Teaching and Educational Methods
Teaching Water and Sanitation Economics and Policy with a Focus on Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Dale Whittingtona(a,b) and Duncan Andrew Thomas(c)
(a)University of Manchester, (b)University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (c)Aarhus University
JEL Codes: I23, L95, Q25
Keywords: Water, sanitation, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, massive open online courses, MOOCs, low- and middle-income countries
Publish Date: August 10, 2023
Abstract
This paper describes our experience from 2010 to 2018 developing and delivering a multidisciplinary graduate course on “Water and Sanitation Policy and Planning in Developing Countries.†This course was synchronously taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Manchester, UK. We describe both our learning objectives and the conceptual framework for policy analysis that were used to structure the course. We discuss our problem-based learning approach to case studies and policy memo format assignments. We summarize eleven key messages that we want students to think hard about when reflecting on the course materials. This aligns with our aim to prepare students to address key challenges of water and sanitation access and provision that they could encounter in careers in the global Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector. We discuss how our teaching was improved from 2012 after we converted our in-person class for parallel delivery as two massive open online courses (MOOCs) on Coursera. This afforded more class time to use a “flipped†classroom format, enabling more active participation because students could watch recorded lectures outside class.
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Articles in this issue
Contemporary Adjustments Needed to Teaching Water Economics in Light of Changes Facing the Water Sector and Its Users: Introduction to the Special Issue
Ariel Dinar and Mehdi Nemati
Teaching Water Economics Using Dynamics and a Political Economy Framework
David Zilberman, Scott Kaplan, Alice Huang, Lanie Goldberg
Reconciling Theory and Practice in Higher Education Water Economics Courses
Roy Brouwer
Teaching Principles of Water Economics to Non-Economists: Lessons from California
Mehdi Nemati and Ariel Dinar
Innovations for the Water Resource Economics Curriculum: Training the Next Generation
Frank A. Ward
Teaching Water Resource Economics for Policy Analysis
Bonnie Colby
Teaching Water and Sanitation Economics and Policy with a Focus on Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Dale Whittington and Duncan Andrew Thomas
Teaching Water Economics by Building Problem-Based Case Studies
David Zetland
Teaching Water Economics in a Desert Environment
Slim Zekri
Solving Optimal Groundwater Problems with Excel
Christopher A. Wada, Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin, James A. Roumasset, and Kimberly M. Burnett