Please sign up and help recruit for the EconEdTech#2

[Amyaz Moledina]

Dear GLCA Economics or Business Economics Colleague,

We invite you to participate in the 2nd Economics Educational Technology (#EconEdTech) Workshop hosted by the GLCA in Ann Arbor in June 2014. If you are interested in experimenting with educational technology in a safe and fun environment and want to be part of a collaborative intellectual community whose goal is to strengthen economics pedagogy read on. The gathering will be for two days (for example noon Friday through Saturday 4 p.m.) in Ann Arbor. The GLCA intends to pick up all costs associated with travel, room, and board for participants. Please express your initial interest to participate for two days in June 2014 here AND pass this on to other GLCA colleagues.

The Goal

The persistent popularity of our discipline as a major is because it provides the “right mix” of analytical rigor, practicality, and intellectual excitement that students seek (Colander, 2009). As teachers of economics and business at liberal arts schools, we have something unique to contribute to the teaching of economics. The overarching goal of #EconEdTech then is to create an intellectual peer group that will dialogue across GLCA economics programs about pedagogy. The #EconEdTech workshop will bring together liberal arts economists, “novices” and “experts” in a safe environment, to learn, share and experiment with pedagogy and to discuss the role of hybrid technologies in teaching economics at liberal arts colleges.

Last Year

Last June, a group of us met in Ann Arbor where we compared our curricular offerings and  learned how to use videos for flipped classrooms. Faculty from five GLCA schools experimented with different technologies. We created annotated PDFs, used Livescribe to record notes, and used an ipad app called Educreations to create, upload and share instructional videos. We are happy to report that some of those who participated last year incorporated substantial changes in the way they taught at least one of their classes. We hope to build on last years experience with a workshop where we share our pedagogical experiences as well as learn ways to incorporate technology into our teaching.  This year’s goal is to create smaller collaborative groups but also to keep the highly informal, intimate and “hands-on” feel of last year’s workshop. 

If you have any questions please contact Amyaz Moledina. Again please indicate your interest in participating by signing up here and please share this email with your colleagues in your departments and other GLCA schools.

Warm regards,

Rajaram Krishnan and Amyaz Moledina