Scaffolding Computer Skills and Creating Electronic Portfolios for

the Assessment of Economic Students

Steven C. MyersThe University of Akron

Myers@uakron.edu http://GoZips.Uakron.edu/~myers

Good morning!!! How do you require students to

use computers to succeed in your class?

How much variation in skills exist and how do you deal with that?

Let’s design a course….

A course that provides Scaffolding

necessary computer skills, and

An instructional design that provides for formative and summative assessment that can exist beyond this course.

Why a course to scaffold computer skills?

Students can not adequately function without good computer skills.

Students have difference initial endowments of computer skills.

Too much class time wasted in upper division classes on computer skill scaffolding.

Professors will not require or expect a skill if they do not have the time to provide the scaffolding needed.

Too much opportunity for learning is missed without the requisite skill

2000 Curriculum revision

Why should this be offered in the economics department?

Computer skills need to be mastered, but Every module requires economic thought

and reasoning. It is doing economics that is important, not

doing computers. “You are economists first, econometricians

second and computer programmers last.” The course can be used to develop

application of economic skills in the production of economic reports and analysis.

Why electronic portfolios The faculty needs to know whether students are

achieving the Hansen proficiencies. The portfolio allows for both formative

assessment and summative assessment of competencies learned.

Begins as a course portfolio for the instructor. The portfolio allows for formative and summative

assessment of the major through graduation. Becomes a comprehensive portfolio for advisors.

The portfolio allows for summative assessment of the curriculum in the department of economics.

Emerges as a professional portfolio to show employers.

Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education(Chickering and Gamson, March 1987 AAHE Bulletin)

Encourage contact between students and faculty.

Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.

Uses active learning techniques. Gives prompt feedback. Emphasizes time on task. Communicates high expectations. Respects diverse talents and ways of

learning.

Expected Proficiencies for Undergraduate Majors(W. Lee Hansen, JEE, Summer 2001)

Access to existing knowledge. Display command of existing

knowledge. Interpret existing knowledge. Interpret and manipulate economic

data. Apply existing knowledge. Create new knowledge.

Teaching Quantitative Methods in Economics: Alternatives to Theorem and Proof and Chalk and TalkWilliam E. Becker, University of Évora, February 20, 2003.

Bill Greene and I argue that we can increase the attractiveness and meaningfulness of our quantitative methods courses by getting students into computer labs for hands-on activities with data associated with the headlines students read in newspapers, hear and

see on TV, or experience on the Internet.

Improving Assessment in University Economics(William B. Walstad, JEE, Summer 2001)

“Assessing the economics major is a more difficult challenge than assessing student performance in a particular economics course.

“Assessment using student portfolios offer a solution for evaluating whether a student has the attributes or proficiencies of an economic major.

“Those students with difficulties would be given time to prepare new items or revise previous work. The process of portfolio assessment … merits further exploration.”

Computer Skills for Economic Analysis

Objectives Establish a baseline of competency in computer usage

among all economics majors and minors. Scaffold students in this course to avoid inefficiency of

time in future courses. Have each student create a web-based electronic

portfolio. Instill in students a reason to maintain the portfolios. Use the portfolios for formative and summative

assessment of the student progress to their major. To provide students with career orientation and give

them a “career” incentive to maintain their portfolios.

Software and Roomware

Software MS Office (Word, Excel,

PowerPoint) Netscape navigator Netscape composer Internet Explorer SAS WS-ftp Adobe Acrobat VPN Campus Pipeline / Email

Room support Individual computers Faculty laptop SMART Sympodium SMART Notebook SMART SynchronEyes Wired and wireless

network Projector, Screen Sound support VCR and more…

Database

EconLit UA and Ohio Link

electronic libraries Google Resources for economists Many governmental and

private data warehouses

Nine modules used in Fall 2003

1. A personal statement of your educational and career objectives. Computer skill was simple MS Word and the ability to save and email the document.

2. An economic essay on something that makes the student curious. MS Word requirements for form were very exacting requiring for example both a picture and a table or chart with caption, an index and certain standards for appearance.

3. A draft of their resume and the writing of the first three modules to a web page using Netscape Composer. Outside expertise from the Arts and Sciences career center was used to present feedback on student’s career choices and the construction of the portfolio.

Computer Skills for Economic Analysis – Required Files & Due Dates from Individual Modules.Students – Please be sure that all of the required elements are in place for our final review. Even if you missed a required due date, please make sure that by December 10, 2003 all of the files below are in your E: drive and every module is represented in your portfolio. Points assigned by due dates on the nine modules are 75% and your final portfolio review is 25% of your grade. 

Module Required files / naming convention

Due date for grade

My Checklist

1 Personal Statement of educational and Career Objectives

MS Word fileUAnetID_Module1.doc

Not given 10 pts. for content10 for form

2 Economic Essay on something Curious

UAnetID_Module2.doc Sep. 12, 2003 10 pts. for content10 for form

3 My Resume Resume draft in MS word (doc)UAnetID_Module3.docModule 1 paper in htmlModule 2 paper in doc, html and pdf format All three in Netscape Composer and saved as a webpage.

First DraftSep 19, 2003

 

10 pts. for content10 for form

Nine modules used in Fall 2003

4. A research paper assigned after feedback on the economic essay and due towards the end of the term. The next three modules were part of the final produced research paper.

5. Finding data, downloading to Excel and manipulating the data for suitable inclusion in a research paper. Extensive instruction and demonstration of online datasets and other useful websites was covered including how to find data.

6. Construction of an annotated bibliography. This also followed presentations on how to find literature in the discipline, including EconLit and a formal presentation from the University Library on both the physical and electronic collection locally and nationally. A highlight was presentation on Ohio Link, one of the nations premier electronic libraries.

Computer Skills for Economic Analysis – Required Files & Due Dates from Individual Modules. 

Module Required files / naming convention

Due date for grade

My Checklist

4 My Research Paper

UAnetID_Module4.doc Copied and linked to portfolio

Nov 7, 2003 20 pts. for content20 for form

5 Finding and downloading data and creating usable reports using Excel

Title and Abstract of Module 4 paper (doc) and describe data sources used. UAnetID_Module5.doc UAnetID_Module5.xls(worksheet of raw data and a worksheet of created graphics) 

Oct 20, 2003

10 pts. for content10 for form

6 Construction of an Annotated Bibliography

UAnetID_Module6.doc Oct 31, 2003

10 pts. for content10 for form

Nine modules used in Fall 2003

7. A PowerPoint presentation on a topic of their choosing or on the Voluntary Content Standards as presented by the Foundations for Teaching Economics website.

8. A survey conducted in class and required to be replicated outside of class on politics and economic literacy. Students learned to conduct the survey, code the data and use SAS to produce useful results which were then to be written up in a professional manner.

9. A complex task of finding multi-source data, downloading and merging into a useful dataset by again using SAS to run the most primitive of multivariate analysis and to write up the results in a professional manner.

Module Required files / naming convention

Due date for grade

My Checklist

7 PowerPoint Presentation of Economic Content

UAnetID_Module7.pptUAnetID_Module7.htm

 

Nov 3, 2003 10 pts. for content10 for form

8 Using SAS to process survey data and writing up results

UAnetID_Module8.sasUAnetID_Module8.doc

Nov 24, 2003 10 for SAS pgm.10 for survey10 for doc file

9 Using SAS to draw conclusions from Multiple source data

UAnetID_Module9_create.sasUAnetID_Module9_analyze.sas UAnetID_Module9.doc

Dec 3, 2003 10 for create10 for analyze10 for doc file

  Final Portfolio due

 Each module must be represented in your portfolio.

All links must be finalized by Dec 11, 2003 (12:00 pm)

10 points for form and functionality per module. 90 total points.

Professional Look and Feel (10) ___________ Total Score (320) __________Score on M1-M7 (160) ___________________ Recommended Grade ______Score on M8-M9 (60) ___________________ Attendance pct. ____________

Computer Skills for Economic Analysis – Required Files & Due Dates from Individual Modules. 

Grades and Attendance

A B C D F

Attended 75+ %

4 4 1

50-74% 1 2 1

< 50% 2

Grades and Rank

A B C D F

Seniors 2 2 1

Juniors 1 2

Soph. 1 3 1

Fresh. 1 1

Grades, MS Office and SAS

90-100%

80-89% 70-79% 60-69% <60%

90-100%

A AAA BBB

80-89% B CD

70-79% B CD

60-69% C D

<60%

Firs

t 7

mod

ule

s

Modules 8 and 9 using SAS

Scaffolding Computer Skills and Creating Electronic Portfolios for

the Assessment of Economic Students

Steven C. MyersThe University of Akron

Myers@uakron.edu http://GoZips.Uakron.edu/~myers