Title: Preparing Graduate Students in Economics for Teaching: Survey Findings and Recommendations
Abstract: Abstract Survey data from PhD-granting economics departments are used to assess the teaching preparation of graduate students in economics. The results show that relatively few departments require graduate student instructors to take a credit course in teaching before teaching their own course or leading a recitation section. Although more graduate student instructors are required to take a noncredit course in teaching before serving as an instructor or recitation leader, the value of such noncredit courses may be limited. The assessment of teaching preparation by department chairs shows mixed responses, with about three-fifths rating it as very good or good and about two-fifths considering it to be only adequate or poor. Recommendations are offered for improving the teaching preparation of graduate student instructors in economics. Keywords: economics departmentsgraduate educationgraduate student instructorsteacher preparationJEL codes: A22A23 Acknowledgments William B. Walstad is a professor of economics at University of Nebraska–Lincoln (e-mail: [email protected]). William E. Becker is a professor of economics at Indiana University, Bloomington; an adjunct professor of commerce at University of South Australia; and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany (e-mail: [email protected]). Notes 1. The work to prepare a valid 2002 survey was extensive. It was reviewed by two members of the American Economic Association's Committee on Economic Education and several economists with broad experience in survey work and the teaching preparation of economics graduate students. The survey underwent five revisions by the authors to clarify items before it was sent to department chairs via regular mail in mid-August of 2002. The results from 2002 showed that the survey measure was capable of collecting useful information data (Walstad and Becker 2003 Walstad, W. B. and Becker, W. E. 2003. The instructional use and teaching preparation of graduate students in U.S. Ph.D.-granting economics departments. American Economic Review, 93: 449–54. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The same survey was used in 2008 based on its prior success and an assessment that no content changes were needed for 2008. 2. The rankings of published research are based on a study by Grijalva and Nowell (2008) Grijalva, T. C. and Nowell, C. 2008. A guide to graduate study in economics: Ranking economics departments by fields of expertise. Southern Economic Journal, 74: 971–96. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], with their department list divided into thirds: top (1–43); middle (44–86), and bottom (87–129). Although their list contains 129 departments and the American Economic Association's list contains 123, the discrepancies are minor and are all in the bottom category. Accordingly, the size of this bottom group was reduced from 43 to 37 in the calculation of its response rate. 3. There also are differences among all 81 PhD economics departments that were surveyed that go beyond the reported grouping by ranks. Four departments do not use any graduate students to assist professors with their teaching. Twenty-two departments do not have graduate students lead recitation sections. Seven departments do not allow graduate students to teach their own courses. 4. The largest number of these teaching courses were found at the middle third of ranked departments (n = 14), followed by the upper third (n = 7), and the lower third (n = 4). 5. There was some overlap in the two types. At six institutions, a credit course was offered by both the economics department and an education unit on campus. 6. There was some overlap in the two types. At 13 institutions, a noncredit course was offered by both the economics department and an education unit on campus. 7. There were minimal differences in these ratings across departments based on their rankings. 8. Although the data show an increase in percentages from 2002 to 2008 for departments requiring a credit course in teaching before serving as a course instructor or recitation leader, the starting base in 2002 is low, and it is still the case that less than one third of departments requires such teaching preparation. 9. Another approach to developing the teaching expertise of economists would be to focus on economics faculty members who are currently teaching in their academic positions. The history and experience with such workshop programs show that they are beneficial and appreciated by economics faculty members who attend them (e.g., Goodman, Maier, and Moore 2003 Goodman, R. B., Maier, M. and Moore, R. L. 2003. Regional workshops to improve the teaching skills of economics faculty. American Economic Review, 93: 460–62. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Teaching Innovations Program at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA/AEACEE/TIP/TIP.htm). These programs, however, may not be widely available, and the voluntary enrollment means that the faculty members who need to develop more teaching expertise may decide not to attend.
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-03-26
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 20
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