The use of “Illinibucks” on our campus is an interesting
proposal. As we all know, allocation times for class registration are set on a
priority basis. From my understanding, special groups like James Scholars go first
followed by class level seniority. To me this makes sense as seniors have less
time to complete all their required classes for their major as compared to
younger students. I wander if this incentive based currency could create a
large change in this priority system and possibly create issues with people
graduating on time.
I am also curious as to how these “Illinibucks” would be
given out. Will there be incentives for students to receive more than their
peers or will each student receive the same amount? A scenario I can think of
that might work would be for each student in an incoming class to receive X
amounts of the currency when they are admitted to the University. After each
completed semester another allocation then goes out to all students, possibly
more given to higher GPAs. Students have the option to bank all of these bucks
to use in a later semester or use whenever they want. As a student progresses
in their college career they have the option to spend each semester or save
them up to use to spend on priority registration for a competitive class. This
gives students options without being too limiting.
In the above scenario, all students start off with the same
amount of currency when being admitted to the University and then have the
option to save them up to use later or use each semester. There are a variety
of factors related to “Illinibucks” that if changed can have a major impact on
their use and effectiveness. This currency could be incentive based and given
out to those that succeed in their classes. That way those that want to take
more competitive classes might actually get the most out of them. The same
amount of the currency could also be given out to every student at once. Under
this scenario, most students would be able to use all of their points in order
to sign up for one or two priority classes and then have to wait to see what’s
open to fill up their schedule. Another factor about this currency that would
have a large effect on its usefulness is if it were to be allowed to be used
for anything other than skipping the line to register.
Would these “Illinibucks” only be used for advancing
priority when registering for classes, or could they be used as a more general
currency on campus? There could be the option to use them sort of like I-card
credits that freshman student’s use at places like the Ike. Since there is no
cost to students for receiving this currency (i.e. they are provided by the
University) it seems their use as a general currency would have to be limited.
For example students that save up a decent amount of bucks could use them for
products useful for their studies. There could be a system at the Union
bookstore were students could use “Illinibucks” to purchase things ranging from
a coffee between class to notecards and other school supplies. This could also
be an incentive system for students to do better in their classes.
I think this proposed currency has options to be useful on
campus. However, there are a lot of issues associated with the currency that
make me wander how well it would work. The price of what they are worth is a
key factor that needs to be decided. The University would have to decide the
value of using these to register for classes.
On the registration use, while the technology might not allow this, conceptually it seems possible that a Freshman could have priority to register for on class, via Illinibucks, but then for the rest of the class do it as that is done now. Do you think that might work. If the student had some class that really caught the student's attention, that would be a way to address the student's interest.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I wrote on a different student's post, since pre-requisites and other requirements still would be enforced, for the most part freshmen don't compete with seniors regarding spots in classes.
Now, what about other uses. Back when I was an assistant professor and taught intermediate microeconomics, my office hours would be packed and I managed that first come first served. It was fair but perhaps once in a while it would be good for a student to not have to wait for something like that and jump the line. It seems to me that is the sort of thing where you let the students determine when they really need to do that. The Illinibucks would let that happen.
At the first part, yes I think that Illinibucks would give freshman students the opportunity to take at least one class that seemed interesting to them. While the majority of the classes I assume they would be taking are geneds, these have more spots open and are less competitive during registration, so the use of Illinibucks would be less relevant. Now if there is another class that isn't a gened and has fewer seats available but is an interest, Illinibucks would be a great way to insure students are able to take the classes they want.
DeleteWhen making my initial post, the only things I could think of for additional uses were those that contained some sort of monetary value. I see here the use for skipping a line to see a professor during office hours would be another great use for these. Do you think the possibilities I proposed in my initial post (coffee, notecards,etc.) would ever work out with this currency?
Great post,
ReplyDeleteI saw eye to eye with you on a lot of examples but you had slightly different ideas about the logisitics of the illinibucks which I thought were very interesting. I liked your point about allocating more illinibucks to students with higher GPAs because this is a good incentive for students to get good grades. Also, if you can use illinibucks for registration it makes sense to reward the kids that are doing well in these classes. I agree with you that illinibucks should be allocated differently to every class with seniors getting the most and freshmen getting the least in order to prioritize registration. I liked how you focused on using illinibucks as a way to promote doing well in classes. Being rewarded more illinibucks for high GPAs and then being able to use those illinibucks at the bookstore is a great idea because this will help kids continue do well in their classes. However, there needs to be a value on the illinibucks which I think would be very difficult to decide on. I think the smartest way to determine a value is to make adjustments to it throughout the first year it is implemented.
William,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of giving each student a base amount of the illinibucks when they are admitted to the university but also incentivize the system in some way. I think GPA is a good indicator but that system would have to be weighted in some way. I mean no offense by this next comment but I believe it is probably much harder and much more impressive to get a 4.0 GPA for a student who is a nuclear engineer as compared to a student getting a 4.0 in a theater/ arts. Meaning would both different degrees get the same amount for getting a 4.0 or would it be slightly scaled to reward the engineer for what must have been a very long, studious semester in hard classes. Also another idea I had after reading your post is potentially giving out Illinibucks to students for doing things around campus, not just GPA. Campus activities that everyone can participate in such as: going to the football game, attending a campus RSO meeting, using your icard to rent out library books/ equipment, and any other normal student activity. This almost seems too hard to implement however in practice as it would be very difficult to come up with points for all these activities much less how the points would even physically be allotted (credit card scanner?). Otherwise great post.
William,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of giving each student a base amount of the illinibucks when they are admitted to the university but also incentivize the system in some way. I think GPA is a good indicator but that system would have to be weighted in some way. I mean no offense by this next comment but I believe it is probably much harder and much more impressive to get a 4.0 GPA for a student who is a nuclear engineer as compared to a student getting a 4.0 in a theater/ arts. Meaning would both different degrees get the same amount for getting a 4.0 or would it be slightly scaled to reward the engineer for what must have been a very long, studious semester in hard classes. Also another idea I had after reading your post is potentially giving out Illinibucks to students for doing things around campus, not just GPA. Campus activities that everyone can participate in such as: going to the football game, attending a campus RSO meeting, using your icard to rent out library books/ equipment, and any other normal student activity. This almost seems too hard to implement however in practice as it would be very difficult to come up with points for all these activities much less how the points would even physically be allotted (credit card scanner?). Otherwise great post.