About the talk:

While the toolkit of economics can be applied to investigate a range of problems and issues that affect all our daily lives it is surprisingly common to hear students on economics degrees claim that it is difficult for them to engage with the discipline and, perhaps worse still, that they feel alienated by what and how we teach. However, staff too can often feel frustrated bemoaning, for example, a lack of student engagement. The result is that staff and students can struggle to develop a meaningful relationship: one where there is empathy. In the workshop we discuss what can be done to develop a more empathetic relationship focusing on the role that the GES competences of knowledge, application and communication can play to make the teaching of economics a more rewarding experience for both staff and students alike.

Dr Dean Garrat is a Senior Teaching Fellow. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate of the Economics Network. Dean is coauthor of 3 leading undergraduate economics textbooks led and inspired by John Sloman: Economics, Essentials of Economics, and Economics for Business. He has also received various recognitions for his teaching, such as Outstanding Teaching Prize by the Economics Network in 2006, and Nottingham Business School Teacher of the Year in 2013. Dean is also academic assessor for the Government Economic Service (GES), where he helps to assess potential recruits to the GES with particular responsibility for assessing candidates' ability to articulate their understanding of economics, including non-technical terms.

Dr Robert Riegler is a Teaching Fellow at Aston Business School. Robert is an applied economist, with research in areas of foreign direct investment, trade and economics education. He promotes the usage of technology for teaching and learning, and is an Associate of the Economics Network.

Seminar organiser: Stefania Paredes Fuentes (Christian Soeggard will host this seminar)