Conference sessions in Student learning
Learner paths
Presentation at DEE 2017,In economics and business, MOOCs are developing fast and this evolution raises many questions. The most publicised facts concern the dropout rate: only a small proportion of students finish courses. All courses experience the same phenomenon, which probably depends on factors like the duration and length of the course at least as much as on its content, but there may be more systemic factors. In order to delve into the question of course efficiency, we record all that individual learners do in a recent course hosted by FutureLearn: “manage your prices, an introduction to revenue management and pricing strategy.” We have a wealth of quantitative information on learners’ behaviour, including performance measurement, time spent on resources, steps completed, messages posted, etc. Qualitative information, like comments made by learners, connexions between them, is also rich in content. We focus here on the available information on learner paths. In what respect do they enable us to assess the course efficiency? We design indicators that can be computed with available data, for the first and second session of the course and analyse different types of learner paths. Are social learners (those who participate in discussions) more likely to complete the course? More generally, what can we discover from the individual learning paths? Do students need more than one session? What would we like to have in order to model the course efficiency better? This paper is an attempt towards a general reflection on the use of data for answering these questions.
Escaping the economist’s straightjacket: overcoming the free-rider mentality which prevents climate change from being effectively addressed
Presentation at DEE 2017,Economists’ ability to propose radical solutions to the problem of climate change is severely limited by one of the assumption they normally make about human nature, namely that it is fundamentally selfish and that this defining characteristic cannot be changed. An important consequence of this characteristic is known as free-riding, which occurs when people do not bother to take eco-friendly actions as these are costly to them, preferring to wait for others to take such actions and enjoy the resultant benefits. The problem is that, if all behave in this way, social paralysis may easily occur and climate change is likely to remain unaddressed, or to be addressed only superficially. Using a simplified version of George (2001)’s model of first and second order preferences, this paper considers ways of motivating people at a deeper (second order) level to take actions (at the first order level) that are eco-friendly. These include reducing market pressure/advertising, promoting contact with nature and relying more on spirituality and mindfulness.
Make Lectures Match How We Learn: The Nonlinear Teaching Approach
Presentation at DEE 2017,This paper proposes a nonlinear teaching approach based on learning theories in cognitive psychology, with a special focus on undergraduate economics courses. The fundamental rationale is to match the feature of teaching with the nature of learning. A comprehensive literature based on which the nonlinear teaching approached is developed has been reviewed and compared. The approach is implemented to an undergraduate economics module, which is evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively. Formal econometric models with both binary and continuous treatment effects are developed and estimated to quantify the evaluation. Evidence shows that the proposed non-linear teaching approach significantly improves the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and learning process, but does not promote the student attendance.
