After conducting an interview with Professor Grinath this morning, a few of my ideas were confirmed while a few others were challenged. It was an interesting talk, and I really wish I had more time. I began by asking Professor Grinath about his use of technology in the classroom. Having taken one of this Economics classes in past semesters, I really enjoyed the interactivity of his lectures and the way they were organized in PowerPoint presentations with various illustrations and clips along the way to help the economics non-enthusiasts digest the seemingly never ending demand and supply curves!
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| image courtesy of home-schooling.org |
Aside from his typical classroom sessions, Professor Grinath teaches a few blended courses. In our own Information 3.0 class this semester, we experimented a bit with the blended course setup and it seemed to garner rather positive reviews. In retrospect, the period of time when we decided to experiment with the blended course may have had a little to do with the positive reviews (as everyone counted down the minutes until Thanksgiving break) but a few other things came to mind in regards to the differences between my limited experience with the blended course setup and Professor Grinath's thoughts after some time teaching them. For starters, Prof. Grinath believes that the individual who joins a blended course needs to be a little more motivated (or at least more organized) than the average student in your typical classroom course in the sense of keeping up with lectures, discussions, etc. In your regular classroom setup, the instructor is able to repeatedly remind students about upcoming deadlines and other course assignments. In the blended course, the dedication is required from the student to keep up with all the important dates on his/her own. Another thing that came to mind in the way of the contrast of my experience with blended courses in comparison to Prof. Grinath's account was the technology used to teach these courses. Although I didn't ask during my interview, I'm almost certain that Montgomery College uses WebCT as their primary client for distance learning courses. In our Information 3.0 class this semester we have been using Wimba which is a bit more modern and includes some more features than what I remember WebCT having. Regardless, my Info 3.0 classmates and myself may have enjoyed our limited time with the blended course format simply because it was a one time thing and something different than what we'd been accustomed to the whole semester. The response may or may not have been different if we had spent the entire semester using Wimba.
Moving over to the economics side of things and in the context of this course, I asked Professor Grinath about the effects that the Internet has had on print media and the newspaper industry. In recent years we've seen the site traffic of online outlets like The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast skyrocket while the demand for print newspapers has dwindled. As he explained, the new substitute (the Internet) has brought down the demand for print media leading to a decrease in price and production of print materials, but he does not expect a complete elimination of these in our society as there will "always be a place for them." As both Professor Grinath and Judith Rosen explained, online media is not a necessary substitute for print media yet, but it can be thought of as a type of complement. The online availability of print media does not necessarily replace the handheld demand for the product, and although the levels of demand may fluctuate from time to time, the This is the same case as applicable to online retailers and their apparent dominance over the retail sector. Over the course of the past few months, I've been finding myself more and more drawn to buying all of my necessary items online. Whether they're textbooks, games, or music, I can't remember the last time I visited a brick and mortar store (except, of course, going to physically see what I would later order online). Just like with print media, there will seemingly always be a demand for brick and mortar stores simply from the viewpoint of being able to see and hold things physically. Professor Grinath can foresee partnerships forming between the typical brick and mortar stores and online retailers in the near future. For big box retailers who haven't done so already, this seems like the logical next step.
As I mentioned in my very first blog post, economists have grown to associate long term economic growth with steady technological progress in a society. Although it is hard to predict historical technological breakthroughs, it is hard not to see how the ease of accessibility to online media sites and online retailers are changing our lifestyles on a daily basis. This is a trend that should only continue to grow as technology becomes more accessible and we (hopefully) face periods of economic prosperity in the near future.
Sources:
Peters, Jeremy. "Longtime Washington Post Writer Heads to the Daily Beast." The New York Times. 5 October, 2010.
Rosen, Judith. "Gazing Into the Crystal Ball." Publishers Weekly. Volume 247, Issue 20. Page S9.
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