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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Jun 05, 2012 by Business Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
The site provides an embedded link to a 5:18 min clip interview between Fox Business and San Diego City Council Member, Carl DeMaio. DeMaio claims that retirement benefits for city workers are at unsustainable levels and are driving the city to insolvency or bankruptcy. He blames the city’s powerful unions and says the city must take drastic action to avoid insolvency. The website also provides a brief summary of the Learning Objectives, Discussion Questions, and transcript of the video clip. For extra teaching materials, faculty can sign up for free or log in if a member of Mindgate Media. |
| Learning Goals: |
• Students can gain an understanding the financial state of the San Diego City on a micro level. |
| Target Student Population: |
• Beginner/Introductory/Survey Economics, Introduction to Microeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics
• Non-economics students taking an Microeconomics as a minor |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Basic computer skills and access to the Internet |
| Type of Material: |
Presentation |
| Recommended Uses: |
• It can also be used to facilitate in-class and/or online discussion to connect to the related concepts covered in Microeconomics on ‘The Demand for Resources and/or Wage Determination’
• The online video can also be used as a team project or report to delve deeper into the story and see how it can relate to financial state in their local city or county. |
| Technical Requirements: |
Internet Explorer 8 or the equivalent Firefox browser will suffice. . |
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| Strengths: |
• Provides a explanation of why City of San Diego has 69% of budget goes to retirement benefits
• Tells the story of the how City of San Diego can change their budget issues and to possibly avoid bankruptcy
• The video is short and can be used quickly as a conversation starter to comprehend the financial state of a city. |
| Concerns: |
• Had very little introduction to presentation
• Did not provide much background on how the discussion of bankruptcy came to the City of San Diego. Skirted through issue quickly
• Checking the origin of the video, it was released on May 2011 and thus an update on the current state of the San Diego City is not provided. Since the origin of the video is from a news channel, some audience might not be able to overlook the associated bias to appreciate the content. |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
• Brief history of the financial (budget) issues that are facing City of San Diego
• Module can be used in conjunction with a financial management, budgeting, or public administration course
• The video is similar to a real life case study where the student can relate to concepts like unions, retirement, pensions, financial state of a city. |
| Concerns: |
• Did not find an indication of what perquisite knowledge would be required for this presentation
• Did not clearly define learning to be accomplished, has a lot of information, a summary of learning would be beneficial
• Session last for 5:18 minutes, has marginal learning usage could provide foundation of discussion |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
| Rating: |
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| Strengths: |
• Website was easy to connect to and easy to maneuver on the page
• Webpage was easy to understand how to view the film clip presentation and hear
• The main strength of this video clip is that it’s factual and thus the intended audience can relate to it immediately.
• The website comes with a transcript of the video that will help audience with a variety of learning styles. |
| Concerns: |
• Needed to be more explanation as to how the presentations would or could be applied to an academic setting and what type of setting this clip would work best in
• Introduction to site needs to better explain and define the purported topical areas. The learning outcomes were difficult to identify, needs to be more integrated into the learning outcomes section |
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