Principles of Microeconomics Goes Online!
The first fully online course for the Department of Economics went live August 27, 2014. The Principles of Microeconomics (Econ 2001.01) was designed by Senior Lecturer Darcy Hartman, with help from Ben Scragg and others from Ohio State’s Office of Distance Education and eLearning (ODEE).
The course content is a mixture of short videotaped lectures demonstrating problem solving, additional related online material such as film and TV clips, TED Talks, music videos, articles, reading assignments, chapter guides and online group experiments. Students have weekly assignments consisting of online discussions, homework assignments, quizzes, exams and papers.
“Based on numerous student inquiries, interest in the online option seems to be high, and the course filled early,” said Hartman. “In setting up the course, my goal was to keep students engaged, utilizing a variety of sources, and encouraging interaction with me as well as fellow students.”
While most of the content is already in place, Hartman will be adding video chats each week to keep students focused on course objectives, and to assist them with issues related to technology and course material.
“It was a real challenge to make the course still feel personalized,” said Hartman. “In the end, I felt like I could apply a lot of the techniques to other courses I am teaching, especially my really large lectures.”
