Course Redesign
• Bill Ganley, PhD. Professor of Economics
& Finance
• Buffalo State College, part of the SUNY
System approximately 11,000 students
• This Redesign Project is part of a SUNYwide effort to engage in Course Redesign
under the guidance & direction of NCAT.
• This was one of 10 Redesign Projects
within SUNY -NCAT partnership
The Economic System
• Economics 101: a General Education
course, primarily for non-majors.
• It is not a principles of economics
course; it explores the evolution of
economic systems
• Economic ideas, concepts,
measurements & theories are
introduced in the context of the
historical development market
capitalism and alternatives to it.
Redesign Goals
• Enhance student learning outcomes.
• Cost savings: to be utilized for
additional course work in our growing
graduate program & to offer more
upper division course offerings for our
undergraduate majors.
• Engage the students more effectively
in the course though the use of on-line
activities.
The Roles of ULAs
• From the outset of redesign we have used
Undergraduate Learning Assistants, or as
they call themselves -TAs.
• The role evolved from in-class activities to
almost entirely on-line interactions with the
students in the course;
• On-line there are quizzes, reviews, Economic
Forums and activities like cartoon
construction(Toon Doon) & games
• The ULAs monitor their groups through these
activities and provide feedback.
• In addition they hold office hours for one-onone assistance.
Recruitment of ULAs
• Since few Econ majors ever take this course,
we use students from many other areas. All
have taken the course and been very good
students in Econ 101.
• But there is much more to the selection than
high exam scores: TA recommendations.
• Participation: both on-line and in-class are
essential; people who have questions or
demonstrate an interest in class.
• Personal interviews by the instructor are
critical.
• If this was a Principles of Economics course,
we would use Econ-Finance majors as the
ULAS
ULA Training
• All day training session a week before the start
of the semester- 3 hours with the instructor &
several experienced TAs: feedback from
experience from previous semester.
• FERPA : discussion and each TA signs FERPA
privacy letter about students’ scores, grades.
• Quizzes & forums- feedback to students
• Role of 1 to 1 tutoring
• Problem students
ANGEL Training
• Meghan Pereira College’s ANGEL director was
a co-author on the original redesign & partner
in everything we do.
• 3 hours of ANGEL Training- editorial
functions, entering participation credit and
exam scores;
• How to provide in-class ANGEL training to the
class at the beginning of each semester.
• The need to monitor participation weekly.
THE Redesign Team
• Karen O’Quin, Projector Director, Associate
Dean of Natural & Social Sciences.
• Meghan Pereira, Director, Classroom
Instructional Technology.
• Ted Schmidt, Associate Prof. Econ & Finance,
former Dept . Chair, primary redesign leader.
• Curtis Haynes, Associate Prof. Econ & Finance
• Bill Ganley, Professor Econ & Finance