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Showing posts from December, 2012

Education sessions at the ASSA

For those attending the ASSA meetings, here are all the sessions I could find related to economic education. Also, if anyone wants suggestions for places to eat / things to do while in San Diego, particularly if you want to get away from the Gaslamp, feel free to drop me an email - I love sharing San Diego with folks! UPDATE: From Mark Maier: There will be a meeting for economic educators interested in community college instruction prior to the regular sessions, January 3, 2013, 4 PM. Manchester Grand Hyatt, Room Molly A&B . All welcome. Jan 04, 2013 8:00 am, Manchester Grand Hyatt, Manchester A American Economic Association Financial Literacy and Content Standards in the Schools (A2) (Panel Discussion) Panel Moderator: B. DOUGLAS BERNHEIM (Stanford University and National Bureau of Economic Research) ANNAMARIA LUSARDI (George Washington University) BRIGITTE C. MADRIAN (Harvard University) JOHN J. SIEGFRIED (Vanderbilt University) WILLIAM B. WALSTAD (University of Nebr

I should not have to worry that a disgruntled student will kill me, but sometimes I do...

I submitted final grades on Monday. About four hours later (my current record is ten minutes), the emails began. Some of the requests are legitimate; e.g., I hit the wrong key when entering grades in the online system so someone got a D+ who should have had a C+ (I'm sure that over the years, I've made similar errors in the other direction but funny how I never hear from those students!). Some of the requests are benign; e.g., students miscalculate what their final weighted average is so they think they have a higher grade than they received. Those are just time-consuming because I have to look up their actual score, and also use the spreadsheet I posted online for them to use to verify that they just made a mistake somewhere, but once I respond, I typically don't hear from them again. And then there are the real whiners who do not understand why they received the grade they did and have a sob story about why they 'need' a higher grade. These are the emails that

Link round-up

Here are a few links if you want to procrastinate from grading, or get inspired for next semester... 2012 Christmas Price Index : The Cost of Christmas is up 4.8% this year. Each year, PNC makes the website a little more complicated. This year, you have to go around the world to find each item. If you have a slow internet connection, I think it would be kind of frustrating (each scene seems to take a while to load, even with a decent connection) but if you just want the punchline, click on 2012 Gift Price Index in the menu along the bottom. Deck the Halls with Macro Follies : The latest video from EconStories (the guys who brought us Hayek vs. Keynes ) has Keynes and other macro forefathers explaining their theories to the tune of Christmas carols. How Economics Saved Christmas : This 2010 parody of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' is a great way to introduce externalities (hat tip to Economist Educators !). Tons of Quick Tips for Flipping Your Class : The 'flip