Thanks to all the Economist Educators who made the 2018 Economics Teaching Conference a success! This website holds links to our Best in Class winners’ presentations, plus all of the teaching sessions shared throughout the conference. If you couldn’t make it this year, we hope to see you in 2019!
Our 2018 Best in Class Award recipients presented their winning entries at the conference — take a look to learn more!
Check out the 2018 schedule and download session resources for more details.
Keynote: More Than Just Shiny Objects: Using Technology to Support Student Learning
Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University
An understanding of how learning works can help us make teaching choices that more effectively foster student learning. When new technologies enter the scene, however, it’s not always clear how they fit into this process. Educational technology can facilitate new avenues for student learning, but if we’re not careful to use that technology in ways consistent with principles of learning, the technology can become just a distracting shiny object. And sometimes, the best technology is one that doesn’t have a power switch or Internet connection! In this talk, we’ll explore a few of those principles of learning and how they can help us be more intentional and effective as we integrate technology in our teaching.
Advanced Topics in Micro: Helping Students Understand Income/Substitution Effects
Mark Holmgren, Eastern Washington University
By utilizing a double oral auction experiment in class, students will likely receive a greater understanding of income and substitution effects, a topic that’ll help them prepare for future Economics courses.
Using Small Teaching Techniques in Economics
Michael J. Enz, Roanoke College
The disciplines of Neuroscience, Biology and Cognitive Psychology provide a wide range of research on how our students learn. In the book Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, James Lang provides readers with many techniques that apply the knowledge learned from this research. This session presents several of these small teaching techniques applied to a Principles of Microeconomics course and an Intermediate Microeconomics course. In addition to a detailed description of technique implementation, the session provides the research supporting the techniques, student feedback, instructor observations and implementation suggestions to lower the cost of adoption.
Active Learning & Adaptive Technology: Teaching & Learning Econ when Class Time is Scarce
Joana Girante, Arizona State University
Stefan Ruediger, Arizona State University
This session will introduce instructors to a new way of teaching Economics and a new online platform to support hybrid, face-to-face and flipped-classroom instruction. Session participants will be part of an immersive experience and come away with detailed instructions for classroom exercises and class structure.
The Principles of Uber: Using Ride Sharing Services to Teach Economic Concepts
Kyle Anderson, Indiana University
Using a business case study to illustrate economic concepts is an excellent way to facilitate learning. Uber and other ride-sharing services fundamentally create a market to match buyers (riders) and sellers (drivers). This session shows how a case study of the company can illustrate many of the key concepts in a Principles, Micro or Managerial course.
Hands-On Learning: Teaching Principles with Interactive Experiments and Surveys
Kelvin Wong, Arizona State University
Richard Gosselin, Houston Community College
MobLab
Experiments require active learning and high-level thinking, making them an impactful and memorable course component for students. This hands-on session will take you through two MobLab-powered lessons designed for principles classes; Supply and Demand Shifts, and Taxes and Behavioral Tendencies. In addition, we’ll discuss benefits of learning through play, gamification and data-driven theory discussions. Game on!
Kicking the AS/AD Model to the Curb
Richard Gosselin, Houston Community College
Tired of the AS/AD model? The alternative is the Aggregate Production Structure which categorizes production by its distance from final use. This method combines the best of microeconomics and macroeconomics. It looks at four categories: raw material goods, manufactured goods, wholesale goods and retail goods. Within each of these microeconomic markets, there’s an aggregation of the revenue generated at each stage — but disaggregation among all the stages. In this talk, we’ll examine how to deploy this new way of looking at production and kick to the curb the old AS/AD model once and for all.
Teaching Economics using modified SOLE
Amlan Datta, Lone Star College-CyFair
The presenter will share his experiences of adopting a modified SOLE (Self-Organized Learning Environment) approach for teaching Economics in college classrooms. The goal of the session is to provide conference participants with a hands-on experience on implementing modified SOLE approach in their own Economics classrooms.
A Textbook Centered Approach to Deliver Online Courses
Carsten Lange, California State University
Participants will learn about a Multimedia Integrated System (MIS) centered around a textbook, which is freely available. It’s currently used for a Principles in Microeconomics Course, but MIS is designed to support other textbooks as well. The MIS is innovative because it allows instructors to use a customized version that fully integrates videos, interactive computer simulations and learning outcomes directly into the textbook.
Classroom Management and Engagement Strategies: What Works?
Erin A. Yetter, University of Arizona
Kalina M. Staub, University of North Carolina
Come learn interesting ways to increase engagement and effectively manage your classroom. We’ll discuss and actively demonstrate the use of Poll Everywhere, index cards, beach balls, Twitter/Facebook — and more. Ideas for scaling between large and small lecture are also provided.
An Introduction to MindTap: Explore the Best-Selling and Most Advanced Digital Solution for Economics
Cengage Team
This is an introduction for instructors NOT currently using MindTap. Join Cengage and our faculty partners as we explore the features of the best-selling and most advanced digital solution for Economics!
Keynote: Best in Class Award Winners
Our three award winners will present their winning entries. The 2018 winners are:
First Place: Learn It Share It
Florencia Gabriele, Emmanuel College
Second Place: QR Codes to Learn GDP
Heather Schumacker, Salt Lake Community College
Third Place: Economics with Superheroes
Brian O’Roark, Robert Morris University
Paycheckonomics
Galit Eizman, Harvard University
Welcome to Paycheckonomics! Using illustrative paychecks in class is an original, powerful and fun teaching methodology. It demonstrates a surprisingly large number of concepts in microeconomics, macroeconomics and even econometrics, in addition to preparing students for real-world experiences.
Comic-Nomics: Using Superhero Comics to Teach Advanced Topics
Brian O’Roark, Robert Morris University
Just because superhero comics involve made-up characters with otherworldly powers doesn’t mean they’re excused from the laws of economics. The exploits of these masked marvels can certainly illuminate basic ideas, but students in upper-level classes can also benefit from a bit of comic magic. Economic growth, game theory, production decisions, the role of institutions, feminist economics and more have course-ready examples in the pages of the comics. Join our league of economic superheroes as we explore ways to add some comic color to upper-level courses.
Running Classroom Experiments at Minimal Cost: The Asynchronous Solution
Paul Johnson, University of Alaska Anchorage
This presentation will cover the use of hand-run asynchronous experiments. This approach reduces the cost and risk of running experiments in the classroom, facilitates the creation of macroeconomic experiments and is sturdy against the unexpected, such as student absences.
Use of Videos to Increase Engagement and Retention in the Economics Classroom
Mary Clare Peate, George Mason/MRUniversity.com
Florencia Gabriele, Emmanuel College/MRUniversity.com
Trade wars got you down? This workshop will present activities to teach trade in a relevant and nuanced way using the flipped classroom model. We’ll cover the advantages of flipping the classroom with videos to teach the very timely topic of trade.
Advanced MindTap- Best Practices and Techniques
Cengage Team
This session is for current MindTap users, which means you’re already using the most advanced and best-selling digital solution in Economics. Join Cengage and our faculty partners as we explore how you and your students can get even more from the MindTap experience.
Teaching and Learning in a Cellphone Society
Linda S. Ghent, Eastern Illinois University
Alan P. Grant, Baker University
This presentation summarizes academic research regarding the impact of the digital world on students’ cognitive abilities. We’ll also discuss the issue of cellphone anxiety and its impact on attention span. The session will conclude with some suggested communication and delivery strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of classroom time, as well as suggestions to reduce some of the negative impacts of universal digital access on student learning.
Project-based Learning on Money and Monetary Policy in an Undergraduate Economics Class
Anthony J. Pennings, SUNY, Korea
Charis Asante-Agyei, SUNY, Korea
Project-based Learning (PBL) is a student-centered, instructor-driven approach to teaching and learning. It employs a central driving question and scaffolding methods to catalyze the learning process. This presentation will discuss how these processes were used for an instructional unit on money and crypto-currencies for an introductory undergraduate Economics class. Students were asked to work together in PBL mode to explore the historical and contemporary dynamics of money that culminated in project presentations and other outcomes, including quizzes, and other lines of inquiry and reflection.
Surveying Online and Hybrid/Blended Principles Classes
Patrick M. Crowley, Texas A&M University
This presentation covers the costs and benefits of independently surveying students from online and hybrid/blended Principles of Economics classes. Surveying students can provide valuable information particularly for hybrid/blended and online classes and can reveal interesting insights about the students typically enrolled in these courses. The presentation also gives an example of a recent survey and provides online resources for instructors.
In-Class Trade Projects for Advanced First-Year Economics Students
David Davenport, McLennan Community College
Learn how to teach advanced students to use FRED data to analyze inflation data across countries using a simple trade project. The goal for the advanced project is to extend student understanding of international data while learning the “soft skills” of creating graphs, linking spreadsheet data and embedding graphs into analytical papers and PowerPoint presentations.
The Pursuit of High Quality Learning? It All Starts with Design!
Christopher D. Cummings, Cengage VP of Learning
You already know learning science and design can impact the success of you and your students. At Cengage, we feel the same way: learning science, universal design and instructional design informs the way we build products. Futuristic innovation has less chance for scaled impact on the teaching and learning experience compared to accessible enhancement to digital learning solutions focused on increasing learner and faculty engagement. Simply, scaled impact results from the use of quality digital learning solutions. Join Cengage Vice President of Learning, Chris Cummings for an interactive exploration of learning science and design and how instructors and creators of instructional materials can partner to implement the best learning solutions.
Keynote: Emerging Economics Career Trends – The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Corinne Hoisington, Central Virginia Community College
Tap into the latest information to assist in guiding your students into Economics and Business careers that are meaningful, high paying and have massive opportunity. Economics not only trains students to think, but to gain critical problem-solving skills, too. As a result, economics majors end up working in a wide variety of jobs in a vast number of industries. I think this flexibility is a tremendous plus, because it makes a college graduate much more marketable in a digital-technology world where so many of the professions of the future are still evolving. The challenge is determining how we, as educators, can best train the next generation of students for future-proofing their careers.
Out of This World: The Economics of Exploring Space
James A. Hornsten, Northwestern University
Modern visionaries promise to fly tourists into space, mine asteroids, clean up space debris, detect and deflect near-Earth objects, efficiently re-supply space stations and even colonize Mars. No longer just the stuff of science fiction, these timely topics offer exciting opportunities for instructors to get students to think, talk and write about fundamental economic concepts such as innovation, property rights, externalities, free riding, product safety regulation, input substitutability, profit motives and project financing. This session describes how to incorporate the Economics of space exploration into various courses.
Productive Fun with the Z Generation on their Phone!
Mitch Charkiewicz, Central Connecticut State University
Bring your phone/device to participate in an all-inclusive, in-class experiment — accomplished all in one class period. Discover the effect of active participation by students, gradable instantly using an existing experiment in MindTap/Aplia.
Pay It Forward — Learn Something, Teach Something
Florencia Gabriele, Emmanuel University
Kim Holder, University of West Georgia
Pay It Forward is a personal finance assignment designed as a semester-long project that guides students to learn a concept in class, incorporate it into their lives and teach it to others. This project can be modified and used at different levels (high school, community college and college). This project can be used in traditional settings, flipped classrooms and online classes.
How to Get Students’ Buy-In to the Flipped Classroom: Strategies for Success
Grace Onodipe, Georgia Gwinnett College
M. Femi Ayadi, University of Houston Clear Lake
This presentation explores the factors that help get students to buy into the flipped classroom idea. We present techniques for introducing students to the flipped classroom on the first day of class, including what to include on the syllabus, plus activities to prepare them for this style of learning so they accept it and thrive. Examples specific to a Principles of Economics and Business Statistics course will be shared.
“How I Increased Grades by Increasing Engagement with MindTap”
Stephanie Thomas, Cornell University
How do you engage a class of more than 450 students with varying academic backgrounds and vastly different interests in the subject? This is the challenge I face every fall semester when I offer Introductory Microeconomics. I approach this question from the following perspective: students come to class on the first day because they have to come. They come to class the rest of the semester because they want to come.
Keynote: Ask Greg! Everything You Ever Wanted to Know, but Never Had the Chance to Ask
Greg Mankiw, Harvard University
A few years ago, we had an interview with Greg Mankiw at NETA. It was so successful, we decided to do the same interview — with a twist. Now, to promote a lively “give and take,” NETA participants get to interview Greg by asking questions they’ve submitted beforehand. Past NETA president, Linda Ghent will be our head “interviewer.”
The Economics of What?
Vicky Day, NAIT, Edmonton AB
Shifting Introductory Economics students towards an economic way of thinking is the goal of this newly designed set of activities. Easily managed by the instructor, students will prepare, think critically and engage in the world of Microeconomics. As a student so aptly put it: “We were actors on Wednesday's activity and we were happy. The activities were useful and interesting and helped reinforce our understanding as they related real life.”
Trump Tweets for Teaching Introductory Economics Courses
Nicole Schoenecker, Coastal Carolina University
This session will use examples of the president’s tweets and ask audience members to consider which concept(s) these tweets relate to within the introductory microeconomics and/or macroeconomics curriculum. By including the president’s tweets in the classroom, we can bring relevant policy discussions to our students to illustrate the importance of the concepts they’re learning.
Explaining Economics through the Analysis of Economic Indicators
Renata Kochut, SUNY Empire State College
Researching and understanding economic indicators and trends is crucial for business students. It develops students’ critical thinking, better understanding of economic policies and prepares them to make better informed personal, professional, and business decisions. This hands-on presentation provides the attendees not only with examples of how students learn to perform research analyze data, but also examples of how to translate classroom knowledge to real-world situations.
Lessons from Flipped Classroom Product Research
Laura de Pue, Instructional Designer, ASU
Anna Van Wie, Learning Solutions Director, Learning Objects
This session will share results of product testing for a solution that addresses the barriers to implementing the flipped classroom model. The Learning Objects product team along with faculty from seven institutions tested the new product with students. The results and lessons learned will be shared for discussion. Session participants will be encouraged to share feedback about the product concept as well as their own experiences with flipping the classroom.
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See what your colleagues experienced last year—and what you can look forward to.
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