AECN 376-Rural Community Economics: Engaging Students in Learning

AECN376-Rural Community Economics attracts students with different economics background and interests. In the three previous years I taught this course I was struggling to find a balance in class activities to make the course more engaging and effective to all students. The usual method of delivery is lecture along with PowerPoint slides. While this is the dominant form of pedagogy, particularly in higher education (Harvard Magazine 2015, Time Magazine 2012), an increasing amount of research indicates that the somewhat passive learning environment of the lecture does not reach all students with the same efficiency. In creating this portfolio, my goals were to develop opportunities to increase student engagement in class and improve my teaching by creating stronger association between the things I wanted my students to learn and the assignments used to teach them. In addition I used students’ feedback provided by the midterm course evaluation as a reflection tool of my teaching practices, course design, and students’ perception of the course