A MOOC on "An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching" is starting next week which, the title notwithstanding, should be a great opportunity for instructors in ALL disciplines to learn more about effective pedagogies. To make participation even more useful for us economists, Scott Simkins is investigating forming a learning community of economists who could meet online weekly to discuss each week's topics, as well as discuss asynchronously. If you are interested in joining the group, go enroll in the course and then fill out the form here to indicate your availability for the weekly meetings (note that this isn't committing you to anything in stone at this point but if you think you might be interested, it would help Scott a lot to know). Hope to see you online!
By now, you may have heard about the biology professor at Louisiana State (Baton Rouge) who was removed from teaching an intro course where "more than 90 percent of the students... were failing or had dropped the class." The majority of the comments on the Inside Higher Ed story about it are supportive of the professor, particularly given that it seems like the administration did not even talk to her about the situation before acting. I tend to fall in the "there's got to be more to the story so I'll reserve judgment" camp but the story definitely struck a nerve with me, partly because I recently spent 30 minutes "debating" with a student about whether the last midterm was "too hard" and the whole conversation was super-frustrating. To give some background: I give three midterms and a cumulative final, plus have clicker points and Aplia assignments that make up about 20% of the final grade. I do not curve individual exams but will cu...
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