Teach Better

Economists study systems where individuals make decisions about buying, selling, and investment, and interesting patterns emerge. As in many disciplines, they teach by developing theory and pointing to examples in the real world, but it’s not always very convincing. Doing simulations and playing games in class lets students participate and see for themselves where the theory does and does not apply. Our guests Bob Gazzale (Toronto) and Matt Olczak (Aston) do this in their classes using three different web platforms: Moblab, economics-games.com, and vEconlab. In this episode they share their experiences with each.

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I’m teaching econometrics online in Yale Summer Session again, and like clockwork, have made major changes to the technology behind the live video sessions. It’s working better than ever, though of course, nothing is perfect.

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In the latest installment of #edtechsummer we focus on digital textbooks. These products go far beyond simple digital versions of the text, and often include embedded quizzes, smart highlighting, note taking, and interactive figures, all on top of attractive formatting. The big publishers have come a long way in the past few years. Catherine Medrano (College of the Sequoias) shares her experience teaching with Pearson Revel, Kate Antonovics (UCSD) tells us about McGraw-Hill SmartBook, and Stephanie Thomas (Cornell) explains what she and her students liked (and didn’t like) about the Cengage MindTap. Along the way we compare features, pricing, and availability of content.

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In our first Summer 2017 edtech episode, we talk about classroom response systems, aka clickers. We’re joined by three guests who have each used a different product extensively in their classes. First, Jenny Wissink (Cornell) shares how she uses iClicker to assess students’ understanding of pre-class video. Next, Bonni Stachowiak (Vanguard and the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast) explains why and how PollEverywhere gets students engaged. Finally, Susan Reilly (Florida State, Jacksonville) talks about how much fun her students have with Kahoot! Along the way we tell you what tools might be the best fit in different situations and how to get started with each tool.

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Edward and I are doing something different this summer on the Teach Better Podcast. Instead of our usual hour-long in-depth conversations with faculty, we’re focusing each episode on a separate category of educational technology tools and including several mini-interviews. Tomorrow we’ll publish our first episode on classroom response systems (aka “clickers”).

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Economic theory can be pretty dry for many students. This spring I decided to incorporate participatory games and simulations into my intermediate microeconomics class to make the material more concrete and the class a little more fun. We played an imperfect competition game on the first day, and then three more during the term. It went well, but there are some key tweeks I want to make next time around.

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A.T. Miller has published numerous articles on inclusive and multicultural teaching, and as the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Diversity, he currently directs Cornell’s Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives. In this episode we talk with A.T. about the valuable skills and alternative perspectives that non-traditional students bring to the classroom, and what “normal” academic things might not be obvious or comfortable for these students. A.T. shares a whole host practical ways to provide a level playing field to all your students.

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Intermediate Microeconomic Theory is the backbone of the undergraduate economics curriculum. This is where students learn the core mathematical models of the discipline, how to analyze them, and how to choose an appropriate model for a given scenario. These are essential skills for a working economist, and provide a window into how economists think. That said, economics is equal parts analysis and creativity. Students should also learn and practice constructing new models and extending models they’ve seen before. This spring I tried to incorporate these skills into the course through a semester-long creative project. Here’s what happened.

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Peter Rich, from Cornell’s Policy Analysis and Management Department, just finished his first year of college teaching. In this episode we focus on his big undergraduate class: Social Problems in America. Peter generously shares how he prepared, how it went, and what he learned from the experience.

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