I feel the University issuing
Illini Bucks, which have the sole purpose to being able; move ahead in lines
would be a very interesting experiment. If each student received an equal
amount of allocation, there would definitely be cases where the
Illini bucks are traded among the students. First, we will have to see the
potential uses for the Illini bucks and accordingly see the demand for the
product.
I can think of many uses Illini bucks could have especially in a college setting. During registration, using Illini bucks you could register earlier or get into certain classes, which are more popular. This would especially be helpful as people have different registration dates according to major, number of credits, etc. Some people would thus have a greater need for the Illini bucks than other. Me personally, as a senior with honors status can register before other and thus would not need to use Illini bucks for the sake of registration. I could, in this instance sell the Illini bucks for money or trade it in some other way. This however would have been very useful to me in freshman year when I wanted to register for classes such ATMS 120, which would get full before my registration date even started.
Another use for Illini bucks would be to reserve rooms or technology in from the University Library. Rooms are always booked out and sometimes people do not show up because there is no limit on how many times you can book a room. With the use of Illini bucks, it would be more equitable to book library room for group study. One way to use illini bucks would be using 1 illini buck per reservation. This would reduce the number of false bookings made. Similarly reserving concert ticket, or other speaker events and programs where registration is required is mostly currently done on a first come first serve basis. This does not place a value to how much a person wants to attend to the said program and thus can book without consequence.
Currently, i find myself having to wait a long time to loan out technology because there a number of people ahead of me in line. I recently wanted to loan out a Chromebook from the undergraduate library, but was told 2 people were in line before me and thus would take two weeks. The use of Illini buck would be very useful here. Since my laptop had broken down, I would have paid a high number of Illini bucks to get the Chromebook. This leads us into the pricing of the Illini bucks. The university already has a credit system in place for dining hall, where meals, laundry etc can be purchased. Thus implementation would be simple. The price would depend on the demand for the use of illini bucks. How many people would need to move ahead in lines? I reckon quite a few. Certain polls would have to be conducted to fix a dollar value to the Illini bucks. Thus is the price is too high, no one would use the illini bucks. People would just remain with the current system of lines. Only in dire circumstances people would resort to using illini bucks if the price is too high. Since the price would be so hight, the use would be very less, thus prices would reduce in the long run. If the price is too low, then people wold get a lot of illini bucks and registration would become more competitive. This would increase the price to reach an equilibrium price based on the market demand and supply of illini bucks.
I can think of many uses Illini bucks could have especially in a college setting. During registration, using Illini bucks you could register earlier or get into certain classes, which are more popular. This would especially be helpful as people have different registration dates according to major, number of credits, etc. Some people would thus have a greater need for the Illini bucks than other. Me personally, as a senior with honors status can register before other and thus would not need to use Illini bucks for the sake of registration. I could, in this instance sell the Illini bucks for money or trade it in some other way. This however would have been very useful to me in freshman year when I wanted to register for classes such ATMS 120, which would get full before my registration date even started.
Another use for Illini bucks would be to reserve rooms or technology in from the University Library. Rooms are always booked out and sometimes people do not show up because there is no limit on how many times you can book a room. With the use of Illini bucks, it would be more equitable to book library room for group study. One way to use illini bucks would be using 1 illini buck per reservation. This would reduce the number of false bookings made. Similarly reserving concert ticket, or other speaker events and programs where registration is required is mostly currently done on a first come first serve basis. This does not place a value to how much a person wants to attend to the said program and thus can book without consequence.
Currently, i find myself having to wait a long time to loan out technology because there a number of people ahead of me in line. I recently wanted to loan out a Chromebook from the undergraduate library, but was told 2 people were in line before me and thus would take two weeks. The use of Illini buck would be very useful here. Since my laptop had broken down, I would have paid a high number of Illini bucks to get the Chromebook. This leads us into the pricing of the Illini bucks. The university already has a credit system in place for dining hall, where meals, laundry etc can be purchased. Thus implementation would be simple. The price would depend on the demand for the use of illini bucks. How many people would need to move ahead in lines? I reckon quite a few. Certain polls would have to be conducted to fix a dollar value to the Illini bucks. Thus is the price is too high, no one would use the illini bucks. People would just remain with the current system of lines. Only in dire circumstances people would resort to using illini bucks if the price is too high. Since the price would be so hight, the use would be very less, thus prices would reduce in the long run. If the price is too low, then people wold get a lot of illini bucks and registration would become more competitive. This would increase the price to reach an equilibrium price based on the market demand and supply of illini bucks.
Since many have written about the registration issue, let's take on the Library one - reserving rooms and getting technology. As you said, the potential demand far outstrips the available supply. How then should this be allocated?
ReplyDeleteBefore answering that, let me say that when I had an office in Comm West (now Wohlers Hall) and I'd go home for the evening, perhaps around 6 PM, many of the classrooms on the first floor would have the door closed (indicating they were in use) and some piece of paper saying reserved perhaps with the person's name or initials on it. I should add here that this was a completely ad hoc mechanism. There is no assignment of classrooms to students during the hours when classes are not scheduled. Students simply appropriate the space on a first come first served basis.
Is that sort of space a substitute for Library space. I don't know. There is no hangout area in most classroom buildings (BIF and Seibel are exceptions to that). So you typically can't be in a commons space and wait for a room to open up. In the Library, I suppose you can do that. It also sounded that the Library registration system of rooms could use some improvement or some mechanism to make the allocation fairer. I'm not sure but that would seem to be the implication of what you said.
On the equipment borrowing, my own sense of things is that low income students should have priority here. If some students have less access to technology for income reasons, the campus should try to rectify that. I know that some students take courses with video production and that cameras are in demand for that. Being in such a course might then be a reason to have priority for accessing the equipment.
I really didn't understand the example with the chromebook. I'm under the impression that just about every student on campus has some computer. What would a borrowed computer offer that the student doesn't already have?
On the re
You talk about the benefits of an Illinibucks system with regards to registration by saying that Illinibucks could be used to register for popular classes sooner. However, isn't it very possible that if the class is popular everyone will try to use their Illinibucks to register for that class?
ReplyDeleteI think one of my biggest "issues" I faced when thinking about how Illinibucks could be used is that it may be rather valueless in some situations. For instance, say there is a long line at the undergraduate library that nobody wants to wait in. So the person at the back of the line uses Illinibucks to move to the front and shifts everyone back a spot in line. However, now say the new last person in line does the same exact thing and then so on with each new last person until the person that initially used his Illinibucks to skip the line is once again last or at the very least towards the back. I suppose my point is that if everyone uses their Illinibucks to "get ahead of the line" in the same popular places that are known to be troublesome (registration, bookstore lines, undergrad library lines, etc.) then won't Illinibucks be rather valueless?