Your Name: RamziSourour
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Assessement of efficiency in basic and secondary education in Tunisia: A regional analysis
Conference themes addressed: Assessment and feedback
Abstract:
We evaluate the efficiency of basic and secondary education in 24 governorates of Tunisia during the period 1999-2008 using a non-parametric approach, DEA model (Data Envelopment Analysis). We use in this analysis, four input variables constructed from the number of teacher per students, number of classes per 100 students, number of schools per inhabitants and education spending per students while the output measures include success rate of baccalaureate exam and the rate of non-doubling in the 9th year. We assess the effect of school resources on student’s achievement and performance by nine different specifications of inputs and outputs. Using frontier analysis allows us to separate governorates consideredefficient from those who need some improvement to figure in the efficiency frontier
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: TaptukEmreErkoc
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Economics of Public Higher Education in the Contemporary Age: Public Universities vs. Non-Profit Universities in Turkey
Conference themes addressed: Recent changes in higher education and the impact on economics education
Abstract:
At the course of the last decade of previous millennium, Sorbonne and Bologna Declarations (1998, 1999 respectively) as well as Lisbon Strategy (2000) had a tremendous impact on policy-making of higher education in terms of standardisation of quality of education across EU member and candidate states. Therefore, governments have supported new initiatives that have capabilities to provide cutting-edge research and education facilities to the academics and students.
Turkey -as a candidate country to join EU- is one of the leading countries to encourage non-profit entrepreneurs for opening up state-of-art universities through financial contributions and tax exemption. Eventually, more than 50 non-profit (NP) universities are operating in Turkish Higher Education alongside with public universities contemporarily. NP universities have gained huge importance in Turkish higher education sector owing to their less bureaucratic structures as well as lack of profit motive that is legally compatible for opening up a university in Turkey.
This paper investigates the challenges and obstacles faced by public higher education institutions in the 21st century. Secondly, it examines the contemporary outlook of Turkish higher education regarding to their administrative structures, financing and academic success. And eventually, the role of non-profit universities is discussed to pose the question whether they can be put forward as good substitutes for public universities in the areas where government is confronting difficulties to provide decent quality services.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: MuraliVallapureddy
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Educational Facilities and School Dropout
Conference themes addressed:
- Assessment and feedback
- Problem-based learning and case studies
Abstract: The present paper is an analysis of school drop-out in Tribal Areas in Andhra Pradesh based on both primary and secondary data at district level. Developing a very good infrastructure is a prerequisite of a good schooling system which will be make more attractive to students and help in increasing the enrolment in schools as well as improving the quality of education. The improvement in the economic status of poor families is the pre-condition far stopping dropouts in school. In the short run, the government may consider the policy option of enrolling all the children of poor families in the residential schools compulsorily. These residential schools should be run on professional excellence.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Christopher Lawton
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors: Dr Dean Garratt
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Employability for Economics Students: Using Evidence of Employer Skills Needs to Inform Teaching
Conference themes addressed:
- Developing student skills and employability
- Problem-based learning and case studies
- Linking research and teaching
Abstract: This paper will critically reflect on the authors' experiences of designing and delivering an employability module for third year economics students at Nottingham Trent University. Economic techniques and survey evidence were used to identify 'employer skills needs', which informed the learning outcomes for a group consultancy assessment. This required students to select and then apply economic theory and approaches from across their degree course to a 'real-world' problem - presented as a client's specification. This paper will also discuss definitions and applications of the term 'employability' and whether the associated skills are more usefully seen as core outcomes of an economics degree, as opposed to being taught as non-subject specific transferable skills. This discussion will be informed by student and peer feedback, given the 2012-13 delivery of this module included discipline specific economics content within an institution-wide parent module focussed on ‘transferable’ employability skills aimed at third years in all courses.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Felipe Lozano
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Higher Education Financial Instruments Compared
Conference themes addressed: Recent changes in higher education and the impact on economics education
Abstract:
After the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme in Australia in 1989, income contingency has become an important topic when addressing student support financing instruments, as fixed payments might be prohibitive for low income graduates or dropouts who have to carry the whole burden of their HE investment.
However, Income Contingent Loans as conceived by Chapman (2006) are not the only feasible income contingent instrument. Human Capital Contracts, as presented by Palacios (2004), and more recently the Graduated Payment or CuotaEscalonada system introduced in Colombia since 2012, offer different instances and degrees of income contingency.
Under an established set of assumptions this article aims to compare these different financial instruments efficiency where the underlying asset is graduate income, either collectively or individually, on financial and social variables as collection graduates and income share.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Felipe Lozano
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Human Capital Contracts in Colombia and Chile: Exercises based on HE Graduates’ Income
Conference themes addressed: Recent changes in higher education and the impact on economics education
Abstract:
Human Capital Contracts (HCC) are an option for higher education financing for students facing financial constraints, students that do not have access to other financing mechanisms, but who could use their expected future income flows as a collateral.
In this article we analyze the feasibility of its implementation in Colombia and Chile, and we explore the ability for financing different majors, using valuation model proposed by Palacios (2004) adjusted in order to include the dropout risk. In this experiment we use data on graduate income, and academic and labor market performance from Colombian and Chilean graduates.
Among the variables analyzed, those affecting most severely the contract pricing are initial after graduation wage level and graduation rates.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Ralf Becker
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Interactive Workshop
Title of session: What is class contact for?
Conference themes addressed:
- Recent changes in higher education and the impact on economics education
- Engaging and motivating students
- Teaching mathematics
- eLearning
Abstract:
What part of our teaching should happen in the classroom? The rise of MOOCS and the consideration of flipped classrooms are but two recent developments that make us question what class contact is actually good for. Or in other words, what should we do in classes that cannot be delivered in a better and more flexible way through online platforms.
The answer to these questions may well depend on the particular discipline you are teaching. My perspective is that of an econometrician. Be careful! Thinking about the above question may lead to a radical re-evaluation of your teaching practices.
In my personal practice I have radically changed what I do in tutorial/exercise classes and I and students are reasonably happy that the practice of flipped classrooms (carefully implemented) works well. The story is somewhat different though with big classes (in my case up to 300 students).
I would like to encourage participants of this workshop to think quite radically about whether we need big classes at all (for say Statistics and Econometrics course units) and if we do, what we should do in them.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Wayne Geerling
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors: G. Dirk Mateer
Type of session: Interactive Workshop
Title of session: The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Economics
Conference themes addressed:
- Engaging and motivating students
- Games, experiments and simulations
Abstract:
The presenters are currently writing a book for principles-level instructors, 1001 Tips: The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Economics, which draws on our experience teaching 30,000 students over the past decade and across two continents. It features a series of tips based on multimedia, real world examples, clicker questions, think-pair-share activities, classroom experiments and demonstrations.
This interactive workshop will draw on some of our favourite tips and is useful for graduate students (who often teach principles-level classes), young lecturers, and those who wish to master their classroom. We will demonstrate how to implement think-pair-share activities, when to use clicker questions in conjunction with content, and how media can be deployed to enhance learning. Our objective is to provide attendees with a small sample of the tools we use to transform a classroom with the hope that they will utilize many of these methods on their own.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Andrew Mearman
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors: D Webber, AIvlevs, T Rahman, G Pacheco
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Understanding student attendance in Business Schools: an exploratory study
Conference themes addressed:
- Engaging and motivating students
- Curriculum structure and content
Abstract: University teachers are often baffled that students often choose not to attend classes, as there is a sizeable literature that indicates attendance is a significant determinant of academic performance. With the use of a survey of first year students, this paper focuses specifically on the factors that affect class attendance, as measured by self-reported estimates. We find that a wide range of factors affect attendance: some of these are more immediate, such as the quality of individual teaching sessions or staff; others are less proximate and reflect underlying attitudinal or socio-economic effects. We also find that values, attitudes, and reasons for less than full attendance vary across students depending on whether they are good, average or poor attenders and that lower confidence levels may adversely affect interest and motivation, and hence attendance. This exploratory study culminates with an ordered logistic model that points to effort and accessing the virtual learning environment prior to class as the most significant drivers of increasing attendance rates.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: G. Dirk Mateer
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Marie Briguglio (University of Malta)
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Setting the Scene: Using Film to Teach Behavioural Economics
Conference themes addressed:
- Engaging and motivating students
- Curriculum structure and content
- Linking research and teaching
Abstract:
The growing application of psychological principles to economics has created an expanding literature in behavioural economics that explores how humans decide and behave in economic situations. A key theme in much of the literature is that while neo-classical assumptions of decision-making may be what is ideally required for optimal allocation of resources, these assumptions almost certainly do an imperfect job of describing actual human decision-making and behaviour. In Richard Thaler’s words, the protagonist in economic literature to date has been the “econ” agent who is narrowly self-interested, fully rational and possesses the ability to make complex decisions at the margin. The antagonist - born of behavioural economics - is a “human” agent who is somewhat challenged in its assessment of probability, myopic in decisions with delayed effects, and driven, inter-alia, by norms and emotions.
Behavioral economics, which is increasingly sophisticated and applied, has provided policy makers and businesses with a much richer toolkit to understand, and influence, humans. But even as these tools are being applied far and wide (from the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team, to Barack Obama’s electoral “Dream Team”, from the EU’s DG Sanco to marketing multinationals), ironically the very discipline that brought them to the fore is still attached to the assumption that its readers - and students - are econs! Not only is the protagonist in A-level Economics homo economicus, but the manner in which the discipline is taught assumes that the subjects belong to that same (elusive) species. And, despite some evidence that suggests that economists may be more rational than others (whether due to training or selection effects), there is no indication that they – and especially young students - are devoid of bias. We therefore propose to teach A-level economics to students as though both students and the subjects they study were “human”.
In particular, we argue that, like other humans, students recall economic content better when that content is presented as a narrative (or story) than when it is couched in abstract models. Arguably, the most evolved form of story-telling is the film. We therefore propose to teach behavioural economics through film (and other short media) sequences. In our session we hope to inspire attendees to seriously consider making behavioral economics part of A-level economics and to do so by using film clips. We will use our time to showcase some of our favorite film clips so that the audience can experience the same “aha” moments our students do when they learn this material.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Dr Paul Middleditch
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors: Will Moindrot
Type of session: Interactive Workshop
Title of session: Interaction in Lectures with Mobile Devices
Conference themes addressed:
- Recent changes in higher education and the impact on economics education
- Engaging and motivating students
- Developing student skills and employability
- Curriculum structure and content
- Assessment and feedback
- eLearning
Abstract: Will Moindrot and Paul Middleditch demonstrate the use of mobile devices to allow in class interaction delivered by ‘over web’ classroom voting technology. The talk will present evidence collected from students on how they felt the technology enhanced their learning and overall satisfaction of the taught courses in Macroeconomics at the University of Manchester. The session will also demonstrate a live interaction session for participants through their mobile phones or web enabled devices to show how the technology works in practice. We sum up with some open comments from the students on the use of ‘in lecture’ interaction and discuss how we can imbed teaching innovations such as peer interaction looking ahead. Participants will be given details and advice on how to adopt this technology themselves.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: Philip Hedges
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors: Professor Peter Urwin
Type of session: Paper
Title of session: Student Choices of Topic Areas: What Can We Learn?
Conference themes addressed:
- Engaging and motivating students
- Developing student skills and employability
- Curriculum structure and content
- Internationalisation
Abstract:
We intend to assemble and present the incidence of particular topics chosen by Economics Masters students since 2009 for their viva voce exams to understand what topics are likely to appeal to students and to suggest reasons for why these topics are popular and why some topics are never chosen by students. This information can be used to develop curriculum content.
Our Masters students are mostly international and we see their proactive choice of topic as an effective means of reflecting their particular needs and as a way of engaging/motivating them to develop their own curricula. The benefits of "self-ownership" will be explored to evaluate whether students achieve better results on average in self-chosen assessments versus more traditional prescribed assessments.
The results of this submission may be viewed at:
Your Name: DorienDoornebos-Klarenbeek
Contact email:
Names of any co-authors:
Type of session: Poster
Title of session: research on teacher education
Conference themes addressed: Linking research and teaching
Abstract:
Research on teacher education
Aim of teacher education is to train students to become economics teacher. In order to continue to develop, learn the students to do practice research. Practical research would be something ' natural ' to be what suits professorship (Van der Linden, 2012). This would be reflected in a competent teacher (De Groof et al, 2012). It's a challenge to train teachers to become competent in practice research. Until to today remains the development of the research competence ' work in progress. ' Perhaps because there is little elaborated approaches can be found in the literature. In an ideal situation would be the research competence foreseen in all parts of the curriculum: the content, didactic method and the review. Therefore, from the first year students should be familiarized with research skills (Geerdink, 2010).
From this thought is the training economy started an experiment. In the first half year, students will receive a research assignment. For is assignment students search sources, judge the reliability of sources and make a summary of the sources. Here are the skills of resources search, evaluate and summarize offered in a separate compartment and then were also practiced in other subjects. The effect of this is that students have become more effective in looking for sources, evaluating sources and refer according to APA. Also has that economic knowledge been increased. On the basis of reflections of students is made visible how students that describe their own words.