Interactive Teaching in Undergraduate Economics Courses: Bridging the Gap between Current and Best Practices

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This project is disseminating best interactive learning practices and materials to undergraduate economics instructors, especially junior faculty. The project is of vital importance because research shows that most economics instructors do not use interactive learning strategies and teach their courses almost exclusively with lecture. As a consequence, few undergraduates in economics courses benefit from the significant contributions that interactive teaching methods and materials can make to student learning. The project is being carried out in three phases. In Phase 1, participants attend a workshop where they work in teams to learn about interactive learning strategies and materials. In Phase 2, participants return to their institutions, re-think their teaching plans, receive on-line supplemental instruction for interactive strategies that they plan to use, and implement them. In Phase 3, participants have new opportunities to participate in a community of teaching scholars. They share teaching experiences, present papers and author research articles on teaching and learning, and participate in teaching conferences. The project provides participants with important incentives to follow through on what they learn and revise their teaching practices. The project provides valuable training to hundreds of economic instructors and improved education to over 100,000 economics students. There is broad support for the project among department chairs and other economists at a variety of institutions. It is co-sponsored with the Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association (AEA). Special emphasis is being given to recruiting minorities and women for the project in cooperation with the AEA's Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession and its Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession.