The benefits and costs of studying.

Overview

Students are called to help one of their teachers propose changes to university policy with the goal of increasing the amount of time students spend studying for their classes. The more time students spend studying, the less they will be able to spend working at their on-campus jobs, playing video games, participating in social media, or watching streamed programs. With the goal of increasing the amount of hours spent studying, students will identify and compare the effect on student studying of each of the available policy options.

Expected Student Learning Outcomes

In this exercise, students apply benefit-cost analysis to make suggestions on how to increase the amount of time that students spend studying. The goal is to understand basic benefit-cost analysis in an every-day situation.

Information Given to Students

Your sociology teacher has found out that you are taking an economics class and has asked you for advice. She has noticed that students tend to spend little time studying for her class and more time working part-time at several university-provided jobs, or entertaining themselves on their electronic devices. The Dean of the school has given her permission to implement any changes she sees fit that will lead to higher student study effort and improved academic performance.

Your sociology teacher was recently introduced to the concept of benefit-cost reasoning and wants you to help her increase the amount of hours her students spend studying for her class. Being able to successfully advise her on this would increase your final grade in both classes by 10% .

Which of the following policy options would you recommend in order to increase the amount of time that students spend studying for their classes? Your detailed response will be submitted to the Dean for consideration.

A. Raise campus wage rates

B. Lower campus wage rates

C. Disable social media, gaming apps, and streaming services from campus Internet.

D. Make getting good grades a requirement for getting and keeping on-campus employment.

E. A policy other than the ones listed above that the team reporter will explain carefully.

As part of their justification of their policy choice, team reporters must be ready to explain how each policy would affect the benefits and costs of studying.

Students should have 20 minutes to discuss in groups. The instructor should allow for 15-20 minutes for debriefing. If class size is small this activity could fit in a half class period (45 minutes).

It is advised that the reporter from each team should be randomly chosen on the spot so that all students during the activity equally participate and can justify their teams' choice in the end.

After students simultaneously report their findings the instructor can guide the conversation by first asking them to identify the reasoning behind every choice they made. Every group should connect their choice to a successful increase of hours spent in studying in order for their answer to be correct. An important part of this exercise is to assess the effect of each policy on the net benefit of studying and to identify which of the choices will have the largest effect on the time spent studying.

The ambiguity of the effect of wages on the time spent working could be explored carefully. A wage increase might enable a student to earn target income in less time and, thus, free up time for studying. Alternatively, a wage increase could increase the opportunity cost of studying. If this activity is used toward the end of a class, the instructor can encourage students to make the connection between this reasoning and a backward-bending labor supply curve.

A homework assignment or summative exam following this in-class exercise could include a question that requires similar reasoning.

A good exercise on opportunity costs that can be used in combination with this AE is listed below. It will help students to understand the implicit and actual dollar costs of making choices.

What is the opportunity cost of attending class? by Sue Stockly, Eastern New Mexico University . It can be found here