WHAT’S NEW ABOUT BLOGS? GEARING UP FOR ECONOMIC DISCUSSION AND ACADEMIC IMPLICATION

The Teaching Innovation Team Econ-Innova, one along its trajectory and through its different teaching innovation experiences since 2011, has noted that the effectiveness of teaching innovation requires first and foremost a noteworthy effort of coordination and planning which may involve a heterogenic group of actors: teachers, students, committees, commissions, etc.

That is, to make the difference, teaching innovation requires first mechanism that recognizes previous work from different disjoined group of people at different teaching levels, second mechanism which propose plausible coordination frameworks and, third mechanisms that smooth the way to stablish an accepted leadership which may coordinate them all and make outcomes visible.

Following this general principal and placing the student as the main actor, the team focused on motivating social scope among the students in the economic field. Therefore, proposed the utilization of a classic tool, the Blog, taking it beyond the scope of the classroom, even beyond the scope of a virtual classroom, to the whole education community. Students and teachers from different education levels, researchers and alumni are invited to engage debate on economic issues. The leadership has been taken by a well-recognized entity: Economic Faculty of University of Valencia.

This work is a description of the innovation process, from its conception, through its development until its final implementation. Innovation design included the proposal of mechanism to manage participation, stablish leadership; manage editorial content and coordinate other social networks. Discussion is about obstacles and revenues obtained in experience, which outcomes were expected and how to measure them.