Assignment #1

Assignment 1 (April 12)                                Derek Yu (UWC)                              Email: dyu@uwc.ac.za

1.            Introduction

I am currently lecturing ECO211 Basic Econometrics, ECO311 Intermediate Econometrics and ECO733 Honours Labour Economics at the Department of Economics, University of the Western Cape (UWC). In this assignment, I focus on ECO311.

2.            Reflection of my teaching practice of ECO311

Economics as a discipline used to be highly qualitative. However, the subject has evolved drastically in the past few decades, and now Economics becomes both highly qualitative and quantitative. Econometrics, Mathematical Economics and Statistics are involved to explain and solve economic problems. Also, the students are required to be proficient in various software packages (Excel, E-Views and Stata) to analyse the economic data, before the results of the quantitative analysis are presented to anchor the qualitative arguments. In other words, Economics as a subject has evolved a lot that it is important the students are provided the essential teaching and learning support, to obtain the necessary qualitative and quantitative skills, in order to succeed as an economist when they enter the labour market one day. The ECO311 module that I focus on in this assignment is related to the essential quantitative skills the students would learn.

I would start off by using the constructivist theory by Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2012) and the ‘knowing-acting-being’ theory by Dall’Aba and Barnacle (2007) to explain the beliefs and values that underlie my teaching. The constructive theory regards learning as an active process, as the students are encouraged to participate in learning, instead of passively accepting the knowledge taught in class. Also, knowledge is constructed rather than received, and learning is continually developing. As a lecturer, I hope this active learning would take place successfully by the continuous and strong interaction between the students and me during the semester.

With regard to the ‘knowing-acting-being’ theory, it is expected that an Economics lecturer has expert knowledge in his/her area of specialisation (i.e. knowing or subject knowledge). However, it still does not mean I am a good lecturer, as I must possess some key attributes (i.e. being, or skills and personality). For instance, I must be hard-working, well-prepared for classes, be available for students after classes, be able to use various teaching methods in class, strongly motivate the students, and make students feel I am their buddy to accompany their learning journey . Finally, I must act as a good lecturer (i.e. doing) during classes; for example, in addition to the traditional PowerPoint-slides-oriented conventional teaching method, I apply other teaching techniques to make the lectures more interesting and interactive, such as group activities during classes, application of technology (e.g. IKamva, YouTube) so the students’ learning would continue even after lectures (i.e. flexible learning).

I also hope the following relationships would be developed to improve students’ learning:

·                Interpersonal relationship: between lecturer and students

-          Before lectures begin (e.g., having the PowerPoint slides of the whole module uploaded on IKamva in the first week; giving students in-class exercise questions before lectures)

-               During lectures (e.g., formal lectures; in-class group exercises)

-               After lectures (e.g., consultation hours, e-mails, IKamva, YouTube learning channel)

·                Interpersonal relationship: amongst the students (e.g., in-class activities; group assignments)

·                Intrapersonal relationship: the student communicates with himself/herself during the learning process

ECO211 is the pre-requisite of ECO311. In ECO211, students already learnt the following:

·                Recap of basic statistics

·                8-step methodology of Econometrics

·                12 main assumptions of the classical linear regression model (CLRM)

·                Difference between population regression function (PRF) and sample regression function (SRF)

·                Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method to derive the sample regression parameters

·                Bivariate regressions versus multivariate regressions

·            Conducting various statistical tests on the bivariate regression parameters with the application of the t-distribution and F-distribution

·                Using an elementary software package (Excel) to conduct econometric analysis

For ECO211, quite a lot of topics involve “boring”, monotonous and qualitative theoretical content (e.g. 8-step methodology of Econometrics, assumptions of CLRM, difference between bivariate and multivariate regressions) – that is, declarative knowledge that is taught with the transfer teaching approach, and it may be really the case that students adopt the surface approach to memorise the theories and describe how to run a regression (that is, relatively low level of engagement). Also, for these highly theoretical topics, the relative focus is on the first two levels of teaching, namely what the student is (information on the abovementioned theories are displayed to the student) and what the teacher does (transmitting various key econometric concepts to the students).

In contrast, the remaining ECO211 topics are more quantitative and practical in nature (e.g. deriving the regression parameters using the OLS method; conducting statistical tests on the bivariate regressions; application of the Excel software) – that is, functioning knowledge that is taught with the shaping teaching approach, and students are required to adopt the deep approach to engage the learning tasks appropriately to analyse and interpret the regression parameters and explain whether the regression results conform to economic theories. Also, for these topics, there is stronger focus on the third level of teaching, namely what the student does, for instance, they attend the practicals to learn how to use Excel to input the data and then run the bivariate regressions, before they are required to interpret the regression results, to ensure that they really understand the content, instead of merely memorising the theoretical content.

With regard to the main learning outcomes of ECO311, they are as follows:

·                Conduct multivariate regression analysis;

·                Conduct various statistical tests on the multivariate regression parameters with the application of the t-distribution and F-distribution

·                Explain the definition, consequences, detection methods and remedies to various violations of the classical linear regression model (CLRM), namely multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation;

·                Use an advanced specialised software package (E-Views) to conduct econometric analysis.

From the learning outcomes of ECO211, it is clear that the students already have some prior knowledge on the basics of econometrics (this is one of the principles of learning) up to bivariate regressions (Y is a function of one explanatory variable, X – for example, consumption is a function of income), but now for the ECO311 students, they need to go one step further to know to run multivariate regressions (Y is a function of at least two explanatory variables – for example, consumption is a function of income, inflation rate and Rand/US$ exchange rate) and to conduct various statistical tests on the multivariate regressions. In other words, for ECO311, I as the lecturer need to prioritise the knowledge and skills that I need to focus on (this is one of the principles of teaching), namely multivariate econometric analysis.

Active learning is involved more in ECO311 when compared to ECO211, as students act as the main agent, actively involved in doing various things (e.g. group project – to be discussed later) and thinking about the things they are doing, to have a deeper understanding of econometrics:

·                Involvement of students: in terms of theoretical content, most of them have been covered in ECO211, so it means more time would be available to focus on the practical aspects of econometrics in ECO311 (e.g. using E-Views to derive multivariate regressions and interpreting the regression results), and it requires more active involvement of students;

·                Engagement of students: students are required to a group assignment by interviewing a sample of about 60 people to collect data relating to an economic topic (e.g. investigating the relationship between income and consumption), before they input the data on E-Views to run multivariate regressions and write up a research report to present and interpret the results;

·                Motivation of students: students’ motivation increases compared to ECO211, as the students are exposed to the more practical aspects of econometrics in ECO311;

·                Immediate feedback: although I usually give quick feedback to students in all the modules I teach, the feedback that ECO311 students receive on the group project is immediate. That is, once the students are given a topic for their group project, they are given one week to inform me the explanatory variables (Xs) they want to include for the multivariate regression, and I would give them constructive feedback on their proposed econometric model at the end of the week, before they proceed to interview people to collect data the following week;

·                Students’ involvement in higher-order thinking: for ECO311, as students no longer need to spend excessive time on the theoretical aspects of econometrics as in ECO211, they focus more on conducting econometric analysis, interpreting the regression results, and explaining whether the results conform to economic theories.

There is no strong indication of the presence of obstacles to active learning, because:

·                The volume of work covered in ECO311 is actually less (especially the theoretical knowledge) when compared to ECO211;

·                There is no indication of excessively long time on class preparation, other than the fact that some time is needed to record the “how to use E-Views” videos and upload them on YouTube;

·                The ECO311 class size is smaller than the ECO211 class size, because not everyone who passed ECO211 continues with Economics Level III. The small class size of ECO311 hence enables interactive, engaging group activities in class and in assessment tasks.

·                The E-Views software is purchased by the university, and the university has a big computer laboratory (with E-Views installed in all computers) for teaching purpose.

·                Although there could be some students resistance to active learning (especially at the beginning of the semester), I am confident that the explicit guidelines I put in the in-class exercises, practicals and group assignment would eventually make students feel comfortable about it.

In ECO211, the highly monotonous, theoretical content is unfortunately taught primarily with the transfer teaching approach (i.e. conveying information; imparting knowledge; notes of the teacher becomes notes of the students), and I have to mainly adopt the shaping teaching approach to do lots of in-class questions to ensure the students understand how to use the t-distribution and F-distribution to conduct various statistical tests on the bivariate regressions (i.e. students’ brains are shaped to a predetermined specification; exercises all have specific pre-determined outcomes; usual teaching strategy is that I demonstrate how to solve a problem on the whiteboard before the students use the same method to solve similar problems).

When students move on to enrol ECO311, they already established strong foundations on the theories and the application of the t-distribution and F-distribution on bivariate regressions, so the travelling teaching approach is adopted frequently in lectures, that is, I would no longer be the main agent to work out the solutions on the whiteboard, but I would rather play the leadership role to guide the students and provide suggestions on how to use the same statistical distributions to conduct various statistical tests on multivariate regressions. Regarding the E-Views software, unlike Excel, it is not a highly popular software package to the general public, so after the E-Views practicals, I upload the “how to use E-Views to conduct econometric analysis” videos on my YouTube learning channel and I would even upload the E-Views learning manual (freely provided by the software developer), with the hope that the students would not only strengthen their basic understanding of E-Views (that is, the topics covered in the practicals), but they would also be encouraged to do some self-learning on the advanced E-Views skills that are not covered in class. In other words, the growing approach is adopted.

Therefore, compared to ECO211, the focus of ECO311 is on what the student does by encouraging them to adopt the deep learning approach, as they are more actively engaged with in-class learning activities, practicals and group assignment. By involving in meaningful and worthwhile tasks, students not only produce extrinsic motivation (e.g. they could win the “best ECO311 student award” by working hard), social motivation (e.g. they make their parents happy by doing well in the module) and achievement motivation (e.g. outperforming fellow students), but also intrinsic motivation (e.g. feeling self-fulfilled to attain intellectual pleasure by conducting a practical project to examine and even solve an economic problem to learn functional knowledge), under the theory-Y climate – students are given a lot of freedom in their learning activities and tasks.

Finally, the group assignment is relevant to the SOLO taxonomy to deepen students’ thinking (I explain this with the aid of one of the research topics “factors determining the frequency of visiting Facebook per week”):

·           Pre-structural: students don’t understand econometrics at all (this happened until they enrolled ECO211)

·                Uni-structural: students have one idea, namely there are numerous factors influencing the frequency of someone visiting Facebook

·            Multi-structural: students have several areas – females could be more likely to visit Facebook; Younger people would visit Facebook more frequently; those having internet on their cellular phones would visit Facebook more frequently; whether the person has a Twitter account could have an impact on his/her frequency of visiting Facebook

·                Relational: Students use E-Views to run the multivariate regression to analyse the relationship between the four explanatory variables on the frequency of visiting Facebook, i.e. frequency of visiting Facebook = β₁ + β₂Female + β₃Age + β₄Internet Access + β₅Having a Twitter account. It is expected that β₂ is positive, β₃ is negative, β₄ is positive, but β₅ could be either positive or negative, according to theory.

·                Extended abstract: students use the results of the multivariate regression to critique and reflect on the relationship between the various social media, e.g. if β₅ is positive, it means Twitter and Facebook could be regarded as complements (i.e. people are likely to be active in both media) but if β₅ is negative, it means Twitter and Facebook could be regarded as substitutes (i.e. if someone has a Twitter account, he would use Facebook less frequently, as he may find it annoying and time-consuming to use both social media).

Finally, for this highly practical group assignment, instead of using the norm-referenced measurement model (as adopted when marking module test and exam scripts), the criterion-referenced standards model is adopted to mark the assignments, with the marking grid focusing on the following four aspects: questionnaire design (used to interview people to collect data), computer literacy (evidence that students use E-Views to conduct econometric analysis), interpretation (of the multivariate regression results) and general presentation.

3.            Mapping a blended learning activity of ECO311

The following figure illustrates why I have my YouTube learning channel on E-Views:

Learning Design for: ECO311 Intermediate Econometrics

(Exported from Learning Designer)

Context

Topic: Using E-Views software

Total learning time: 120

Number of students: 30

Description: A 2-hour practical will take place in a computer laboratory (with the involvement of tutors) for students to learn how to use E-Views to conduct econometric analysis.

Aims

To use an advanced specialised software package (E-Views) to conduct econometric analysis

Outcomes

Application: To apply the E-Views software package to conduct econometric analysis.

Teaching-Learning activities

Basic data management skills

Produce                         30 minutes      students         Tutor is available

To create an E-Views data file by mastering the following skills:

* Import data from Excel

* Copy the data from Excel and paste it onto E-Views spreadsheets

* Generate new variables by manually typing the data

* Generate new variables by typing equations

Basic statistical analysis

Practice                        30 minutes      students         Tutor is available

To conduct basic statistical analysis of the data:

* Derive mean, variance and standard deviation

* Correlation coefficients

* Bar charts, line charts and XY scatter plot

Econometric analysis

Practice                        30 minutes      students         Tutor is available

To conduct econometric analysis:

* Bivariate regressions

* Multivariate regressions

* Derive residuals and predicted y-values

Interpretation of regressions

Discuss                          25 minutes      students         Tutor is available

To interpret the regression results:

* The constant and slope parameters

* R-squared, adjusted R-squared

* T-statistics

* F-statistics

YouTube learning channels

Discuss                          5 minutes        students         Tutor is available

To introduce the YouTube learning channel to students, so that in case they don't remember the E-Views skills they learnt during the practicals, they could always watch the videos on the channel at any place and any time that suit them.