B2. Statement of Teaching Interests and Philosophy
Judith A Clarke
I view teaching as an opportunity to inspire and empower students in econometrics, as I was inspired as an undergraduate. Most students take econometrics courses as a requirement for the completion of their degrees, particularly at the upper undergraduate level and the first-year graduate level. Their view, it often seems, is that econometrics is not relevant to understanding the workings of the economy. A compounding difficulty is that econometrics involves a large amount of statistics, which is often fear-producing. As a teacher, it is my goal to transform this view, as well as to reduce, if not eliminate, their fear of the statistical tools we use in our endeavours. I aim to assist students in becoming: Reflective practitioners, who will know which questions to ask about the econometric problem at hand, creatively consider approaches that might be useful, examine assumptions about the techniques, assess their data and research critically, and know how they can learn for themselves that which they do not already know about the problem at hand. Effective communicators, who can organize their thoughts, apply reason to an issue, and can write and speak effectively on the issue under study. I recognize four basic principles in my desire to achieve these objectives: There are several, equally important, levels of learning. The amount of learning critically depends on the amount and type of student participation. The achievement of each dimension of learning requires careful attention to assessment techniques. Some students learn differently than me, and all students are capable of learning material without me. My objectives and these principles guide me in my teaching practices and in my goals for my development as a teacher. In order to ensure that I am meeting both the needs of the students and to be consistent with my teaching philosophy, I use a wide variety of teaching methodologies. Lectures impart knowledge of the building tools needed to successfully undertake an econometric study. I incorporate real-world applications of the tools with examples from the popular press, the academic literature and authentic problems that I know students would address with econometric tools in future careers. Demonstration is a powerful teaching tool and so I often use my laptop so that we can “work” through a problem using econometrics software. This has the additional advantage of showing students how to use the software, as well as imparting knowledge on methods of inquiry. Weekly computer laboratory sessions provide additional practice of the tools and enable students to discover their strengths and the areas in which they need further work on, either in understanding of the material or in the adopted mode of inquiry. I personally take laboratory sessions for my graduate courses. In the graduate time-series course and the applied econometric modelling course, I use project-based learning and assessment, rather than formal examinations. I encourage the students to use me as their guide on the journey from the development of a project idea to its presentation in class to follow students and its final write-up. As the projects usually involve novel research, we learn together about the characteristics of their data, the nuances of the problem that need to be addressed, the compromises that
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B2. Statement of Teaching Interests and Philosophy
Judith A Clarke
must be made, the best available methods and how to present and write-up the project. A crucial aspect of this mode of learning is the student’s development of written and oral communication skills, which I contribute to by assisting students in learning how to write, critically reviewing their drafts and guiding them to resources when they exhibit communication difficulties. In addition, I use class assignments as a means of getting students to read, summarize, critically appraise and replicate research, as I believe this assists students in undertaking their own research, along with introducing them to research principles. Rather than simply teaching “tools” in the advanced econometric theory course, I use “high” theory papers (from, for e.g., Econometrica, Econometric Theory and Journal of the American Statistical Association) to engage students in learning tools and methods adopted in undertaking econometric theory. This approach serves to demystify econometric theory research, increases accessibility to this work, and provides students with the knowledge of their ability to undertake such theoretical endeavours. I measure my success as a teacher by how many students undertake more courses in econometrics, desire supervision in graduate research in econometrics, and by the number of students who seek careers in econometrics. I then believe I make a difference as a teacher and I have achieved my job as a salesperson for econometrics. I feel fulfilled when I struggle with a student through concepts and material and their light turns on. I have high expectations of my students and of myself as a teacher. I endeavour to create an environment, through my attention to course content, course delivery, student learning and assessment methods, in which any student can and will learn. Achieved Goals in 2004 The formal assessment in Econ 365/366 is basically assignments, tests and examinations, although re-focused as problem-based assessment and no longer including multiplechoice questions. The students are also permitted to resit the term tests, as I regard them as a means by which they learn their mistakes prior to the final examination. Nevertheless, given my dissatisfaction with the assessment tools, I spent time reading on assessment methods, to be incorporated into Econ 366 in Spring 2005. Achieved Goals in 2005 The assessment changes instigated into Econ 366 – attention to ensuring that the questions aimed at assessing stages of learning and understanding – seemed successful. A significant proportion of my study leave was spent on a new course preparation – Econ 548: Applied Econometric Modelling. My goal was to ensure that the course material merged well with components of microeconomics and labour economics. This effort, along with co-ordination with Dr Schuetze (Econ 515: Labour Economics), resulted in five students undertaking joint project work for the two courses. Achieved Goals in 2006 Preparation for Econ 575: Advanced Topics in Econometrics occupied my attention over this year. I was particularly concerned about ensuring active learning of high theory, as opposed to merely presenting the theory to the students. Despite some successes on this matter, I plan to rethink certain aspects before teaching this course again in Fall 2007.
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