On Saturday night I recorded and posted my first two econometrics mini-lectures. I had decided to do this for my seminar on human capital to free up time for classroom discussion, and give my students resources they could refer to as they read research articles that used those methods. It seemed like such a good idea as I was updating the syllabus, but then I actually had to create two of them for this week’s reading.

They’re 20 minutes each, and I could have stood up at a chalk board and given both with about 5 minutes of prep. Recording something that isn’t totally embarrassing is another story. The whole process (scripting, getting slides together for annotation, actually recording the screencast, minimal editing, and posting) took about 8 hours.

I hope to be incorporating these into my classes for years to come, but it occurs to me that other folks might find them helpful too. So here they are:

• How to interpret regression tables: This video is for students who have had some exposure to regression methods, but need a refresher on how to interpret regression tables.

• An intuitive introduction to instrumental variables: This video gives students who have taken an introductory econometrics or statistics course just enough about instrumental variables to read, interpret, and even critique articles that use the method.

As I create more of these videos, I’ll post them to the same YouTube channel.