Economics lecturer shares research in Athens

Posted 26 August 2015

An economics lecturer at Harper Adams University travelled to Athens recently, to present the findings of her research about how to engage students in lectures.

Dr Hairong Mu, Lecturer in Business Enterprise and Economics, wrote the research paper as part of her PgC in Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education.

She was invited to present the paper – ‘Does technology help understand economics? Using clickers to teach economics to non-economists’ at the 2nd Annual International Conference on Social Sciences in Athens, Greece.

The event was hosted by the Social Sciences Research Division (SSRD) of the Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER).

Dr Mu said: “One of the main problems with the traditional lecture format to teach non-economics students economics is that they tend to lack interest in the subject and therefore have a low level of engagement.

“Classroom response systems such as ‘clickers’ have been used for about 10 years and have become popular on many college campuses.

“These are adopted in class in order to create an interactive learning environment and improve student learning. However, their performance and effectiveness in teaching economics must be evaluated.

“My study surveyed students to examine their engagement by integrating technology to promote active learning in lecture classrooms. It was a delight to present my findings to delegates at the conference in Athens.”

Dr Mu’s presentation was greatly received by conference delegates and she was commended for her research.