Difference between revisions of "Actively recruit"

From Diversifying Economic Quality: A Wiki for Instructors and Departments

Jump to: navigation, search
(Actively recruit students who might be underprepared or unsure about the academic subject.)
 
(20 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 +
[[File: A+.jpeg|right|300px]]
  
== Actively recruit students who might be underprepared or unsure about the academic subject. ==
 
  
Students come into universities and colleges with very different backgrounds and views about certain academic subjects and the departments should '''actively recruit''' these students by providing various introductory courses that appeal to students with different levels of background and preparation in the subject.
+
== [NEW] Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? ==
  
Barbara Whitten, a Physics professor at Colorado College, worked with a team of researchers to investigate what are successful tactics in attracting women in undergraduate physics departments. She examined nine undergraduate-only physics departments at different universities and colleges and classified them as either 'successful' or 'typical'. Then, she conducted interviews and sat in on physics classes to determine what made physics deparments 'successful' or 'typical'. Whitten and her colleagues determined that department culture was the differentiating factor for these two types of departments.
+
'''"While disparities in knowledge of economics and its value undoubtedly exist before students set foot on college campuses, economists could do more to directly address student misperceptions and knowledge gaps."'''
  
Whitten also visited historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and found that they had a key strategy that Whitten did not observe at other colleges and universities. The HBCUs "provide a path toward a degree for students who do not come to college fully prepared to be physics majors." Whitten observed that HBCUs and women's colleges recognize that many students of color or female students don't enter college wanting to be a physics major and they had an active recruitment strategy to attract them into the discipline. Whitten says, "This reality forces faculty to think of “pathways rather than pipelines” and challenges the notion of a singular, linear route to becoming a physicist, which is more likely to reflect a white male experience."
+
Bayer, Bhanot, and Lozano (2019) report the results of "a field experiment involving 2,710 students across nine U.S. colleges, in which faculty provided incoming women and URM students with information about economics. We randomly assign students to one of three conditions: a control (no email messaging), a “Welcome” treatment (two emails encouraging students to consider enrolling in economics courses), and a “Welcome+Info” treatment (which added information showcasing the diversity of research and researchers within economics). The Welcome+Info treatment increases the likelihood of completing an economics course in the first semester of college by 3.0 percentage points, nearly 20 percent of the base rate."
 +
 +
See "Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Undergraduate Economics," by AMANDA BAYER, SYON BHANOT, AND FERNANDO LOZANO, AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2019.
  
By having active recruitment policies where the departments provide introductory courses that appeal to students who were underprepared or not considering a major in that department, departments can improve diversity in the field. 
 
  
Indeed, "the work of faculty at HBCUs to provide a pathway into physics for underprepared students is an excellent example of how  critical this is to identifying and recruiting talented STEM students from more diverse backgrounds."
+
-------
 +
 
 +
Economics departments can actively recruit underrepresented students into the field of economics.
 +
 
 +
Post the AEA video on [[careers in economics]] on your department webpage.
 +
 
 +
Students who have not traditionally identified with economics may decide not to major in economics after getting a B in an introductory economics class. (See figure 6B in this [http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/claudia_gender_paper.pdf?m=1429198526 report] by Claudia Goldin.) Such students may respond well to [[Wise criticism|wise feedback]] and notes of encouragement from professors. 
 +
 
 +
Remember that math ability and economic intuition are learned skills. [[biology is not destiny|Foster a growth mindset]] in your students.
 +
 
 +
A [http://www.economics-finance.org/jefe/econ/JEFE%202009-034%20Cloutierfinalpaper.pdf study] conducted by Norma R. Cloutier and Dennis A. Kaufman, professors of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, demonstrated that by “(1) aggressively marketing the economics degree, and (2) allowing high achieving students to waive the macroeconomics principles requirements for an economics degree” a higher percentage of women decided to pursue an economics major. Their study demonstrated that the students that decided to waive the macroeconomics principles class were not disadvantaged in upper level courses, and that after its implementation and heavy marketing in 1991, the gender balance for the economics degree improved significantly. “In the period 1975-1994, 26.3% of economics graduates were female, but in the period 1995-2007 the percentage female among economics graduates increased to 40.5%.
  
  
 
{{hidden|Sources|
 
{{hidden|Sources|
  
Whitten et al. (2007). "What works for women in undergraduate physics and what can we learn from women’s colleges." Journal of  
+
Whitten et al. (2007). "What works for women in undergraduate physics and what can we learn from women’s colleges." Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 13(1), 37–76. ''as cited in'' Hill et al. (2010). "Why so Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics". American Association of University Women.
Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 13(1), 37–76. ''as cited in'' Hill et al. (2010). "Why so Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics". American Association of University Women.
 
  
 
http://www.economics-finance.org/jefe/econ/JEFE%202009-034%20Cloutierfinalpaper.pdf}}
 
http://www.economics-finance.org/jefe/econ/JEFE%202009-034%20Cloutierfinalpaper.pdf}}

Latest revision as of 16:49, 5 February 2019

A+.jpeg


[NEW] Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms?

"While disparities in knowledge of economics and its value undoubtedly exist before students set foot on college campuses, economists could do more to directly address student misperceptions and knowledge gaps."

Bayer, Bhanot, and Lozano (2019) report the results of "a field experiment involving 2,710 students across nine U.S. colleges, in which faculty provided incoming women and URM students with information about economics. We randomly assign students to one of three conditions: a control (no email messaging), a “Welcome” treatment (two emails encouraging students to consider enrolling in economics courses), and a “Welcome+Info” treatment (which added information showcasing the diversity of research and researchers within economics). The Welcome+Info treatment increases the likelihood of completing an economics course in the first semester of college by 3.0 percentage points, nearly 20 percent of the base rate."

See "Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Undergraduate Economics," by AMANDA BAYER, SYON BHANOT, AND FERNANDO LOZANO, AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2019.



Economics departments can actively recruit underrepresented students into the field of economics.

Post the AEA video on careers in economics on your department webpage.

Students who have not traditionally identified with economics may decide not to major in economics after getting a B in an introductory economics class. (See figure 6B in this report by Claudia Goldin.) Such students may respond well to wise feedback and notes of encouragement from professors.

Remember that math ability and economic intuition are learned skills. Foster a growth mindset in your students.

A study conducted by Norma R. Cloutier and Dennis A. Kaufman, professors of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, demonstrated that by “(1) aggressively marketing the economics degree, and (2) allowing high achieving students to waive the macroeconomics principles requirements for an economics degree” a higher percentage of women decided to pursue an economics major. Their study demonstrated that the students that decided to waive the macroeconomics principles class were not disadvantaged in upper level courses, and that after its implementation and heavy marketing in 1991, the gender balance for the economics degree improved significantly. “In the period 1975-1994, 26.3% of economics graduates were female, but in the period 1995-2007 the percentage female among economics graduates increased to 40.5%.”