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Crisis? What Crisis? Teaching Economics in the Credit Crunch in the UK

Crisis? What Crisis? Teaching Economics in the Credit Crunch in the UK. Wyn Morgan University of Nottingham. Presentation to ATEC 13 th July 2009. Outline. ATEC 13 th July 2009. Crisis? What Crisis? The Crunch and UK Higher Education Impact of the Crisis on Students

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Crisis? What Crisis? Teaching Economics in the Credit Crunch in the UK

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  1. Crisis? What Crisis? Teaching Economics in the Credit Crunch in the UK Wyn Morgan University of Nottingham Presentation to ATEC 13th July 2009

  2. Outline ATEC 13th July 2009 • Crisis? What Crisis? • The Crunch and UK Higher Education • Impact of the Crisis on Students • Changing the Curriculum • Delivering with Interest • Summary

  3. 1. Crisis? What Crisis? ATEC 13th July 2009 • The long, cool summer of 2008 – a textbook series of events? • Crisis = opportunity? • Demand shifts • Keeping interest rates high • Importance of collaboration

  4. ATEC 13th July 2009 2. The Crunch and UK HE • Expansion in 1992 and 1997 • 109 HE institutions and 170,000 staff • 2.1 million students (43% participation) • Fees introduced 1998 (increased 2004) • Debt levels at average of £21,000 (NSU) • National Student Survey • Employability • Funding cuts of £300-400m

  5. ATEC 13th July 2009 3. Impact of the Crunch on Students • Freakanomicsand beyond • Rising interest at A level after decline (Fig 1) – why study economics?

  6. Figure 1: Number of Candidates Sitting A2 Level Subjects 2008 Sources: The Guardian, QCA Statistics

  7. ATEC 13th July 2009 3. Impact of the Crunch on Students • Freakanomicsand beyond • Rising interest at A level after decline (Fig 1) – why study economics? • Enrolments for university increasing (Fig 2)

  8. Figure 2: Total Acceptances: Single Hons Ug Economics Degrees Source: UCAS

  9. ATEC 13th July 2009 3. Impact of the Crunch on Students • Freakanomicsand beyond • Rising interest at A level after decline (Fig 1) – why study economics? • Enrolments for university increasing (Fig 2) • Total numbers studying has been rising (Fig 3)

  10. Figure 3: Total Numbers Studying Economics

  11. ATEC 13th July 2009 3. Impact of the Crunch on Students • Freakanomicsand beyond • Rising interest at A level after decline (Fig 1) – why study economics? • Enrolments for university increasing (Fig 2) • Total numbers studying has been rising (Fig 3) • Applications rising • 12% 2007 to 2008 • 15% 2008 to 2009

  12. ATEC 13th July 2009 4. Changing the Curriculum • Two main questions to be addressed: • Does the curriculum help students understand the crisis and maintain interest? • Does the curriculum deliver skills for employability post crisis? • Answer will vary from department to department but the process of tackling them is valuable in itself

  13. ATEC 13th July 2009 • Does the curriculum maintain student interest by helping them understand the crisis? “There is no shortage of stars of yesteryear but economics today is down a blind alley” Elliott (2009) “The big divide in economics is …. between those who are interested in looking at the world as it is and those who are interested in how it would be if it conformed to the dictates of their mathematical models” Elliott (2009) “..the Nobel prize winners had known plenty of mathematics but not enough history” Ferguson (2008)

  14. ATEC 13th July 2009 • Features to explain: zero interest rates, commodity price spikes, loans from the IMF, bank runs, asset bubbles etc – nothing new! • How do we address these? • Macro debates appear “settled” so..... • Reinvigorate economic history…. • ….with development of economic thought • Maintain core theory of course! • The role of behavioural economics in core? • Session 3 for more answers.....

  15. ATEC 13th July 2009 Does the curriculum deliver skills for employability? • Debt is a key concern thus return on investment is vital • Females do better than males (Fig 4)

  16. Figure 4: Premium of a Degree over Two A levels Source: Y. Zhu ( University of Kent), based on data in the Labour Force Survey, HMSO, 2007.

  17. ATEC 13th July 2009 Does the curriculum deliver skills for employability? • Debt is a key concern thus return on investment is vital • Females do better than males (Fig 4) • Employers’ views: • - Government Economic Service • - Subject benchmarks • Royal Economics Society and Economics Network survey • Making skills explicit is much higher on the agenda • Session Two will explore this more.....

  18. ATEC 13th July 2009 5. Delivering with Interest • Pressure of time with “the expert” and contact hours • Use of “case studies” for: • Beginning lectures

  19. Application “Councils chew over gum problems” BBC website 16th January 2006 • Its costs 3p to buy a stick of chewing gum but 10p to remove it from the streets. Oxford Street has 300,000 pieces a year • 20 local councils banded together to ask for financial help to deal with the problem • The pressure is on manufacturers to produce a non-sticky gum • Will this solve the problem and who pays?

  20. ATEC 13th July 2009 5. Delivering with Interest • Pressure of time with “the expert” and contact hours • Creation of case studies for: • Beginning lectures • Making use of classroom response systems

  21. ATEC 13th July 2009 5. Delivering with Interest • Pressure of time with “the expert” and contact hours • Creation of case studies for: • Beginning lectures • Making use of classroom response systems • Problem based learning in classes

  22. ATEC 13th July 2009 • Forsythe (2002) highlights the benefits of PBL: • fosters a deeper approach to learning • promotes more versatile studying methods • students more likely to use library/resources to study • develops greater knowledge retention and recall skills • students tend to exhibit stronger knowledge application skills • appears to be a very satisfying method of teaching

  23. ATEC 13th July 2009 5. Delivering with Interest • Pressure of time with “the expert” and contact hours • Creation of case studies for: • Beginning lectures • Making use of classroom response systems • Problem based learning in classes • Recognition of differing abilities

  24. ATEC 13th July 2009 • Mathematics is still a challenge • METAL project resources • Embedding Threshold Concepts (etc) • The Study Economics website • Session Four continues these ideas......

  25. ATEC 13th July 2009 5. Delivering with Interest • Pressure of time with “the expert” and contact hours • Creation of case studies for: • Beginning lectures • Making use of classroom response systems • Problem based learning in classes • Recognition of differing abilities (Session Five) • Use of new technologies (e-learning)

  26. ATEC 13th July 2009 • Students engage with the world through technologies so utilising them to teach is key: • Web 2.0 technologies such as Blogs, Wikis, Social networks, Twitter, Discussion boards • Video e.g. YouTube or Lecture capture • Rich media learning objects (Xerte) • Sharing resources through open courseware (OER) • Virtual worlds • More discussion in Session Six..........

  27. Teaching Arabic: LSRI

  28. ATEC 13th July 2009 6. Summary • Economics is in rude health • Questions asked though of appropriateness of curricula for current times • Opportunity to capitalise on interest by reviewing what we do and how we do it – but NOTdumbing down • We have a challenge to explain what is going on……..

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