Foundations of Economic Analysis – Spring 2009
Write a short review of this course to either a prospective student of this course or to the advisor of students considering this course.
These are ALL of the reviews. I only corrected the spelling and removed student’s names or personal information.
1. If you think an on-line course will be less work for you, think again. The course required a lot more reading and overall time than a normal classroom based course. That said, the flexibility offered by being able to study the material and take the quizzes on my schedule far outweighed the extra time required. I would love to take more on-line courses if they were available. Dr. Myers was helpful on several points of confusion and offered many insights into current economic conditions and thinking.
2. While the on-line format may be adequate for some, it was not for me. I would rather be in class to interact with the professor and students. Further, the quizzes require critical thinking of 10 questions in a 15 minute time window. The pressure is fairly great on an individual to do that. If the testing method was changed to a short answer format with unlimited time, I would be much more inclined to offer my support for the class.
3. I think that in today's world, a good understanding of what is going on in the economy is of the utmost importance. You cannot proceed with your business life without fully understanding some basic economic concepts, like those presented in this course. I strongly recommend the study of an economic course for any degree; it will be useful for people working in field of business. I think that many of the problems the world is facing right now stem from, apart from greed and selfishness, ignorance or negligence to the basic economic ideas and concepts that aimed at good and welfare of all humans.
4. If you do not have a solid background in economics I would definitely consider you taking this course. I knew nothing about the economics and learned a great deal. Most people would take this course just figuring to pass it with a good grade so they could get a better job. I thought the same thing. But, I quickly realized that this course can not only help you advance your career, but gives you valuable information on your personal life. Want to know when to take out a loan or how to pay them back? Take this course. Do you have a family or are thinking of buying a house? Take this course. Do you want to know what to do with your money in a recession? Take this course! As an introduction to economics, this course is much more than just another career changer. As corny as it sounds, if you work at it and let the course interest you, it can be a life changer.
5. This is a fast-paced course for the visual and conceptual learner. I would recommend this course for anyone who is able to learn by reading and looking at charts, but not for anyone who needs an interactive experience. This was a challenging course to complete, the sheer amount of material can be difficult to absorb, covering 28 chapters and two essays in 18 weeks. Overall, an enjoyable and well-constructed course, but one that could use more variety with multimedia presentation, practice questions built into the presentations and other ways to vary the pace of the modules.
6. This course is great for independent students with busy schedules who are often unable to attend regular classes each week. It allows students to work on their own time and at their own pace. The teacher was very informative and responded to questions very thoroughly. The graduate assistant was a great assistance and had a lot of availability to speak with students one on one. Overall, this intent for this course is great if a student can work independently and has access to the technology necessary to utilize the web-based structure.
7. Foundations of Economic Analysis will provide a better understanding for the forces shaping our economy today. If you're willing to dedicate yourself for a couple hours a week to study the class notes and review your quizzes if you make a mistake, you will be extremely successful in this course. It's almost impossible not to get an A. In my opinion, give your best throughout this course and it will not let you down, whether in the short run with your grade at the end of the course or in the long run with your own economic success.
8. This course covers much material. In fact it covers the entire book. It is presented in a format that allows you to keep learning as you go through module. The course allows success by giving you the ability to review your quizzes and studying the concepts you are struggling with. However, it does not allow the student to slack at all, in fact, quite the opposite. While maintaining a pace of approvals, and advancements, it makes you (note… the review just stopped here as incomplete)
9. By the end of this course you will have a very good understanding of economics and our own economy. The course starts with the basic fundamentals (supply and demand) and builds up to understand what influences our economy and finally macroeconomics. It's a course that you have to stay on top of to understand it. Each chapter builds on the previous one, there are very few instances where you can just skip a chapter and think that you'll understand what's going on in the next one. I would say that this course is challenging because of the amount of information you will learn but also exciting because of the ways you can apply it to your career or daily life.
10. Foundations of Economics Analysis is online course to greatly consider for a couple of reasons. Although some online courses my not be very helpful in learning the subject matter, this course is not one of them. This course is very organized and will allow you to do the work at your speed. The subject matter is set up very well in a way that builds up so u gain a good base to understand the material. This course has helped me understand the issues that go on in the free market and made me think about issues in a deeper fashion. This course will stimulate your mind and help you better understand society.
11. This course provides a good foundation of basic economic principles, although the particular textbook used is at times a bit vague and short on concrete examples. I advise against taking this course in its online version if you are someone who has a full-time desk job, as the time spent at the computer can exceed the time you may desire to spend there. If you thrive on feedback and interaction with other students as well as face-to-face interaction with instructors, this web-based course is probably not for you. I also recommend the classroom experience if you are not highly self-motivated.
12. If you are looking to take an economics class that will help you understand economics as a whole, this is it! The quizzes after each module help you understand what you have just read, and they force you to apply the newly learned information to everyday scenarios. The amount of information that you will learn is huge, but it is broken down into separate modules which makes it easy to juggle with the rest of your daily tasks. All in all, this is a great course for a person that really does not understand economics, but wants to. The material is easy to read, and the quizzes really help with the understanding of it.
13. The online Economics course was a great experience for me. This course fulfilled an Economics requirement for my MBA and liked the option of being able to do so via the internet. Being able to work from home and not have to take time away from my family to go to class was very nice. The online format allowed me to work and study at my own pace and when I was ready and in the mood to study. I must say I completely underestimated the time commitment of this class and thought it would be a little less time consuming than your normal class. The time needed to complete each module probably differs for each student. Some students probably breezed through each module while others need to work and study a little harder. The great thing about this online class is that it fits both types of students. I enjoyed the ability to take the quizzes numerous times because I feel learning from your mistakes is part of the learning process and this course allows you to do that without jeopardizing your grade. If you put in the time and effort you will get the grade you deserve. While this is an online class and I never needed to meet with the professor I always felt that I had the option to set up a time to meet with the professor or teacher’s assistant and go over any concepts that were giving me trouble. However, I did have simple questions in which email worked. The professor was always quick at getting back with an answer. Dr. Myers has worked hard to try to prepare each student for this class and by giving strict directions, tips, and advice on “best practices” to complete this class successfully. He has done this with the advice of past students. I would recommend that you follow his advice because he understands the potential struggles that a student might face in completing this course. I learned as much in this class as I would in a normal classroom setting. The only missing element was the classroom discussion that comes up throughout the semester. I enjoy that discussion because it usually pertains to what is happening in the economy and world and the time of the discussion. This discussion can be as valuable as any coursework. Professors at The University of Akron have a vast amount of knowledge and one of the benefits of the classroom setting is you get to tap into that knowledge. This was the only thing I missed during my time in completing this course. I would recommend this course to anyone, in particular to a new student or a graduate student that has been out of school for a while. This course allows a student to learn the material and to slowly ease back into the idea of studying, test taking, and writing papers.
14. This course will provide a basic understanding of the fundamental concepts of micro- and macroeconomics. The course setup is efficient, and the content is challenging but not extremely difficult. There are several resources students can take advantage of to enhance the learning experience. The course is somewhat labor-intensive. I spent more time on this course than I probably would have in a traditional classroom setting. Overall it was a good experience, but I had to really discipline myself to keep up. In the future I might stick with traditional classes where I come to campus at the same time each week, rather than having to make the time to work independently on this course.
15. You will learn the theory and learn to analyze economic situations; the material is the same as any other economics class. This class gives you schedule flexibility that other classes don't. You can advance at your rate on your time. That’s a big plus. It does however come at a price, a tradeoff. While the material is the same you would see in the face to face class, the class discussions would be more enriching. You decide what suits you best, flexibility or enrichment.
16. Prospective Student: This course is very interesting and your knowledge of economy will increase... couple of advises to you:-Buy the paper book because the e-text is not comfortable to read if you are not used to reading from online.... -yes, I would use the practice quiz online-start the modules as it is schedule on the syllabus-Read both chapter, some times three before you take the quiz- you need to be very organized in order to finish on time with this course. Good luck!!! Let me know if you need any help (Thanks but I deleted the email address).
17. This is a good class. It's well-paced and amply guided. It's kind of up to you, on how much you learn. You can read the book to pass the quizzes, or you can really study and wrap your head around the concepts, which are interesting, but even to fake it, you need to really read the whole chapter and know the concepts. Be sure to keep up with the recommended schedule, and your life will be a lot easier!
18. We can learn thoroughly in each chapter owing to the quizzes and spend more time on it. I am sure to learn more than the lecture class
19. If someone is taking a web based course for the first time, he/she should understand that leaving things to the last minute is not a good option. I made the exact same mistake. And with the help and support of Dr. Myers (primarily in advancing me to the next module promptly) I was able to make good progress towards the end. If I had to do it all over again or take another web-based course, I would maintain the pace of completing the course work from the beginning. This is one lesson I have learned. As for the learning model, where you are tested on learning objectives and you take the quiz 3 times if you don't make a 10, it really works. I initially did not think that it would. But now I know that it does help you think the objective deeper and it drills into you. I like the model.