economics ict talk_june_2010
DESCRIPTION
Slides from a talk given to the Trinity Group in July 2010TRANSCRIPT
Reflections on using ICT in teaching EconomicsTalk to the Trinity Group
Geoff RileyEton College2nd July 2010
Which business has these locations in this area?
Which business has locations here?
Digital tools in Economics Teaching
A selected guide
• Drop Box for file sharing (superb)• Reuters EcoWin (for real time economics data
charts)• Expression Engine (for blogs)• Wordle.net (for word clouds)• Data Visualisation sites (FT, WSJ, World Bank)• Google Wave, Google Docs and other Google
Apps• Twitter (incredibly useful!)• You Tube – great for embedding resources!• Snag It (brilliant screen capture) or Zing (for the
Mac)• RSS feeds (for streaming news stories)• Moodle (for a great open-source VLE)
My day to day digital toolbox
Drop Box
Superb for online back up and file sync
Eco Win
Real time macroeconomic and financial data
Paste-Linked to PowerPoint
Automatically updates charts in my main teaching presentations
Wordle.net for word clouds
Word clouds can be very effective for student input and engagement
Data Visualisation
These sites (inc the one from the FT above) are likely to become ever more popular and effective in the months ahead
The potential of Google Wave?
Now available to all with an email address – real time collaboration
A wave on the fishing crisis
Joining the Twitterattzi
A selection of twitter feeds
Podcasts for Economics
The Tutor2u Economics VLE
Building a more Interactive VLE for Economics – Some Ideas to Try
Student Blogs
Peer Assessmen
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Revision materials
Student Glossaries
Different Forums
Self mark Quizzes
Embedded Videos
Wikis
Conditional activities
AS Macro Course – Home Page
Assignments and online grading
Organised by topic
Online quizzes (very popular!)
Subject Glossaries
•Course-wide glossaries•Topic-based glossaries
▫Freedom for students to generate their own entries and link them to other web content
▫And rate those of others (peer assessment)▫Give students responsibility for a topic /
area?•Auto-linking entries means that glossary
terms appear throughout the Moodle course
•Glossary can embed other digital content such as You Tube videos
An example from the AS Micro Glossary
Include links to blog articles
Auto links glossary to fresh content
Linking content to keep a glossary fresh!
Student-generated glossaries
•Give the students a topic▫E.g. Monopolistic markets▫The global recession
•Generate a cluster of concepts for research
•Allocate or get students to choose•Researched and written in text format•Encourage them to support with examples•And link to other resources•Ideal for revision – print out as a booklet
Example – behavioural economics
Behavourial Glossary
Anchoring
Framing
Altruism
Each student contributed two items – duplication allowed
Encouraging Students to Blog!
• Encouraging a different style of writing• Helps to build a narrative / apply new concepts
▫ “This week your blog should be on a market of your choice”
• Builds some web skills▫Tagging of blog entries▫Linking to articles on the web
• Reflections on the learning experience• Effective for students on a new course• The challenge is to sustain it over a course!• This is one of my big targets for 2010-11
Within the VLE students can read the blogs of other people in their groups
Forums are a great way of getting students to use Moodle
Another example – from AS macro
Developing the forum concept
•Great opportunities here for extension and enrichment activities
•Reading “by stealth” ! •Real potential for improving data
response technique e.g. Responses to charts / tables
•Embedding video or podcasts into a forum question and asking students to reflect on what they see
•Student comments on forum posts of their peers
•Moodle has a range of different forum options
A Year with Moodle
•Building content and community is key•Aims for 2010-11
▫Embed more audio visual into the VLE▫Set different types of assignments using
blogs and forums and other options▫Develop new styles of online quizzes▫Encourage student collaboration e.g.
embedding Google Wave into Moodle▫Encourage colleagues to try it!
•And utilize a VLE to stretch gifted & talented
Trying more challenging activities
Looking ahead• A Martini web - delivering fresh learning
content through ubiquitous mobile devices – anytime anywhere
• Students encouraged to be non-linear in their approach to schoolroom work
• Proper macroeconomic and micro simulation games
• A new generation of “no-fear teachers” with their ICT
• Genuine and sustained collaboration through digital tools by students and by teachers
• Webinar software to become standard• Linking social networks to teaching & learning
software• Face to face interaction more not less important• No diminution in the power and importance
of good classroom teaching!
Please contact me
•VLE is at http://vle.tutor2u.net
•Email: [email protected]
•Twitter: www.twitter.com/tutor2u_econ