Engaging students with online videos Do students learn better with online videos?

Learn Liberty Are poor getting poorer?

What is Learn Liberty? LearnLiberty.Org “A resource for exploring the ideas of a free society” Short educational video clips Theoretical explanation and opinion piece offered by professors in a range of academic disciplines. Majority of the videos begin with an introduction by narrator and continue with short animation explaining the concepts discussed. Each clip is approximately 3 to 4 minutes long, contains closed captions, and a transcript of the narrator’s speech.

Subject areas Economics Public Policy Political science History Law Philosophy

Economics topics Minimum wage Social security Drug prohibition Coase theorem Marginal costs Unintended consequences Opportunity cost Cost of higher education Price mechanisms Deficits and Debts Inequality The invisible hand Trade Immigration

Anecdotal evidence Students reciting narrator I remember, the three D! (Property rights should be well Defined, Divisible, and Defendable) Minimum wage benefits most productive worker and hurts least productive worker Students answer LL questions better than other questions Students can remember “answers” at the end of the semester

Video assignments In-class Discussion questions after Homework/in-class questions after Discussion Most students give same answers Good grades! Not much of critical thinking Homework Good grades! Not much of critical thinking

Experiment Introduction to economics 31 enrolled in face-to-face class 45 enrolled in online class Non-majors Mostly Sophomores and Juniors

Experiment Face to face class Minimum wage Lecture +in class Common resources Lecture & Homework assignment Drug prohibition Lecture Coase theorem LL video during class + in class Online class Minimum wage LL Video as a Homework assignment Common resources LL Video as a Homework assignment Drug prohibition LL Video as a Homework assignment Coase theorem Lecture

What if minimum wage was increased to $12 an hour? Employer will have to pay $12 to those that work for him Employer will have to pay $0 to those that don’t Example: Burger Joint Price of each burger = $.10 Al can flip 100 burgers an hour, Bob can cook 120 burgers an hour and Carl can cook 90 burgers an hour Introduction to Economics. Dr. Mariya Burdina Minimum wage

Productivity Al100 Bob120 Carl90 Introduction to Economics. Dr. Mariya Burdina Minimum wage Revenue $10 $12 $9 Cost $8 Profit $2 $4 $1 Cost $9.50 Profit $0.50 $2.50 -$.50 Who was increase of minimum wage good for?

First lesson of minimum wage: It doesn’t help the worker at the expense of the owner; it helps the more productive workers at the expense of the less productive workers. Do more productive workers need help? With time owner would have to reward Bob’s higher productivity with a raise, or owner’s competitors would have offered Bob more money to go work for them. Eventually Bob would have ended up earning more anyway. Second lesson of the minimum wage: Many of the workers that it does help would have ended up better off anyway, even if the minimum wage hadn’t existed Introduction to Economics. Dr. Mariya Burdina Minimum wage

Homework/In class What are the reasons for a country to have a minimum wage law? What is the current minimum wage in US? What about Oklahoma? Who do minimum wage laws help? Who do minimum wage laws hurt? What will happen to US unemployment rate if minimum wage laws were removed? In your opinion, should US keep minimum wage laws? Explain your point of view. Midterm Who benefits and who gets hurt from minimum wage? Explain. What will happen to unemployment rate if government decides to increase minimum wage? Explain. Describe an alternative policy to increase in the minimum wage. Why do you think this policy is better? What are the possible unintended consequences of this policy?

Results Score averages Face-to-faceOnline MeanSt. DevMinMeanSt. DevMin Common resources Minimum Wage Coase Theorem Drug Prohibition Midterm Other questions

Results Adjusted score averages Face-to-faceOnline MeanSt. DevMeanSt. Dev Common resources Minimum Wage Coase Theorem Drug Prohibition

Online vs. F-t-F Online vs. F-t-F Adjusted scores Common resources Minimum Wage Coase Theorem Drug Prohibition Table 3. T-stats comparing online and face-to-face class L.L. vs. other questions (Online) * * L.L. vs. other questions (f-t-f) * H 0 : μ 1 = μ 2 H a : μ 1 ≠μ 2

Why no results? Small sample Difference in class setting Difference in topics Take home exam

Benefits Saves class time Good for class preparation Good for visual and audio learners Attention catching Encourages discussion Students’ attitudes: 63% of students prefer these assignments to other 85% think they learned from the videos

Downsides Students are reciting the material Discuss in class or online Inability to answer questions not covered in the video Feedback Short videos with fast talking speakers Assign as a homework and make available online Libertarian view of the problem Other videos, additional explanations Broken Links

Success formula Mix it up Lecture + homework or discussion Explain during the lecture + video Lecture + In class assignments Show in class + add discussion points

Other video resources The Economics Network Planet Money Podcasts Econ Lowdown Youtube CBS 60 minutes TV Shows+Films+Music

Questions? Suggestions? Concerns?