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 SUNY- wide 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-on- one 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