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Economics UPDATE
The monthly Economics LTSN Email Newsletter
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05 April 2004

Welcome to the Economics LTSN 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
 Alumni Survey

2. NOTICEBOARD
 Economics Student Survey 2004
 New Extended Case Study

3. IDEAS
 Innovative Courses

4. AND FINALLY.....
 Interactive Data

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1. WHAT'S NEW
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ALUMNI SURVEY
As part of research into learning, teaching and employability Economics
LTSN is conducting an Alumni Survey. If you have contacts with your former
students we would be grateful if you could please email the following
information to them:

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Dear Economics graduate

Re: Alumni Survey: Your views wanted!

The Economics Subject Centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network
(Economics LTSN) is seeking your help to obtain valuable information about
the knowledge and skills you acquired at university and their relevance to
your job and career. Our Alumni Survey is part of an ongoing research
project into learning and teaching and employability in Economics HE. The
survey results will help us better understand the links between curriculum,
learning experiences and career outcomes.  The aggregated results will be
available on our Web site and we hope will enhance future students
experiences. We appreciate the time you give to provide Economics LTSN with
information about your experiences learning Economics in the HE UK. Please,
complete the online questionnaire at:
http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ltsn/alumni

You can complete the survey anonymously. It consists of 3 sections and
should take around 10 minutes to complete. We are offering three prizes of
GBP50 book vouchers. The winner will be selected at random for those
completing the survey and opting to take part in the draw.

Thank you.

If you have any questions please contact:
Dr Inna Pomorina, Research Officer, Economics LTSN
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: (0117) 9287163
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2.  NOTICEBOARD
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ECONOMICS STUDENT SURVEY 2004
Economics LTSN is running its second national economics student survey from
23rd March until 8th May. Please encourage your students to take part.
There are five prizes of GBP50 book vouchers to be given to randomly chosen
participants:
http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/survey/student.htm

NEW EXTENDED CASE STUDY
Teaching of Economics to European Studies & Language Students
http://www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/showcase/brouwer_area.htm


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3.  IDEAS
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INNOVATIVE COURSES
Faced with a big drop in science students, some universities have devised
innovative courses including a degree with no exams at all:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/virtualfairs/story/0,12854,1161282,00.html


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4.  AND FINALLY...
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INTERACTIVE DATA
Aiming to "make data on world development understandable, enjoyable and
free", Gapminder offers some interesting interactive uses of technology to
humanise economic data. These include "Dollar Street", in which you tour
homes that are representative of various incomes, as well as several
colourful interactive graphs of health, income and education. You may need
to approve download of the latest version of the Shockwave plug-in for
parts of the site to work:
http://gapminder.org/


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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 LTSN
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel.:(0117) 928 7071