As an instructor, when teaching economics, I believe it is essential to let students master the knowledge and develop critical thinking abilities. To achieve these two goals, here are some principles I always keep in mind when I am teaching:
Make the courses meaningful
When I was working as a teaching assistant, I heard students complain that after taking the course for more than half a semester, they still did not know the value of the course and thought it was useless. These comments prompted me to think about how to tell my students the value of economics if I were a teacher. At the beginning of the first lecture, I spend a little time on why the students need to learn the course. It is not always clear to the students, especially for some freshmen or sophomores. I believe economics is a powerful tool for understanding and analyzing the world. I can give this faith to my students via my lectures, assignments, and the learning activities I design for my course.
Relate theories to the real world
As a social science, economics is a set of theories that come from the phenomena in the real world, and it can and should be applied to explain and solve the issues in the real world. Students sometimes feel that the theories are hard to understand. When that happens, I use examples in my lectures, assignments, quizzes, and exams to show the connection between theories and human behaviors. I hope this can give students a deeper understanding of economics and, like I mentioned above, show students the power of economics.
Make the student-centered course effective
Sometimes, it is not easy to make students participate in the class because the instructors have to cover many course materials in a limited time; instead of interacting more with students, they choose to lecture from the beginning to the end. However, research has implied that numerous techniques that I learned from the COGNATE courses can be used to improve teaching and learning. I use these techniques in my class when I have different class sizes, learning objectives, and students’ feedback. For example, if I have a small class, having more discussions is good to let every student have an opportunity to express their opinion, but, for a large class, instead of discussions, I can use techniques like a one-sentence summary or muddiest point to know if they get the core of the lecture or where they feel confused. Implementing these techniques can let me know how to help my students better, provide me with valuable information on improving my teaching, and push me to be a better teacher.
Give feedback to students effectively and on time
In active learning, the instructor is a helper and a guide, which makes feedback important. When I teach, I give feedback to students on time because this is an excellent way to communicate with them. From the feedback, I can understand what makes students confused, encourage students who feel frustrated in learning, and collect information that can be used to improve my teaching in the future.