A Discussion of “Academic Achievement across the Day: Evidence from Randomized Class Schedules” The fall semester is around the corner although it will not be a typical one! Some are going back in person; some are going to do some sort of hybrid version with students’ attendance staggered to keep…
Teaching
College Classes: Choose Fewer Days, Later Hours
A Discussion of “Class Meeting Frequency, Start Times, and Academic Performance” Anyone who went to college…remember that feeling when the only class that was open was an 8 AM? As a night owl, I dreaded it. And usually avoided it. If you are a morning person, maybe you do not…
Microeconomics
Income Contingent Loans: Fixing the College Debt Crisis
A Discussion of “Financing Higher Education in an Imperfect World” Pssstt! I got a secret. College debt is soaring. OK, not really a secret. Search Medium and you can find article after article decrying the situation. But what can we do to fix it? That is what Long (2019) is…
Teaching
What Happened to the MOOC revolution?
A Discussion of “(Dis)Organization and Success in an Economics MOOC” MOOCs will change higher education forever! That was a common statement in 2012 when I was early in my professorial career so I was alarmed by claims my industry was coming to an end. Banerjee and Duflo (2014) said it…
Teaching
Improving Student Engagement: Discussion Boards versus Blogs
A Discussion of “More than Words: Investigating the Format of Asynchronous Discussions as Threaded Discussions or Blogs” I hope this does not offend any teachers — but I do not like discussion boards. And from what I have heard from my students, they do not either. But without them, an online class is…
Economic Thought
Populism: Its Economic Consequences
A Discussion of “Studying the (Economic) Consequences of Populism” US President Donald Trump. Marine Le Pen, head of the National Rally party in France. Hugo Chavez, late president of Venezuela. Pablo Iglesias of the Podemos party of Spain. They probably would not agree on much but they do have one…
Teaching
Because… Science
A Discussion of “Beyond the Flipped Class: The Impact of Research-Based Teaching Methods in a Macroeconomics Principle Class” Over the years I have been increasing my use of active learning, or flipped classroom, methods but apparently I have not gone far enough! Or, really this article is saying I am…
Economic Thought
Can Economics Illuminate the Populist Movement?
A Discussion of “A Dialogue between a Populist and an Economist” In an unusually playful academic article, Boeri, Mishra, et al. (2018) write a script of two people, Populist and Economist, arguing over the success (or failure) of economics in explaining the latest wave of populism fever that has spread…
Teaching
GPA: What Does This Mysterious Metric Teach Us?
A Discussion of “Grades in Economics and Other Undergraduate Courses” The Grade Point Average (GPA) is the metric we use to represent student achievement, but should we? It serves as a measure for who qualifies for honors, scholarship,s internships, and job offers. That is a lot riding on one number….
Economic Thought
A Spoonful of Populism is the Medicine We Need
A Discussion of “Is Populism Necessarily Bad Economics?” Populism is on the rise. Is that good? Is that bad? What is it anyway? Dani Rodrik (2018) has written a thoughtful article that helps us define what it is and when it can be a force for good. First, he states…