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Economics UPDATE
The monthly Economics Network Email Newsletter
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02 August 2004
Welcome to the Economics Network Email Newsletter. This newsletter is
intended to inform ECON-LTSN subscribers about our activities and to
provide other information that may be of interest. Economics UPDATE will be
distributed on the first Monday of each calendar month.
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CONTENTS
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1. WHAT'S NEW
Learning and Teaching Awards 2004 Results
Mini Projects
New Case Study: Tennis Balls in Economics
2. NOTICEBOARD
The Economics Network
3. AND FINALLY.....
Happiness Makes The World Go Round
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1. WHAT'S NEW
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LEARNING AND TEACHING AWARDS 2004 RESULTS
The winners of the fourth annual Learning and Teaching in Economics Awards
have been announced. The awards, organised by the Economics Network of the
HE Academy, aim to recognise and reward exemplary practice from within the
academic economics community. A number of nominations were received across
the categories of Outstanding Teaching and Student Nominated. Both judging
panels were very impressed with the high quality of nominating statements.
Prof. Nancy Devlin of City University has been awarded the Outstanding
Teaching prize. The panel also awarded two special commendations to Dr.
Laurence Lasselle of the University of St. Andrews and Dr. Don Webber of
the University of the West of England.
The judging panel for the Student Nominated Award chose Dr. Nigel Duck from
Bristol University as the overall winner.
Further details, including comments from the judging panels can be found at:
http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/awards/
MINI PROJECTS
The Economics Network is funding small projects to address the development,
implementation and evaluation of innovative approaches to teaching,
learning and assessment in economics Higher Education.
The scheme is aimed at academics wanting to develop and evaluate new
approaches to their teaching practices. The judging panel has considered
all applications for mini-project grants for 2004/5 and agreed to award
funding to five bids. Details are available at:
http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/projects/mini.htm
The Network will be announcing a further call for projects in Easter 2005.
NEW CASE STUDY: TENNIS BALLS IN ECONOMICS
‘This experiment teaches the concept of diminishing marginal returns using
simple equipment and with students as interacting participants. Their
participation leads to the discovery of the concept in the course of the
experiment. At the beginning of an experiment, students are told that they
are part of the inputs required to generate a factory's short-run
production function. Equipment used includes two buckets, a number of
tennis balls and a whiteboard (or an OHP or a computer connected to a data-
show) to record results of the exercise. Practical experience has
demonstrated this setup works equally well in small classes (less than 30
students) and also large lectures (more than 250 students). This feature of
the game appears to differentiate it from many others.’
http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/showcase/hedges_tennis.htm
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2. NOTICEBOARD
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THE ECONOMICS NETWORK
The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) became part of the new
Higher Education Academy on 30th April 2004. The Academy has been
established by the four UK funding councils following recommendations made
in a report by the Teaching Quality Enhancement Committee (TQEC). Its remit
will extend beyond learning and teaching to include all aspects of the
student experience.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/
All 24 LTSN subject centres have been incorporated into the Academy
together with the Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILTHE) and the
National Co-ordination Team (NCT). As a result of these changes Economics
LTSN will now be know as The Economics Network of the Higher Education
Academy or Economics Network for short. We will continue to provide our
community with a range of high quality resources and services.
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3. AND FINALLY...
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HAPPINESS MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND
If money can't buy you happiness, as moralists keep telling us, why do the
well off look so pleased with themselves? It is because they are happy in
the first place claim a pair of economists:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,9865,1269439,00.html
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CONTACT US
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If you have any suggestions, feedback or comments please contact:
Bhagesh Sachania
Information Officer, Economics Network
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel.:(0117) 928 7071
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