Peer Review

Key Economic Events

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jan 15, 2018 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The ‘Key Events’ webpage is a part of a PBS Production called “Commanding Heights –The Battle for the World Economy’. The purpose of the site is to promote better understanding of globalization, world trade and economic development, including forces, values, events and ideas that have shaped the global economic system. The ‘Key Events’ page is a timeline since 1911 up to 2003 by years and countries that made and had a major impact that year. It is embedded with links to in-depth reports and video links in either Windows Media, QuickTime, or RealPlayer that explains a specific historic event.
Type of Material:: Reference Material
Recommended Uses:: • The site has links to a report page - an in-depth description of economic indicators by categories with graphs and video links. This can be especially helpful for the instructor to pinpoint a theory or two for reinforcement during class time with both historic and current world events. • The instructor can break the class into groups to study and share their findings of each timeline and/or selected timeline to enrich the learning in class and/or online. • Could use for student research papers • Could serve as subjects for a student paper
Technical Requirements:: Browsers: Internet Explorer, Chrome & Firefox; Windows Media, QuickTime 5 or Realplayer
Identify Major Learning Goals:: - To understand the key economic events that impacted the world - To learn how each country fared during key times - Can be referenced to make connections with current economic events.
Target Student Population:: • Beginner/Introductory/Survey Economics, Introduction to Macroeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, Economic Development Course and/or Business Students • Non-economics or Non-business students taking an Economics and/or Business course as a minor
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: None

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: • The quality of the content provided is clear and succinct. • Easy to follow the unraveling of historical events that shaped the global economic system. • Could be used in many situations • Provides accurate information • Is very clear
Concerns:: • Only includes dates up to 2003 • Could provide more information for each date and event

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: • Can easily integrate into curriculum • Can learn a lot in short time • Links to a great deal of information are provided • The site provides a link to ‘Educators’ Guide’ that outlines some information on using the site with including ‘Sample Units for the Classroom’ that comes with questions and answer key. This can be especially helpful for the instructor to pinpoint a theory or two for reinforcement during class time.
Concerns:: • Some of the ‘Discuss’ and ‘Resources’ links are broken or moved to new titles than the links indicate • Does not provide learning objectives • No instruction for use

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: • One of the strong suits of this site is the self-contained applicable modules that are broken up into short segments. • Plus point is the alphabetical glossary of economic terms and rich collection of essays including video essays. • Easy to access • Easy to click on links • Very clear
Concerns:: • It has not been maintained since 2003 and thus, the content ceased to be updated to present day economic development. • Not engaging • Not interactive, other than clicking on links • Not visually appealing

Other Issues and Comments:: • To understand the current events taking shape (e.g. Europe - between Russia and Ukraine), the timeline can be a useful and quick resource to use and introduce to students. • Needs to be updated.
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