Can We Experiment Our Way to Better Teaching?

About this episode

The episode discusses how economists can improve teaching and learning through assessments and experiments, featuring guest Doug McKee.

We’re joined by Doug McKee to talk about how economists can use assessments and experiments to improve teaching and learning. Doug explains how learning assessments can reveal what students actually understand, not just how they feel about a course. We also discuss the Economic Education Network for Experiments (EENE) and why large, multi-institution studies matter for credibility. Our conversation highlights how economics classrooms can double as powerful research labs for understanding learning itself. In this episode, we talk about: * Doug’s path into economics teaching and education research * Why student learning assessments matter more than course evaluations * How Cornell built a culture around prerequisite and skills-based assessments * The origins and goals of the Economic Education Network for Experiments (ENEE) * Using large, multi-school experiments to test what really works in the classroom If you liked this conversation, you might also enjoy Show notes & references We’re joined this week by Doug McKee, a senior lecturer in economics at Cornell University and one of the leaders behind the Economic Education Network for Experiments . He’s keeping it simple with…

People in this episode

Hosts: Matt, Jadrian

Guest: Doug McKee

Topics covered

• economics education
• learning assessments
• experiments in teaching
• student understanding
• multi-institution studies
• research in classrooms

Keywords

• teaching
• learning
• assessments
• experiments
• economics
• student evaluations
• research
• EENE

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Economic Education Network for Experiments, Cornell University

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