provisional overview
In an effort to review and improve CHEER and other services provided in
whole or part by CTI Economics, a CHEER / CTI Centre for Economics
evaluation questionnaire was sent out in the November issue of CHEER
(Issue 10 Volume 3). This is just an initial overview of responses - it is
intended to further evaluate CTI Economics during visits to departments,
workshops and through the web site (find the on-line questionnaire [The
long questionnaire has been taken down but we do still
want to hear
comments on any aspect of our work- Web Editor]). Approximately
fifty responses have been collected so far - not such a high number that
warrants sophisticated evaluation, but never-the-less an interesting and
useful set of views from a cross section of the economics community.
CHEER
Most respondents read every copy of CHEER and most sections. Reasons put
forward for liking CHEER:
- regular updates
- interesting ideas on teaching
- software information/new resource information including the internet
- practical
Some suggested improvements included improving the quality of print and a
higher emphasis on evaluation.
Following the release of the questionnaire, the CHEER board have reviewed
the journal (see Guy Judge's editorial) - one of
the changes being in this edition is the outsourcing of the printing and
layout. Virtual CHEER can be found on CTI Economics web site at
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ctiecon/cheer.htm.
CTI Economics
Practically all respondents were familiar with the services CTI Economics
provides (see the inside front cover of CHEER for a list of services or
the Services section of the web site).
Suggestions for further services included:
- a data depository
- more software like WinEcon
- collation and dissemination of good practice in using technology in
learning
Catalogue of Economics Software
Approximately half of the respondents had seen a paper copy or
on-line copy of the CTI Economics catalogue
of software. Descriptions of the best properties of the catalogue
included 'comprehensive' and 'informative'. One suggested improvement was
to improve the link from the home page on the web site.
CTI Economics web site
Again about half of respondents were aware of and had used this service.
Most popular pages included the catalogue of economics software, Blackwell
Economics Articles index and CTI Economics services information.
Currently the CTI Web site is undergoing development to improve navigation
and content. Please use the on-line
questionnaire [no longer available- web editor] at or email Ros O'Leary on cticce@bristol.ac.uk if you have
any additional comments or suggestions.
Workshops
Roughly a third of respondents had either attended a
CTI Economics workshop or planned to
attend one in the future. The biggest constraint to attending such a
workshop was time. Suggested workshops included:
- evaluation of learning
- accessing datasets
- PcGive and general econometrics software
- building a web page
Please see the March edition of the CTI Economics and CHEER Newsletter or
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ctiecon/events on the web site for the current
workshop programme and registration form. The programme includes workshops
on POWERSIM, PcGive and PcFiml, Ox, STELLA and GAUSS, as well as WinEcon
and Internet courses on using and authoring on the web.
Have your say
The CTI Centre for Economics is funded by the four HE funding councils of
England , Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and is tasked to serve the
economics higher education community by encouraging the use of technology
in teaching. All comments or suggestions are extremely welcome, and go
some way in ensuring the centre meets the needs of its constituency.
Please make any comments or suggestions by using the on-line questionnaire. [See contact section of this web site for current user questionnaires- Web Editor]
