Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship podcast

Within the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship (EFE) department at Aston University, many of our academics have a strong interest in teaching and learning. We therefore created this podcast with an aim to share insight, innovations, and best practice among the department, as well to a wider audience. The podcast is led by Karishma Patel, a Teaching Fellow in Economics at Aston University. In each episode, we invite members of the department to have a conversation about a topic which they are interested in. We also invite guest speakers to share their insights with us.

Season 1 - Episode 1 - 'Bridging the Gap' between academic and professional Economics with Dr Dean Garratt

In this episode Karishma Patel welcomes Dr Dean Garratt, a Senior Teaching Fellow from the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University, to share his vision for bridging the gap between academic and professional economics.

Motivated by his own experiences in professional economics, including his work at the Government Economic Service (GES), Dean talks about how he has embedded the GES competencies assessed at Economic Assessment Centres into his module’s teaching and assessment. Dean provides valuable advice for colleagues teaching Economics (and beyond), on how they can closer align their assessment and teaching with the real world.

Release date: June 2023

 

Season 1 - Episode 2 - 'Do Not Feed The Ducks!' - Experiential Learning with Dr Tim Burnett

In this episode Karishma Patel invites Dr Tim Burnett, a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University, to share his approach to experiential learning on statistics based modules. Tim presents a vision for using this approach to enable students to become active learners and provides some advice for implementation across a range of modules. For further insight, refer to 'Do Not Feed The Ducks! Using self-guided data exploration in Excel' (2020) by Tim Burnett.

Release date: June 2023

 

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Using classroom experiments in teaching with Dr Maria Kozlovskaya

In this episode Karishma Patel is joined by Dr Maria Kozlovskaya, a Senior Lecturer from the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University. Maria draws on her expertise in using games and experiments in teaching Behavioural Economics, to provide practical advice for lecturers who are looking to use games and experiments in their own teaching. For further insight, refer to Games, Simulations and Playful Learning in Business Education (2021).

Release date: July 2023

 

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Feedback design and managing students' feedback expectations with Dr Robert Riegler

In this episode, Karishma Patel invites Dr Robert Riegler, a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University to share some insights from his co-authored paper on students' feedback experiences and expectations pre- and post-university entry. Robert reflects on the findings of his research in order to provide suggestions on feedback design and managing students' feedback expectations. For further insight, refer to 'Students' feedback experiences and expectation pre- and post-university entry' by Gray, K., Riegler, R., and Walsh, M. (2022).

Release date: July 2023

 

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Enhancing the effectiveness of large group teaching with Professor Chris Jones

In this episode Karishma Patel is joined by Professor Chris Jones from the Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship department at Aston University who shares insights from his experiences of large group teaching. Chris discusses some of the challenges that may be associated with teaching large class sizes, and suggests ways in which we can increase engagement in the classroom. Chris also shares some valuable advice for junior colleagues who may be entering the classroom for the first time. For further insight, refer to 'Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Perspectives from a Business School' (2019).

Release date: July 2023