The topic of the Federal Reserve's (the Fed's) implementation of monetary policy has a significant presence in economics textbooks. Unfortunately, as the Fed purposefully shifted the way it implements monetary policy to an environment with ample reserves in the banking system, many textbooks have not kept up. The authors walk through the key…

Film and video clips have been used in the classroom to bring economic concepts to life. The authors use the 2015 film "Joy" to animate Joseph Schumpeter's "The Theory of Economic Development," a foundational text on the theory of innovation and entrepreneurship that remains relevant for students today. They outline…

Students of introductory economics are often able to predict changes in equilibrium price correctly on standardized assessments, but make consistent errors in predicting changes in equilibrium quantity. To examine the reasons for this pattern, the authors collected open-ended explanations written by students and categorized their reasoning using a…

In this article, the authors describe a classroom experiment on exchange rates appropriate for undergraduate courses in macroeconomics, international economics, and money and banking. Student teams compete by managing virtual portfolios of six foreign currencies over a period of several weeks. Trading requires a few minutes in class. Students gain…

The author of this article provides a framework for using readings outside of the textbook to increase engagement with topics in labor economics, to aid in the development of research skills, and prepare students to create a scholarly research proposal. The outside readings used in this course are academic journal articles. The students are…

The author of this article presents an innovative economics course based on current events and news, using "The Economist" as the primary course text. The course constructs shared learning around news in real time to inspire and excite students' ability to see economics in their world. The course supports Allgood and Bayer's…

The present study examines university students' acceptance of e-learning according to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). We also investigate the influence of external factors, including self-efficacy with digital media, self-regulated learning, prior experience, and affinity for technology, to extend the model with valid individual factors.…

Most courses are taught almost exclusively using lecture and, despite gaps in textbook coverage of empirical economics, do not incorporate academic readings. The authors of this article present a "jigsaw literature review" cooperative learning activity to address these shortfalls. The jigsaw guides students through formulating a position…

Learning to take effective notes is particularly difficult for non-English-native university students enrolled on English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses. However, time and cost constraints mean that many universities provide no support in English for academic purposes or academic skills. One solution to this problem would be to work closely with…

The presentation of economics in introductory courses has been highlighted as potentially exacerbating the underrepresentation of women in economics. The authors study the impact of a gender-neutral change in content and instruction in introductory economics courses intended to increase student engagement. By implementing meaningful applied…

Undergraduate degrees awarded in economics by U.S. colleges and universities were stagnant from 2010 (2009-2010) through 2013, increased rapidly (almost 14 percent) over the 2 years from 2013 through 2015, but have subsequently leveled off from 2016 through 2019.

In this study, the authors investigate the impact of the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) on student learning outcomes in principles of microeconomics classes. The IF-AT enables students to receive immediate feedback and to retry questions for partial credit. The authors use a randomized experiment to evaluate the effect of the…

"Doing economics" is an important theme of undergraduate economics programs. Capstone courses increasingly include instruction in "data literacy" and the STEM-related skills of quantitative and empirical methods. Because the professional discipline has moved in this direction and because of greater employer demand for these…

Based on a qualitative study of school-to-university transition focused on working-class first-generation university students, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, it illustrates the multiple intertwining dimensions of the process of moving from school to university within an 'open-door' admission policy context such as the Italian one.…

Millennial students, shaped by the rapid change in technology and connectivity, pose a challenge in devising new teaching and learning pedagogies. The team-based learning (TBL) approach has been used in several disciplines and is indicated as an effective way to use active learning techniques to help students improve their academic performance.…