Teaching Education Commentary
We Need to Talk About Curriculum Innovation
Roger Brown(a), Jennifer Clark(b), Rachna Tewari(c)
(a)University of Kentucky,(b)University of Florida, (c)University of Tennessee, Martin
JEL Codes: JEL Codes: A20, D82, H41, Q00
Keywords: Award, curriculum, information, public good, survey
Publish Date: January 26, 2024
Volume 6, Issue 1
Abstract
Is it time to refresh your applied agricultural economics and agribusiness curriculum? How do you know? Where do you start? In this commentary, we review why curriculum updates are challenging and suggest that an information problem is partly to blame. Others highlight our discipline’s wide scope, our students’ diverse backgrounds, and our employers’ high expectations as inherent challenges to curricular planning. We point additionally to an economic challenge, namely that curriculum innovators do not advertise their discoveries and lessons learned at the socially optimal level. To address this public goods problem, we propose that an interested organization (e.g., the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, AAEA) centrally facilitate information sharing in two ways: (1) inventory the range of curricular diversity regularly and (2) create an annual curricular innovation award.
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Articles in this issue
Equity and Inclusion as Cornerstones for Building Academic Programs in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Kenrett Jefferson-Moore, Lurleen Walters, and Del Ruff
Are We Similar? Differences in Grading Patterns among Departments in the Same College
Anna Yeritsyan and James W. Mjelde
A Brief History of Giffen Behavior and an Applicable Student Example
Mark Holmgren
Benefit-Cost Analysis Decision Criteria: Reconciling Conflicting Advice
David J. Pannell, Hoa-Thi-Minh Nguyen, Hoang Long Chu, Tom Kompas, Abbie Rogers
Adopting Precision Input Management: A Teaching Case Study
Cheryl Wachenheim, Erik Hanson
Market Power in the U.S. Beef Packing Industry
Yuliya V. Bolotova
Mountain States Oilseeds: Can Contracts Enhance Safflower Seed Procurement?
Jameson Packer, Tanner McCarty, and Ryan Feuz
We Need to Talk About Curriculum Innovation
Roger Brown, Jennifer Clark, Rachna Tewari