IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ireced/v46y2024ics1477388024000082.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strengthening the writing component in upper level economics electives

Author

Listed:
  • Schneider, Helen

Abstract

Writing-intensive economics courses are courses that use writing as a central feature of instruction and evaluation of students’ work. This study presents and evaluates teaching improvements on these basic structures. Using teaching evaluations data from eight public finance sections taught between Fall of 2012 and Spring of 2019, an ordered probit model estimates the value, as rated by students, of the following improvements to enhance the writing quality of student papers: (1) explicit grading rubrics; (2) funding a dedicated course specialist consultant (CSC) from the writing center; (3) engaging librarians in creating a literature review guide; (4) instructor blogging. The empirical model estimates the contribution of the improvements to the overall instructor and course evaluation ratings as well as to the writing component student ratings. Empirical results show that grading rubrics had a statistically significant positive effect on student assessments of writing component design and writing skills development. Engaging a dedicated CSC improves writing skills ratings. Instructor blogging had a statistically significant positive effect on instructor ratings while literature review guide improved course ratings. Only an expected grade had a significant positive effect on all student rated course outcomes. The goal of this paper is to provide ideas for enhancing economics content through writing.

Suggested Citation

  • Schneider, Helen, 2024. "Strengthening the writing component in upper level economics electives," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:46:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000082
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iree.2024.100290
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388024000082
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iree.2024.100290?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Avi J. Cohen & Andrea L. Williams, 2019. "Scalable, scaffolded writing assignments with online peer review in a large introductory economics course," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 371-387, October.
    2. Jill Caviglia-Harris, 2020. "Using the process approach to teach writing in economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 116-129, April.
    3. Katherine Schmeiser, 2017. "Teaching writing in economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 254-264, October.
    4. KimMarie McGoldrick, 2008. "Writing Requirements and Economic Research Opportunities in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Results from a Survey of Departmental Practices," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 287-296, July.
    5. Langbein, Laura, 2008. "Management by results: Student evaluation of faculty teaching and the mis-measurement of performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 417-428, August.
    6. Steven A. Greenlaw, 2003. "Using Writing to Enhance Student Learning in Undergraduate Economics," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 1(1), pages 61-70.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beleche, Trinidad & Fairris, David & Marks, Mindy, 2012. "Do course evaluations truly reflect student learning? Evidence from an objectively graded post-test," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 709-719.
    2. Linda Dynan & Tom Cate, 2009. "The Impact of Writing Assignments on Student Learning: Should Writing Assignments Be Structured or Unstructured?," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 8(1), pages 64-86.
    3. Grogan, Kelly A., 2017. "Will this be on the test? How exam structure affects perceptions of innovative assignments in a masters of science microeconomics course," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-8.
    4. Hall, Joshua C. & Podemska-Mikluch, Marta, 2015. "Teaching the economic way of thinking through Op-eds," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 13-21.
    5. Rieger, Matthias & Voorvelt, Katherine, 2016. "Gender, ethnicity and teaching evaluations: Evidence from mixed teaching teamsAuthor-Name: Wagner, Natascha," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 79-94.
    6. Ewing, Andrew M., 2012. "Estimating the impact of relative expected grade on student evaluations of teachers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 141-154.
    7. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2022. "Adapting the case method in an economics capstone research course," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    8. Fernando Suárez & Juan Carlos Mosquera Feijóo & Isabel Chiyón & Marcos García Alberti, 2021. "Flipped Learning in Engineering Modules Is More Than Watching Videos: The Development of Personal and Professional Skills," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Kristin Stowe, 2010. "A Quick Argument for Active Learning: The Effectiveness of One-Minute Papers," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 10(1), pages 33-39, Summer.
    10. John J. Siegfried & William B. Walstad, 2014. "Undergraduate Coursework in Economics: A Survey Perspective," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 147-158, June.
    11. Cladera, Magdalena, 2021. "Assessing the attitudes of economics students towards econometrics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    12. Benjamin Artz & David M. Welsch, 2013. "The Effect of Student Evaluations on Academic Success," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 8(1), pages 100-119, January.
    13. Joonmo Cho & Wonyoung Baek, 2019. "Identifying Factors Affecting the Quality of Teaching in Basic Science Education: Physics, Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Chemistry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-18, July.
    14. Jason E. Dowd & Michelle P. Connolly & Robert J. Thompson & Julie A. Reynolds, 2015. "Improved Reasoning in Undergraduate Writing through Structured Workshops," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 14-27, March.
    15. Hall, Thomas W. & Pierce, Bethane Jo & Tunnell, P. Larry & Walther, Larry M., 2014. "Heterogeneous student perceptions of accounting course importance and their implications for SET reporting and use," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 1-15.
    16. Maarten Goos & Anna Salomons, 2017. "Measuring teaching quality in higher education: assessing selection bias in course evaluations," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 58(4), pages 341-364, June.
    17. Mary R Hedges & Don Webber, 2012. "Using student evaluations to improve individual and department teaching qualities," Working Papers 20121205, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    18. Kiran Gajwani & Jeffrey Miron, 2015. "Engaging Undergraduates in Economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 200-206, April.
    19. Helmy, Heba E., 2016. "A lottery on the first day of classes! An innovative structured steps assignment on a partially randomly selected topic," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 41-47.
    20. Cho, Donghun & Baek, Wonyoung & Cho, Joonmo, 2015. "Why do good performing students highly rate their instructors? Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 172-179.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; teaching economics; writing; rubrics; blogging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:46:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000082. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-review-of-economics-education .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.