Introduction

An interest in interactive learning pedagogies in general, and the potential value of collaborative problem-based learning approaches in particular, has been central to my teaching economics at Hartwick College, a private liberal arts institution in Oneonta, New York, for the last fifteen years.  As a graduate student, I had the good fortune to have Robert L. Heilbroner as my mentor, and he instilled the leitmotif of my teaching and scholarship: an idea is worthless if it is not understood.  Held to that standard, I have found considerable success in conducting classes predominantly through an interactive, problem-based learning approach that is augmented by what I call peer-critical learning, or PCL.

An Intuitive Description of the Peer Critical Learning Approach

The Pew National Fellowship Program for Carnegie Scholars would support my efforts to delve deeply into my experiences with PCL, which have been largely intuitive.  PCL employs written reviews, discussion formats, assignments, structured debates, and evaluation instruments where students assume greater responsibility for their education through peer criticism.  My use of the word intuitive is deliberate, as my proposal is to flesh-out the PCL approach for the first time, in a collaborative environment, where my insight benefits from the perspectives of other educators grappling with questions of how to provide deeper, more meaningful learning experiences for students.  Indeed, what I find intriguing about the Pew Fellowship is the opportunity to practice what PCL would preach—to better understand the scholarship of teaching by incorporating the critical perspectives of peers into the investigation.

The Value of the PCL Method

Few words are more chilling to students than "criticism," and negative connotations are almost universally associated with the term. Criticism is when the professor "marks up" work submitted for evaluation.  Critique, on the other hand, is a force for deep and self-sustained learning, and it provides the central organizing principle for every course that I teach.  Peer critique subjects the viewpoint of every participant in the learning process, including the instructor, to peer review and evaluation.  The rationale is simple: As faculty we subject our scholarly work to the high standards of peer review—why expect less of our students?

Through practice, students quickly see the value of critical thinking in the exploration of ideas.  Peer criticism expands the perceived audience from one (the instructor), to every member of the class.  Students address students and, as a consequence, show greater willingness to collaborate seriously, as colleagues.  Feedback, too, derives from the whole class, and the classroom becomes an "idea processor." Content moves beyond the classroom through more meaningful social interactions in residence halls, over lunch, or in passing. An emphasis on PCL eliminates the need to "check the brain in, check the brain out" at the classroom door.  Students also show more empathy for the traditional role of the instructor when they evaluate the work of their peers, and there are few questions on performance expectations when the class, as a whole, sets and communicates those expectations.  Expectations subsequently rise, especially since students will sometimes "blow off" an instructor, but no student wants to look bad to a peer.

A Chasm: PCL and the Traditional Pedagogy of Economics

Strategies and curricular initiatives for collaborative learning have moved front-and-center in economics, but economists have been slow to embrace peer-learning pedagogies.  William Becker, a leading economic educator, observes that economics is still taught predominantly by lecture, in large class sections (Becker 1997).  A recent survey of 625 teachers at undergraduate institutions reveals that three-fourths of class time in introductory, advanced theory, and elective courses is devoted to lecture (Becker and Watts, 1996).  The Association of American Colleges and Universities, in its Reports from the Fields, describes the study of economics as "top-down" and non-interactive (AAC&U, 1991).  With stinging words, Becker characterizes the economist as "sole preacher" in a "passive learning environment that does not engage students." (Becker, 1997).  And students are providing their own assessments of lecture-driven teaching in the precipitous 30% decline in economics degrees awarded from 1990/91 to 1995/96 (Siegfried, 2000).

Interest, willingness, and action in pedagogical reform has intensified, but support is mixed.  In the Winter, 2000 Journal of Economic Education, for example, Maureen Lage, et. al., suggest that the variety of student learning styles argues for the use of a range of pedagogical styles in the classroom (Lage, et. al., 2000).  The authors are advocates for an "inverted classroom," where lectures are delivered through multi-media instruments and class time is used for small group assignments.  But a second article from the same volume of JEE describes the introduction of a university-wide commitment to problem-based learning into the economics curriculum at the University of Melbourne, Australia (Johnson, et. al., 2000).  A study of 600 macroeconomics students is inconclusive, however, as the authors report no appreciable difference in performance or interest in economics between students in a weekly problem-based learning tutorial and the control group of students in a traditional tutorial.

A Call to Arms (or a Retreat from the Chalkboard): PCL as a New Teaching Pedagogy for Economics

My proposal for the Pew Fellowship is to join the ranks of champions for pedagogical reform in economics by articulating a PCL approach for economic education.  I would extend my intuitive understanding of PCL from the concrete applications I have employed (including the submitted Phlorodax Work Sample) to delineate and communicate, in more generally applicable ways, how the PCL approach can be used for teaching economics.  The primary task is to articulate how and why my students have found both immediate and sustained deep learning through the peer critical method.  In my experience, the effects of PCL are nothing less than profound, as learning extends beyond the classroom and, ultimately, beyond the formal education of the student when the value of positive and respectful peer critique is embraced as an attribute of lifelong learning.

From the methodological standpoint, I will define the parameters and undertake an extensive study of students using the PCL method in my introductory principles and International Economics classes, through surveys and individual and focus group interviews.  Then, to explore the more lasting effects of PCL, I will define the parameters and undertake an extensive survey of Hartwick College graduates over the last fifteen years who had significant exposure to PCL techniques in those courses, particularly from the use of essay examinations with subsequent written critiques of student colleagues, structured debates, and case studies.

Relatively Green, But Keen

I am a nascent scholar of pedagogy. My notable contribution to the scholarship of teaching, to date, is the Henry Luce Foundation Intercultural Education Grant for First-Year Students at Hartwick College, and the forthcoming publication of our book Learning Interdependence through the Institute for the First-Year Experience at the University of South Carolina.  The Pew National Fellowship would provide the opportunity to gain better familiarity with pedagogical scholarship in my own discipline, where pedagogical reform is imperative.^*  I would use my professional affiliations as President of the Economic and Business Historical Society, familiarity with the work of the National Council on Economic Education, and administrative knowledge as a department head to widely promote the outcomes of the fellowship.  In particular, I would establish a first-hand relationship with the scholars of economics teaching pedagogy at Indiana University, and craft an article on PCL for the Journal of Economic Education.

I am committed to work on the PCL approach regardless of whether my proposal is accepted, but the support of the Academy and the opportunity to work with first-rate collaborators would accelerate the pace of my efforts.
 
 

References

Association of American Colleges and Universities, Reports from the Fields: Project on Liberal Learning, Study-in-Depth, and the Arts and Sciences Major, Volume 2, Chapter 2, "Economics," 1991.

Bachner, David, Laurence Malone, and Mary Snider, Learning Interdependence: One Small College’s Experience with the International/ Intercultural Education of First-Year Students, (University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, forthcoming Spring 2001).

Becker, William, "Teaching Economics to Undergraduates," Journal of Economic Literature, Volume XXXV (September 1997), pp 1347-1373.

Becker, William and Michael. Watts, "Chalk and Talk: A National Survey on Teaching Undergraduate Economics," American Economic Review, Volume 86 (May 1996), pp 448-453.

Johnson, Carol, Richard James, Jenny Lye, and Ian McDonald, "An Evaluation of Collaborative Problem Solving for Learning Economics," Journal of Economic Education, Winter 2000, pp 13-29.

Lage, Maureen, Glenn Platt, and Michael Treglia, "Inverting the Classroom: A Gateway to Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment," Journal of Economic Education, Winter 2000, pp 30-43.

Siegfried, John, "Undergraduate Degree Trends Through the 1990s," Journal of Economic Education, Summer 2000 (296-300).
 
 

"Phlorodax" is a case-study used as the culminating experience in my International Economics course.  It is intended to address the efficacy of free trade theory in light of social, political, and economic conditions that pose virtually insurmountable obstacles for the development of the nation.  The case was inspired by the summer of 1989, when I lived in Petrovoselo, a village of 63 peasants on a mountain along the Adriatic Sea in then Yugoslavia (now Croatia).  The conditions, in every respect, are approximate to the national economy of Yugoslavia before the outbreak of the succession of recent wars.  It is a powerful moment when the real identity of the fictional "Phlorodax" is disclosed.

The booklet was assembled for an invited presentation I gave in a workshop on Problem-Based Learning sponsored by the Samford University PBL Initiative at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the American Conference of Academic Deans.  The Instructor Outline (yellow pages), illustrate the use of peer-critical learning (PCL) techniques through individual and group problem-solving, classroom presentations and discussion, an essay examination, and a written critique of a student colleague’s essay examination.  The booklet also includes student policy memos and the examination questions from when the course was most recently offered.

"Phlorodax" is a watershed—it rounds out fifteen years of largely solitary work on peer critical learning, and begins a new adventure where that work is reconsidered in more general ways and widely communicated for the benefit of others.
 

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