The Royal Economic Society (RES) has announced a three-year funding programme for the CORE project. The funds will help to train and build networks of teachers who wish to switch to use CORE''s approach to teaching economics, and to introduce the material to PhD students and new lecturers. CORE will partner with the Economics Network to deliver this work.
CORE, which stands for Curriculum Open-access Resources in Economics (http://core-econ.org), is an international collaboration of researchers that has created an online, free, introductory economics ebook called The Economy. It is already the basis of the first year of economics degrees offered by more than a dozen universities in the UK, including University College London, King''s College London, and The University of Bristol. It is currently creating a new course in economics for students in other degree programmes, CORE EQuSS, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Alongside the free interactive ebook, Oxford University Press published a paper copy of The Economy, priced at £39.99 to make it accessible to as many students as possible.
“Supporting activities which build a wider engagement in and understanding of economics will be a key part of the RES''s strategy in the coming years”, said Leighton Chipperfield, RES Chief Executive. “CORE is helping students apply the tools of the discipline to some of the major issues of our time. In announcing this support, the Society encourages more teachers and students to benefit from its innovative approach.”
"We are delighted that the Royal Economic Society is supporting CORE in its objective of making economics an exciting and accessible subject relevant to the complex problems we face" says Wendy Carlin, Director of the CORE project. "Early results suggest that students thrive on CORE, and perform better in the later years of their degrees if they study using CORE in the first year.”
“The Economics Network has always encouraged economics staff to engage with the latest advancements in pedagogy. CORE''s unique approach to content facilitates innovative and effective teaching by developing the tools of economics through active student engagement with complex real-world issues. We are excited to be involved with this initiative and look forward to creating networks of less and more experienced users of CORE with the aim of building a community of curriculum innovators in economics.” Alvin Birdi, Director, The Economics Network.
RES has committed a cash grant of £15,000 per annum for three years, beginning in 2018, to help train teachers, PhD students and teaching assistants who wish to find out about CORE and how to switch to using the course. This will be coordinated with an initiative already underway at CORE USA, based at Barnard College, Columbia University.
