Abstract:

Instructors are increasingly recognizing the importance of written assignments in economics. For instance, Davidson and Gunnior (1993), Grunin and Lindauer (1986), Crowe and Youga (1986), argue that writing reinforces learning of core theories or concepts, while Petr (1990) and Greenlaw and Deloach (2003) point out the benefits in enhancing critical thinking, and McElroy (1997), Palmini (1996), Hansen (1993) and Cohen and Spencer (1993) show the benefits of using primary data sources and real-world data analysis, finally Wright (1999) points out the data skills used in entry level jobs.
However, as pointed out by Bloom (1956), students learn in different ways, which in turn implies that we should design our assignments with some flexibility in order to appeal to these different students. Therefore a series of assignments for an advanced economics course which allow students to submit their assignments in different formats (videos, audio, pictures, text), within a Blog. The objective is to, allow students to develop critical thinking (how to construct an argument) while allowing them to pick the medium in which they want to express their ideas. We want students to focus on ideas and concepts, rather than writing per se, as different students should develop different skills, rather than a one size fit all. Furthermore, students would benefit by owning a larger portion of the assignment.

Keywords:

Teaching, writing, blogs, economics.