I believe that students learn best when they are able to build connections between economic concepts they learn in the classroom and their personal experiences in the real world. The purpose of pre-module activities (PMAs), which students complete before the first lecture of each module (unit), is to prompt the students to think about the topics that will be covered in the module through the lens of history, politics, and their every-day lives. 

The following is an update list of PMAs I developed to teach a one-semester Principles of Macroeconomics course. The first page includes a brief description of the course structure and the schedule of the activities. 

Pre-module activities for Principles of Economics (Macro)

In the second half of the Principles of Macro course, I teach students about the economics of the Great Depression and the Great Recession. The course syllabus is organized such that students will have already reviewed and practiced building-block concepts (e.g., unemployment, interest rates, inflation/deflation, fiscal and monetary policy) in earlier lectures and will be prepared to apply them in a historical context. The lectures also provide some insight into the historical context of the crises and their impact both on global economies and the field of economics. 

I developed the following lectures as the macroeconomics instructor the Summer 2020 Principles of Economics course at the Columbia Summer School.

Lecture slides on the Great Depression

Lecture slides on the Great Recession  

Written communication is one of the three most important skills (along with critical thought and data analytic skills) that a student can learn in college. While students in economic courses focus their attention on the mastery of theory, data analysis, and good coding practices, the practice of clear and efficient writing can fall to the wayside. The proliferation of AI technology and its tantalizing capabilities to generate a word-based product at the stroke of a keyboard have also made teaching students how to write effectively more challenging.

In addition to the instructor's own knowledge of their student's writing style, there are several online tools available that scan writing for indicators of AI generation. In my own work, I have relied on other teaching tools to discourage the use of AI, starting with a course-wide policy and a repeated emphasis in lecture and review sessions of the importance of learning and practicing these skills on their own. Building in scaffolding (progress) assignments throughout the semester that are more "AI-proof" and encourage students to explore topics of interest to them can also help to decrease the misuse of AI. While giving feedback on a 15-page rough draft may not be feasible in classes of a certain size, providing some opportunity for students to revise their writing reduces the stakes of having to submit the "perfect" draft the first time. Increasing points of check-in with students, including in regular office hours and in dedicated consultation sessions, also helps students to feel supported in the writing process. 

Writing assignments also need to be tailored to the student's current level. I think there is always a desire to want to do more with the students, to teach them just a bit more, to provide just one more insight. I have certainly fallen into this trap many times. We do this not out of a desire to create more work for our students but because we want them to succeed and so want to impart on them as much of our knowledge as we can while they are still under our purview. But we need to remind ourselves that students will have many opportunities to improve their writing (and their economic and data skills), and teaching them a few things well, rather than many things poorly, will create a more solid foundation as they build their experience (and leave them with better impressions of what they learned in our course). 

I have created writing assignments at three different levels: (1) introductory courses; (2) lower-level electives (these only require intro micro and macro as prereqs); and (3) upper-level electives (these require at least one or two of intermediate micro and macro and maybe also economic statistics). You can refer to these below: 

Principles of Macro (can also be adapted to Principles of Micro)

[forthcoming]

Economic Development of Japan (lower-level elective)

[forthcoming]

Economic Development of Japan (upper-level elective)

Review session slides: how to write an economics research paper

Guided problem set activity

Paper outline assignment

Econometrics (upper-level elective)  

[forthcoming]