Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58063
TECHNOLOGY CAN DO SO MUCH TO ENHANCE OUR PEDAGOGY THAT IT MUST BE CONSIDERED AS WE PUT TOGETHER OUR COURSE PLANS. n The students love them. So far, when I ask the classes to rate the modules' educational value, students have given them ratings of anywhere from 9.1 to 9.7 on a ten-point scale. n The students use them. Students report spending an average of four hours a week with the modules, with only a slight reduction in the time spent reading the textbook. Many watch or listen to the modules on their laptops and iPods while com- muting to work, traveling on business trips, and exercising. The video modules also are a win for me: n They save time. I created the first modules two years ago. I figure that, for every hour I spent pro- ducing the modules, I saved two hours dealing with student issues outside of class—and that's for last year alone. I expect to save at least the same amount of time for every year remaining in my career. In the end, I estimate I could save at least 20 hours for every hour that I have spent producing the modules. As suggestive proof of the time benefits to me, the count of e-mails I have received from students this year is down by a third from last year. The number of students who have shown up for my early morn- ing office hours with repetitive questions is probably down 90 per- cent. When students do show up, the discussion is often about the application of class principles to their work situations. So not only have I improved the quality of inter- action I have with students, but I have freed up more of my own time that I can devote to research. n Class time is more efficient. Because the modules have allowed me to offload from my lectures the basic but important concepts that I prefer not to deal with in class, I've been able to move through material at a faster pace and expand my course content at the same time. This year, I completed in eight lectures the same material that took ten lectures last year. I've also felt that I had more time for class discussion of topics of interest to me—and, I sur- mise, to my students. Over the past five years I may have doubled the array of economic and management topics I've been able to consider in my ten-week course. n Class attendance remains high. Stu- dents have more reason to come to class, since discussions are now reserved for dealing with issues that can't be dealt with effectively through video technology. These same video modules have been used to support the publica- tion of the textbook I co-wrote with Dwight Lee, Microeconomics for MBAs, released in January 2006 by Cambridge University Press. This quarter, we also made the textbook an audio book, with all rel- evant tables, figures, and equations designed to pop up on the screens of laptops and iPods when they are covered in the readings. Lee and I are not alone in offer- ing podcast technology to comple- ment a textbook—there's been a tidal wave of other publishers mov- ing in that direction. For proof, go to iTunes and look up the available video/audio content under educa- tion. It has exploded. Our own modules can be accessed at www. gsm.uci.edu/~mckenzie/. Modules don't have to be highly polished to be effective, though leads, endings, and music can be added easily. My co-author and I have con- cluded that downloads of the mod- ules can only increase interest in our textbook, and so we have no con- cerns about protecting our intellec- tual property. In fact, we are pleased that professors and students from around the world report download- ing the modules. The download potential expands my classroom at zero added cost to me. But technology such as this has even more far-reaching implica- tions—for business schools, not just textbook authors. Technology can become a factor in helping students decide which program to attend, particularly fully employed and exec- utive MBAs. The biggest problem these students face is too little time, given the demands of work, family, and studies. More and more of these students will be looking to relieve their serious time constraints by cov- ering some of their class assignments while doing other things, such as commuting, traveling, and exercis- ing. Audio and visual technologies permit busy students to multitask. Therefore, to both faculty and administrators I would say: It's time to embrace the tech-supported class- room. Technology can do so much to enhance our pedagogy that it must be considered as we put together our course plans. Imagine how technol- ogy can allow business schools to recruit and retain more and better students. Imagine, too, that these students will be willing to pay a pre- mium price to attend a program that caters so well to their needs. The use of technology in the b-school then becomes not just a good idea, but an essential component of the school's strategy for survival. n z Richard McKenzie is the Walter B. Gerken Professor of Economics and Management in the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2007 63