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Economics 101: History of Economic Thought

Early Assessment, Useful Feedback, Improved Performance

Reflection on Instructional Change:

I combined multiple techniques, early assessment and providing handouts with feedback addressing common errors and linking the errors to the study habits and aids that were originally provided. My focus here is on Econ 101, my history of economic thought class, but I implemented some version of this approach in all four of my classes. I implemented the approach through the use of frequent low stakes quizzes with the lowest two to four scores dropped. In some cases the quizzes were entirely multiple choice and in other cases included short answer questions. In the case of short answer questions, I went over the answers and pointed out how the questions related to practice problems that I had already provide the students right after the quiz. For the multiple choice questions I allowed the student to keep the quiz questions collecting only the Scantron. I graded the quizzes the same day and posted a solution key with comments on frequently missed questions including references back to the original study materials I had provided.

The results of implementing these techniques have varied across my classes. In the primary class I’m focusing on here, history of economic thought, they’ve been somewhat disappointing, in large part because it is a once a week night class and attendance is often poor. Student who miss class an entire week of material of course miss a quiz, but also almost always do poorly on the following week’s quiz because they’ve missed the material. Results have been much more encouraging in my day classes. In those classes, while quiz scores are sometimes low, midterm exam scores have been significantly higher than in previous semesters and students indicate they are actively using the quizzes as a study tool.

In general, both for the techniques I’ve implemented and others I will implement in the future, I found the downloadable references to be very useful. As PDF documents they were easy to print out, read thoroughly and mark up. These are also very useful to me because I can place them in a file or binder and tab them and refer back to them as needed. I also gleaned some useful information from the discussion forums, but the online forum is a poor substitute for the spontaneity and continuity of face-to-face discussions.

I don’t think there was really an “aha moment” in my observe and analyze session. My approach was generally well received with the most significant suggestion being that I could use online quizzes and even offer multiple attempts. I probably won’t pursue this suggestion though both because I use the quizzes to incentivize attendance and I want students to study ahead of time. I want them to show me they know the material, not that they can quickly find the answer somewhere when asked a question.

Evidence of Instructional Change

Table of Images
Example of Instructions and Study Questions Posted in Canvas	Feedback and Direction Provided With Solutions in Canvas	Image of Badges and Micro-credential

Practice and Reflect on: Peer Review and Revision (Note: As I prepped my classes for the semester I shifted gears a bit and implemented the above instead of the peer review. I'll be implementing peer review in a class next semester.

Course Syllabus

Faculty Bio

Instructor Biography
	I've been a lecturer in the Economics Department since the fall of 2000. My primary interests are in Economic History, Monetary and Macroeconomics and Quantitative Methods.

Credits
	This work was supported by: National Science Foundation Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM Zone DUE 1832335 CSU Office of the Chancellor Academic Affairs grant for Faculty Professional Development US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012 *Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.