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Economics UPDATE
The monthly Economics Network Email Newsletter
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3rd October 2005
Welcome to UPDATE 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
ExcelAssess: Free software for Excel Assessments
New Teaching Case Study
2. NOTICEBOARD
National Lecturer Survey
Mini Projects 2005/2006
Biz/ed Podcasting Service
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1. WHAT'S NEW
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EXCELASSESS: FREE SOFTWARE FOR EXCEL ASSESSMENTS
We are pleased to announce the release of ExcelAssess, a free package for
Windows that allows you to administer self-marking exams in Excel.
David Whigham and John Houston of Glasgow Caledonian University have, over
several years, created a library of questions in Excel skills, statistics,
basic mathematics and economics. This system won one of our Electronic
Resource Awards. We have now created an easy-to-use front end which allows
you to assemble questions from this library into exams with an aggregated
marks sheet. You have full control over the weighting given to different
questions.
Documentation, screenshots and download information are available at:
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/xlss/
NEW TEACHING CASE STUDY
The Economics Class Blog: An Alternative Course Management System
Tim Kochanski of the University of Alaska Southeast gives a non-technical
explanation of how he uses the free service Blogger to distribute course
information and files to his Economics students as well as answering their
questions.
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/showcase/kochanski_blog.htm
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2. NOTICEBOARD
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NATIONAL LECTURER SURVEY
Earlier this year we conducted our National Survey of Economics lecturers.
One hundred and eighty five respondents from 65 institutions completed the
survey. The questions were centred round three themes: perceptions of
relations between teaching and research; use of technology in teaching
Economics; and change in the teaching practice in the last two years. A full
report of the survey results is currently in preparation and will be
available on our website later this year. Some of the key findings included:
*17.8% believe that research doesn't play any role in teaching, while the
majority of 82.2% think that it plays a positive role.
*At the same time the attitudes of the respondents were less positive when
we asked them what role teaching plays in their research. 5.4% pointed to
the negative role of teaching, 36.7% presume that it doesn't play any role,
but the majority of 57.9% still agreed that the role of teaching in research
is positive.
Answers to the questions were supported by the comments of the respondents
on how teaching and research influence each other.
(Dr. Inna Pomorina, Research Officer, Economics Network. Email:
[log in to unmask])
MINI PROJECTS 2005/2006
The Economics Network is continuing to fund 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 agreed to award funding to
the following bids for the 2005/2006 period:
Project Title: Identifying and Implementing a Strategy for Embedding
Sustainability and Sustainable Development into the Economics Curriculum at
Coventry University
Project Leaders: Shinder S. Thandi and Mike Rosser, Coventry University
Project Title: Using Personal Development Plans (PDP) to Aid the Student's
Self-Evaluation of their Understanding of Economics
Project Leader: David Allen, University of the West of England
Project Title: Developing Reusable Learning Objects in Economics
Project Leader: Guglielmo Volpe, London Metropolitan University
Project Title: Embedding PBL and Critical Skill Development in the Curriculum
Project Leaders: Guglielmo Volpe and John Sedgwick, London Metropolitan
University
Project Title: Writing for Economists - Embedding the Development of Writing
Skills in Economics Courses
Project Leaders: Margaret Bray and Jonathan Leape, London School of
Economics and Political Science
Project Title: Skills for Enterprise
Project Leaders: Liz Barnett and Fiona Sandford, London School of Economics
and Political Science
Project Title: Plagiarism and the Internet - A Marriage Made in Heaven or hell?
Project Leader: Paul Dowdall, University of the West of England
BIZ/ED PODCASTING SERVICE
Biz/ed has recently launched a podcasting service, based on its popular ‘In
the News’ feature. ‘In the News’ is a regular comment on a topical issue
from a business and economics viewpoint. Selected items will be turned into
podcasts on a weekly basis, which students and educators will then be able
to download and listen to at their leisure.
If you're new to podcasting, Biz/ed have produced some help pages, and will
be on hand to answer your queries. They are also very interested in feedback
from educators on their experience of using the podcasts:
http://www.bized.ac.uk/homeinfo/podcasting.htm
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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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