The purpose of Online Principles of Economics is to teach basic, essential economic concepts and expose students to the analytical tools, debates and applications of economics.
The course contains two parts:
In each module, there are lectures, a discussion question, and two quizzes (one for practice and one that will be graded).
Introduction to Online Study
Perhaps the biggest difference between an online course and a traditional course is the absence of an oral lecture, which is replaced in the web‐based format by lecture notes, voice-over PowerPoint presentations and online discussion boards. The student’s interaction with the instructor is also different. For instance, in a traditional class a student can raise his or her hand to ask a question. That dynamic is replicated in the online format via office hours hosted in a real‐time chat room, through email exchanges or posting on the discussion boards.
While an online course is structured differently than a traditional face‐to‐face course, the format affords additional opportunities for active learning. For instance, the exercise of composing well‐written answers to weekly discussion board questions can foster deeper analysis than in‐class discussion. An online course also lends itself to frequent formative testing, so that the student has more feedback about his or her progress throughout the course. And because the online system will grade the practice quizzes automatically, the feedback to you will be immediate. In the case of the graded quizzes, you will usually learn the results within a few hours after the quiz period ends.
Course Methodology
The course is organized into weekly modules. Lecture notes in this course will be provided in the form of narrated PowerPoint presentations, which highlight essential textbook content. They also provide a first test of your comprehension of the material.
This course will employ a variety of assessments. First, there will be weekly multiple‐choice practice quizzes. Second, there will be weekly multiple‐choice graded quizzes. Third, there will be discussion questions, for which you will both make your own contribution and critique your fellow students’ responses. Finally, there will be a midterm and a final exam containing a combination of multiple‐choice and short‐answer questions.
A typical week in the Online Principles of Economics course will involve the following: