Die toekoms van onderrig en assessering is op jou selfoon

As mens eers ʼn blog het sien jy skielik oral berigte oor hoekom ʼn Prof moet tweet en blog. Daar is dalk ʼn mate van self-selection ter sprake, maar oral waar ek kyk is daar nuus oor die gebruik van tegnologie in onderrig. The Economist het ʼn lekker berig gehad oor die internet in die klaskamer en mens kan sommer direk na Salman Khan se TED lesing luister.

Op die NWU-Pukke kampus is ek self betrokke by ʼn loodsprojek waaroor ek baie opgewonde is: in-klas, intydse elektroniese terugvoer. Die ou grappie is dat op skool draai die Juffrou by die bord om, om seker te maak dat almal by is. In derdejaars ekonometrie hoop die Prof dat iemand by is! Maar die dae wat ek ʼn vraag uitgooi vir die gehoor is nou getel. Met die nuwe Quiz stelsel kan mens vooraf ʼn klomp vrae op die stelsel laai en studente kan hulle selfone se web browsing funksie gebruik om daar in die klas vrae te antwoord en terugvoer te kry. 

Die opsies is natuurlik uiteenlopend. Mens hoef nie net meervoudige keusevrae te vra nie.

Om seker te maak dat die uitkomste is bemeester word makliker. Die resultate is op die internet beskikbaar vir die dosent so as jy jou iPad of Galaxy tablet byderhand het kan jy vinnig sien waar die studente vashaak.

Daar is natuurlik nog groeipyne: almal se fone werk nie ewe lekker nie en 3G en wi-fi sein wissel oor kampus, maar ons is besig met die proof of concept. Die toekoms van onderrig en assessering is op jou selfoon.

Analysis needed

This week we had some interesting meetings about economic policy with provincial government and a local investment promotion agency. We all agreed that growth and job creation happens in specific places and there is a need to consider the provincial or local implications of, for example, the IPAP2. What is amazing is how little we all know about which firms are producing WHAT, HOW and WHERE. Data on sub-national economic activity is limited to official annual estimates at provincial level or the databases build by private sector consultants. Almost no-one has any reliable firm-level information. Yet policymakers want suggestions for programmes that they can implement.

This brings me to the point that Johan Fourie raised on his blog today: the typical textbook/ foreign-expert recommendations for such programmes would be to build infrastructure, encourage on-the-job training or ensure a business-friendly environment for firms to grow. Ideas like wage subsidies and arguments for a weaker Rand exchange rate and import substitution strategies are also out there. However, to develop sensible interventions will require more work by academic researchers and an opportunity to make themselves heard.

As in the case of education research, there are a number of people who are doing excellent work. At firm-level Neil Rankin and his AMERU team at Wits are busy with a Youth Unemployment Intervention Evaluation project. Volker Schoër has examined the importance of social networks in finding employment, but considering the scope of the challenges, they need co-workers, collaborators, support. We don’t really know what the barriers that prevent firms to export are, how important links with the suppliers of intermediate goods are, how thick local labour markets are, or how firms are innovating.

Consider this something of a call for more research at the micro-level. We are making plans in the School of Economics, but if you want to join my project mayhem, give me a shout.

A must-read paper on nationalisation of South African mines

At the recent conference of the Economic Society of South Africa, Prof Stan du Plessis delivered an excellent presidential address on the topic: Nationalising South African mines: Back to a prosperous future, or down a rabbit hole? If you are interested in South African policy debates, read this paper!