https://hdl.handle.net/2123/195 Innovation for Student Engagement in Economics 2026-06-09T23:53:57Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/200 Securing participation: Experiments in a one-day introduction to economics Geller, Chris Classroom experiments and exercises served as a one-day introduction to economics for students who felt insecure about taking first-year business classes. The first experiment addresses demand in isolation, while the second addresses supply. Supply, demand and equilibrium are integrated in a pit market in which all students have equal expected profits. A monopoly pricing exercise addresses market failure. Exercises use many incremental questions to reveal principles of microeconomics. Evaluations show that at the end of the program, students were familiar with economic results and concepts, and were more comfortable with taking economics. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/197 An introduction to eRoadmapping: Providing learning paths for students and empowering teachers Carr, Rodney; Graham, Mary; Hellier, Phil; Scarborough, Helen This paper reports on the development of an innovative teaching strategy: an eRoadmap. Based on the theory of conceptual mapping, the eRoadmap provides an interactive, hierarchical structure for course delivery, using the readily accessible platform provided by Microsoft PowerPoint. For the student, the eRoadmap provides a self-paced learning environment which encourages student engagement; for the teacher, it provides an environment for the development of a course framework, and the integration of teaching materials from a variety of sources. Further advantages of the eRoadmap from the perspectives of both students and teachers are discussed, and future directions for development, evaluation and research are outlined. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/199 Promoting interactive in-class learning environments: A comparison of an electronic response system with a traditional alternative Freeman, Mark; Blayney, Paul Improved achievement and satisfaction arise when classes are made interactive (Hake 1998). Elliot (2003) reports positive results when an electronic response system is introduced in a microeconomics course, but recognises confounding due to the simultaneous introduction of interactive methods. In a larger study, Draper and Brown (2004) conclude that any novelty effect is short term, and that designing for interaction is crucial. We explore the use of handheld keypads against a show of hands in accounting classes already designed for interaction. Response method alone is changed in each class, alternating between the electronic system and a show of hands. A significant preference for the former continues to exist, suggesting that the technology affords an additional incentive to engage, interact and understand. Anonymity is explored as a plausible explanation. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/198 Notes toward a simplified pedagogy of oligopoly theory Cheung, Stephen L. The standard exposition of duopoly in most intermediate microeconomics texts relies heavily on simplifying assumptions of linearity, yet it remains algebraically somewhat dense. In this note, I outline an alternative graphical approach that makes use of the same assumptions, but which may be more transparent to students with limited mathematical backgrounds. I apply this approach to developing quantity best-response functions in the Cournot model, the effective demand function facing a Stackelberg leader, and the price best-response functions in the differentiated-products Bertrand model. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/201 Introductory microeconomics students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a collaborative learning method Gleeson, Anne; McDonald, John; Williams, Joe The paper analyses student perceptions of a collaborative learning method used in first-year microeconomics tutorials at Flinders University. Questionnaire responses indicate that a clear majority of students saw social, learning, and skill development advantages in the collaborative approach, as against the traditional tutor-led tutorials they had experienced. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/203 Cheap, dirty (and effective) in-class experiments Martin, Richard This paper describes a series of five in-class experiments run in a third-year industrial organisation course. A description is given of how these experiments can be run informally in a classroom without computers, while still maintaining a reasonable level of control. Each experiment involves an anonymous five-round ‘round-robin’ tournament. Thus, students play a total of 5 × 5 = 25 games, and are unaware of who they are playing in any particular game. The five games are: Bertrand price competition, Cournot quantity competition, an ultimatum vs. a dictator game, sealed-bid auctions, and a limit quantity model. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/208 Lessons to be learned from using Gertner’s game of Cournot oligopoly in the classroom Voola, Jo; Giles, Margaret Since the early 1990s, economics departments at Australian universities have become increasingly concerned with falling undergraduate enrolments. This follows concerns by students regarding the relevance of economics courses both in content and delivery to their future occupations and incomes. It is also a result of competition from the more generic business and marketing courses that have been introduced in many commerce faculties. Together with the broader goal of universities to produce employable, well-rounded graduates, the attrition of economics undergraduates has steered attention within undergraduate economics classes to experimenting with a wide range of teaching tools. One such tool introduced by the authors in a second-year competition and business strategies unit in 2004 – a tutorial game on Cournot interdependence – is described in this paper 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/207 Economics students’ perceptions of their learning context Tang, Tommy; Robinson, Tim Since the late 1960s, economics educators have carried out many research studies designed to explain variations in learning outcomes in economics. Most of these have utilised the input-output approach. Underpinning this approach is the assumption that there is a direct connection between learning inputs and learning output. However, the results obtained in these studies have mostly been found to be inconsistent. This paper argues for a re-focusing of research on the process of learning in economics. It reports on the development of an instrument to measure economics students’ perceptions of key elements of their learning context. Confirmatory factor analysis validates a four-factor model. Differences in students’ perceptions of three economics units in this study will also be discussed. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/205 Multimodal design for hybrid learning materials in a second-level economics course Sankey, Michael; St Hill, Rod In 2003 the University of Southern Queensland announced that, owing to cost and demand pressures, student learning materials would be progressively migrated to a ‘hybrid’ model, the centrepiece of which was to be a resource-rich CD-ROM. This was to be supplemented, where appropriate, with print and online material. One of the first courses in the Faculty of Business to be converted was ECO2000 Macroeconomics for Business and Government. In this paper, the pedagogical underpinnings of the hybrid model are outlined, and its application to ECO2000 is discussed. Results of surveys of students and assessment outcomes are also discussed. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/206 Teaching political economy: Curriculum and pedagogy Stilwell, Frank The teaching of political economy offers an alternative, and a challenge, to conventional economics education. Its emphasis on the competing currents of economic thought, and their association with rival political philosophies, adds complexity to the subject. However, this engagement with controversial issues creates more intellectual excitement than a narrow, ‘technical’ treatment of orthodox economic analysis. There is also more scope for students to link their own personal experiences with the broader concerns of political economy. The competing ‘schools of thought’ approach in political economy provides opportunities for students to debate controversial issues. Significant challenges remain: whether to adopt a ‘problem-oriented’ or ‘system-oriented’ approach, a historical or contemporary perspective, a heterodox economics approach or a broader interdisciplinary approach, and how to avoid the need for ‘suspension of disbelief’ in studying competing economic theories. Careful consideration of the relationship between curriculum and pedagogy is needed. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/204 The double paradox of elementary economics education Pol, Eduardo; Carroll, Peter Elementary economics textbooks have become less attractive to students requiring only an introduction to economics, given that their content is pervaded by mathematical diagrams and simple equations. Also they are of relatively little value to those interested in, for example, attempting to gain an understanding of the New Economy, for they rarely emphasise business innovation and its crucial dynamic role. These factors engender something of a double paradox. First, the paradox of the tools and the audience, newcomers are frequently ‘turned off’ by existing economics textbooks, due to the pervasive use of mathematics. Second, the paradox of the content and the relevance, those newcomers who are not initially turned off tend to be disenchanted with economics because they perceive that economics is of little use in understanding the New Economy in which they work, or will come to work. We suggest an integrated solution to both paradoxes. The implementation entails a minor reorientation of the traditional pedagogical strategy for teaching introductory economics. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/202 Approaches to economics education Jackson, Michael; Ross, Russell In these pages we argue that economics has much to learn from recent advances in knowledge of how students approach learning. If we influence how students approach learning we can increase their conceptual growth and change. If we set aside the commonly used administrative approach to teaching in favour of one that concentrates on managing students’ perceptions and experiences we can make this progress. To make this argument we review the administrative approach to teaching, make a distinction between surface and deep approaches to learning, and then review key research on objectives of a course, and factors such as assignments, workload, and teaching methods. The conclusion is that teaching approaches that lead students to deep approaches to learning are essential to economics. 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z