Three EC4004 students emailed me saying they preferred slides I used in lectures today above the handouts I normally give out. Which would you prefer? Slides, which I don't print out, or handouts, which I do? I'll do one (and only one) from now on. My personal preference is for handouts, but I'll accede to whatever students want in this regard. The content will be the same, but with more grunts instead of sentences, but that's the only difference. Up to you.
Update: Poll closed, slides win.
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Dear Stephen,
I am flexible learner who attended my first of your lectures today and am hoping to attend more. I can the see the benefits of the handouts but purely based on following the audio at home slides maybe easier to follow.
Also seeing the graphs and info you put up the overhead acetates made understanding the topic much easier.
Regards,
Joanne
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for the comment, yes the slides would be easier to follow for distance users, but I do want to keep the derivations, etc, in lectures. But anything that makes distance learners' lives easier, I'm up for trying.
Dear Stephen,
I have attended most of the lectures and find the handouts fair and when you put everything else together like the screencasts and all the other things together it makes sense. But as you probably know a good percentage of the students don't check the screencasts out which means they don't understand the full topic which is their own fault. But if the poll goes towards slides which means you won't print them out alot of students will either not go or go and not take alot down. So don't you think it's a bit unfair that you will only print out the handouts and not the slides. I'm just saying.....
I voted for handouts over slides.
I thought that today the slides were useful for explaining the Edgeworth box but considering there is no final exam, its not as if we need a load of pages with slides to look over in December. (Trying to guess what could be a mcq)
If the handout has the relevant information for aplia/data project, whatever we're being graded on, then I am more in favor of handouts.
Also, I had been to the tutorial just before today's lecture and it was more or less exactly the same slides so had you just given out a handout today, its not as if people wouldn't have seen it all in slide format anyway.
@ Patrick, yes, the handouts, screencasts, lectures, aplia, and tutorials are supposed to 'click' together. At least that's how they are designed to work.
Dear stephen,
With your c.a approach to this module I think handouts combined with the online screen casts tutorials etc has a lot of potential and you had very valid points in your "teaching on the go" seminar.
However I do think most people's issue isn't with the "handouts v slides" in this module, rather the lack of synchronization between the lectures, tutorials and aplia assignments.
We have noticed your attempt to rectify this with your change to the tutorial sheet this week as it supplemented your lecture yesterday very well. This approach is excellent when such connection exists.
Also i think a lot of students including myself are looking for more advice on how to approach the book review and If we should be doing anything for the data project at present...?
i prefer the handouts, it means you can take notes easier
Hi Stephen,
I don't have much to add, just wanted to post to agree with all of what Aiden has said above. ie. I too find a lack of synchronization between the lectures, tutorials and aplia assignments , and I would also welcome some advise on the data project.
Having said that, handouts or slides, i have no preference.
Regards
Caroline
@Aidan/Caroline,
The guidance on the book review and the data project is up here, http://www.stephenkinsella.net/teaching/ec4004_2010/
I'm more than happy to answer any specific questions you have on the review on this thread if you'd like, on structure, etc.
On the data project, I'd do one thing at a time, and complete the book review first before launching into another project.
Stephen,
I prefer the slides you used in Tuesday's lecture, but when you say you won't be handing them out in class, does that also mean they won't be available on your website?
Regards,
Maria.
Hi Maria,
I'll still make them available on the website, but there's not much point in me printing off slides, running through them, and leaving--you can read 4 times faster than I can speak, so it kind of invalidates the lecture, in my opinion.
Yes Stephen, slide are much more effective and clearer than handouts!
I personally understood far more quickly after the slides on tuesday.