Underpinned by the principles of authentic assessment, this task gives students an opportunity to develop their skills with communicating economic thinking in non-technical plain language to a range of audiences using different modes. This experience replicates the type of ‘real world’ work that economists undertake to critically evaluate complex issues and distil these so that can be communicate in an accessible, easy-to-understand to non-economist public audiences. In ECON7760, students critically evaluate a topic relating to the economics of climate change (e.g. the expansion of emission trading schemes) and provide insights in an infographic and supporting video presentation.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 100-500
- CLASS LEVEL
- Post-graduate
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Low security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- Low time
- CONDITIONS
- Work-related
- FEATURES
- Authentic
Advantages
The infographic and video presentation are authentic real-world tasks which encourage creativity, and the development of skills to communicate complex issues to a range of different public audiences. Arguably, these are ‘authentic’ skills that are expected in contemporary work. These tasks also give students tangible artifacts that they can include in their work portfolios and later share with employers.
As multimodal tasks, the infographic and video presentation offer an alternative to text-heavy assessment methods. They provide opportunities for diverse students to express and demonstrate their learning in different ways and excel. These are aligned with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
There are also advantages for marking. Potentially it is more enjoyable and takes less time to mark an infographic and video presentation compared to a text-based assignment.
Challenges
Turnitin flags a high matching rates percentage due to common references. These need to be evaluated.
Turnitin cannot check images submitted by students. Hence a requirement is that students submit images which include and text.
Tips for implementation
It is important to provide scaffolding for the infographic and video by providing students with resources (examples and templates) to help benchmark their work. This includes teaching students to:
- Communicate effectively in terms of the trade-offs between words and graphics, maps, charts etc.
- Breaking back complex information to the critical components for the infographic and video presentation.
Learning outcomes
- Understand and apply economic concepts to the issue of climate change.
- Critically evaluate the economic outcome of climate change policy.
- Communicate economic thinking in non-technical, plain language via different formats.
How it supports academic integrity
Students are required to be physically and clearly visible in the recording of their own video production. Hence the ability to outsource this task is limited. As this task is not text-based and requires higher-order thinking, it may be less vulnerable to academic misconduct using generative AI.
Authentic learning characteristics
It promotes engagement, authenticity and student ownership.
Dr Suzanne Bonner
suzanne.bonner@uq.edu.au
Dr Suzanne Bonner received her PhD from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She completed her PhD research in fertility and family economics, with a focus on applied econometrics and policy evaluation. Suzanne joined UQ as a lecturer, where she provides fresh insights to both teaching and research. Prior to joining UQ, Suzanne was a lecturer at Macquarie University and Griffith University. Her more recent research has concentrated on gender issues, self-employment, work-family conflict and education. Find out more