Lecture "Europäische Wirtschaft" as a project of vhb - Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern – at the University of Regensburg, Department of Economics including econometrics

Contents

3 Interactive sections of the virtual study environment
3.1 Videostreams and Audiostreams
3.2 Online Lecture Material
3.3 Online Exercises
3.3.1 Multiple-Choice-Exercises
3.3.2 Group Projects
4 End

Chart from the Lecture

3 Interactive sections of the virtual study environment

An important component in the virtual study environment is the exchange between the different sections. Through this variation it is possible to boost the motivation of the students. Motivated students on the other hand spend more time with studying and are much more effective in reaching the goal of learning. The possibility of choosing between the different interactive sections in the virtual study environment has even more advantages for different learning styles of students. In this context there is especially to mention the possibility to individually choose the way of how to learn.

To realize the mentioned principles in the virtual lecture of European Economy, three interactive sections are to be integrated in the program. The first is video and audiostreams, the second is the online lecture material and the third are online problems. Given all possibilities, students can individually choose either the ”innovative“ streams or the ”conservative“ lecture material to maximize learning potential. In additions the students are able to test their gained abilities with the online problems.

3.1 Videostreams and Audiostreams

According to the hemisphere theory, the combination of text and images is stimulating to both sides of the brain und therefore improves memory of learned material. In addition it has been proven useful to illustrate texts to increase the understanding of the students. Being able to relate graphical representations to text passages adds to the overall understanding of the material.

The concept for the virtual lecture of European Economy connects videostreams, audiostreams and power-point-presentation. We play video- and audiostreams of the lecture, combined with a corresponding power-point-presentation.

The goal of the power-point slides is to show the graphical parts of the subjects matter, whereas the videostreams are used to show lecturer. Through the parallel presentation of the learning material through an aural (audiostreams) and a visual (videostreams; power-point-presentation) method, the virtual lecture is meant to perfectly accomodate the cognitive capacities of the students.

In order not to ask too much of the students patience, the video- and audiostreams are divided. The lecture is split into several sections which are each organized as logical sections of 15 to 20 minutes. The students will be offered to move freely in the different sections, as soon as they become sequentially approved, by working through them once. The students can freely choose between problems, video lecture and lecture material and make progress like he or she wishes to.

3.2 Online lecture material

The virtual lecture of Euopean Economy will be offered as an online lecture material as well. The layout will be organized from statistical data which guarantees the optimal reading on a computer. According to the data, the eye is capable of working on a section as wide as 8 cm. In addition the font and the distance between the lines are important, and are to be kept in mind. The font may not bt too small (>14 pt) and the distance between the lines shall be at least 1.5. This makes it easier for the students to read the website without moving their heads and their eyes too much.

3.3 Online Exercises

Online lecture material is helpful in providing an understanding of the basic theoretical knowledge. But a lot of the students tend to just skim through the pages without carefully reading them if they are not a constant part of the tutorials. This is the reason why the students of the virtual lecture of European Economy are given the oppotunity to solve online problems.

A big part of the online problems is a combination of multiple contexts of the study environment. Through the use of current newspaper articles, the lecture can be linked to the daily life and can then analyze the daily problems with the newly gained knowledge.

The problems available for the virtual lecture are considered to include mainly economical problems. Through the problems, the students are offered the possibility to put their new knowledge to the test.

3.3.1 Multiple Choice Exercises

In the virtual lecture of European Economy a section of the online problems consists of multiple choice problems. The short time of answering and the automatically generated answers give the students a quick feedback. Automatic feedback-systems require prestrucutred choices. Because they give the students the opportunity to solve the problems in steps, multiple choice systems are considered helpful. This is the reason why multiple choice systems are considered helpful, since they give the students an opportunity to solve the problems in steps.

3.3.2 Group Projects

In addition to the above mentioned online problems, it is planned to solve a set of additional group problems throughout the semester. In contrast to the multiple choice system the problems include several topics, and therefore require knowledge of the all covered theory up to that point in time.

The cooperation is to be made in small groups. The small groups consist of up to seven people, who are continually discussing their results with an assistant. Solutions for the group problems are to be handed in on paper to prepare the students for the written exam at the end of the semester. For totally virtual groups there is a possibility to hand the solutions electronically and to discuss the solutions with an assistant during a online chat.

In addtion it is possible for the Assistant to check the progress of the group members by looking at the statistical online analysis and the frequency in which the website is used.

4 End

The goal of the project is to give the students as much freedom and options as possible. The student can choose between a classical pdf-lecture material or an online version. Heor she can work through the power-point slides in order to deepen his understanding of the topic. The lecture is available for students of the University of Regensburg as well as others., who weren't present or had problems with the understanding of the lecture. Therefore the student can jump between different audio- and videaostreams until he or she reaches the subject which he or she is interested in. It is also possible to download the audiostream and the power point presentations, if the internet access is not fast enough for moving images.

The gained understanding can be checked with the above mentioned problems. For this reason different problem types, offering a range of interactivity, are used.

Through the realisation of the concept we want to optimize the process and the transfer of learning to get a better result for the students. If and how we will be successful has to be shown in through the realisation of the “study environment”.