I think that the idea of Illini Bucks is very interesting.
There could be so many options for students to choose from on how they spend
their points and the options for the university itself to create new
opportunities in regard to the points is unlimited. For example, the Illini
Bucks could be used for acquiring some help with classes from the professor one
on one. I know that we have things similar to this now where you could get
tutored by a professor but with Illini Bucks you could get extra help as in
tips on what will be on an exam and practice problems that will be help you ace
your exams. Also, another thing that Illini Bucks could be used for is to
purchase different events for your fraternity/organization/friends. By the university
providing these events they could invest to make the events beneficial for the
students and potentially provide an educational event which would help students
in various ways.
Of course everything will depend on the actual value of the
Illini Bucks. If everything will be overpriced and not worth using all the time
then the students will have a tendency to hang on to them until later or until
they really need them and if the things offered are underpriced then students
might overspend they Illini Bucks causing the University a loss. In an
equilibrium model where the points are perfectly balanced then the students won’t
overspend or underspend resulting in an intelligent use of the points in order
to suit every student’s needs. If it was for me and how I will spend my points,
then I will most likely tend to save my points until I really need them. The
rationale for this is that I know that there will be a time when I will need to
use them for a greater benefit than rather to use them for fun. This obviously
depends on the choices that are provided by the university. If the university
provides a lot of options for you to improve your grades and do better in
classes with the spending of points, then the opportunity cost will be greater
for that choice rather than to spend it on entertainment choices. That is my
opinion but everyone else has different goals and finds different things more
opportunistic for them.
All in all if the prices are set relatively wrong then it will be difficult for students to find reason to spend their points. If the prices are set relatively too high and the activity doesn’t provide much for the student, then there will be no incentive to spend the points now and many will hold on to them until something better comes out or until they don’t have a choice but to spend them. If the prices will be too low then the students will se no problem in overspending and getting the most out of their points regardless if they actually need to spend or if they actually want to spend their points. Although, based on past experiences when something is underpriced then it is not always the best opportunity cost for your time. For example, buying a toy that is made in china is obviously cheaper than one that is made in America therefore it is not worth for someone to spend their time to purchase something from China when it won’t last them for a long time. The same principle applies here if something is offered at a cheap cost then it probably won’t be the best use of someone’s time to invest in. Therefore, I believe that if the university invests in making things a little above the equilibrium then it will motivate the students to take advantage of it and make a more educated decision in what they want to spend their money on.
I didn't understand your first example. Aren't there office hours in classes now for students to do what you are describing? There may be some classes where office hours are over subscribed, to the Illinibucks would be useful there. But otherwise, I don't see how they would help. For example, in our class you catch me after the live session or make an appointment with me for some other time that is convenient for us both. A couple of students have used office hours in our class, but by and large that is an under utilized resource.
ReplyDeleteBecause I've mentored some low income students who I've not had in my own class, I think the issue is something like this. Students are reluctant to go to office hours, because it signifies that are not getting the course material. So they procrastinate on that till something dramatic happens, like getting a low score on a midterm. Then they do go, more an act of desperation. But at that point the office hours are crowded, because there are other students who are similarly situated. If they all tried to use the Illinibucks then, it wouldn't help much at all.
In any event, the idea (from the Professor's point of view) is that students avail themselves of office hours early in the semester and then make it a habit. Such students perform well, in my experience.
Yes I agree to what your viewpoint on what the office hours should be like, but to what I mean would be with Illini bucks you are guaranteed to get some better insights with detailed explanations or examples of what will be on the test and what should be focused on studying. In my experience whenever I went to office hours t try to find out what will be on the midterm or what I should focus on studying I always get an inadequate answer that never truly answers my question and I never get in a way rewarded for going into office hours with some insights for the test or what I should focus on studying.
DeleteI found your post interesting because you thought of the pricing of the uses of Illinibucks very differently than me. When I read your post, I saw you focusing much more of pricing on the university's side, even saying that if the price was too high it could result in a "loss" for the university. The way that I looked at Illinibucks when I read the prompt and did my post was much more centered around the students. I think that our thought processes varied because you came up with uses for the Illinibucks that would actually cost the university, such as sponsoring events, while I thought of things like priority in lines that wouldn't monetarily cost the university per say.
ReplyDeleteI think that the broadness of this prompt really allowed us to interpret Illinibucks in whichever way we wanted, allowing freedom of thought, and since mine and your's posts varied I really enjoyed reading yours.
Your idea of having events that could be purchased with the Illinibucks is interesting. I think there are a lot of clubs that would be interested in doing this and it would have a heavy demand.
ReplyDeleteWe both touched on the complexity of implementing these at the University, but you went into some good details that I withheld. You mentioned finding an equilibrium value as a necessity to success for the Illinibucks, which is very true. If things were not worth the price of them then no one would use them unless it was for class registration. This then might cause issues in the registration process.
Your idea of having events that could be purchased with the Illinibucks is interesting. I think there are a lot of clubs that would be interested in doing this and it would have a heavy demand.
ReplyDeleteWe both touched on the complexity of implementing these at the University, but you went into some good details that I withheld. You mentioned finding an equilibrium value as a necessity to success for the Illinibucks, which is very true. If things were not worth the price of them then no one would use them unless it was for class registration. This then might cause issues in the registration process.