Welcome to the tch-econ site! Tch-econ resides on a server at Elon University and is maintained by Brandon J. Sheridan, assistant professor of economics.

This began as an email-based discussion list, and rest assured we have no plans of changing that anytime soon. We hope the email community continues to remain active and engaged going forward. However, we are broadening our horizons to other forms of media, beginning with a Twitter account. Twitter is not a great medium for longer discussions (although it is certainly possible), but it is a great place to share articles to use in class or on pedagogy ideas, as well as connect with others interested in economic education. Please follow us here: @tch_econ. We will tweet interesting articles and information that we find relevant to pedagogy, especially as it pertains to economics education. We will also engage others in the economic education community by “following back” (Twitter lingo), retweeting, “liking” tweets, and more.

Managing your subscription to tch-econ

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe an address:

  • In order to subscribe to the list tch-econ, simply send a message to elon-listserver@elon.edu with add tch-econ “email address you wish to have subscribed”, without the quote marks and with the appropriate email address inserted, in the body of the message. For example, I would send a message with subscribe tch-econ bsheridan4@elon.edu in the body of the message.
  • In order to unsubscribe from the list tch-econ, simply send a message to elon-listserver@elon.edu with del tch-econ”email address you wish to have unsubscribed”, with out the quote marks and with the appropriate email address inserted, in the body of the message. For example, I would send a message with unsubscribe tch-econ bsheridan4@elon.edu in the body of the message.
  • In order to send a message to the list tch-econ, simply send a message to tch-econ@elon.edu with the message in the body. Please include a subject line so that the gist of the message is clear to all the subscribers prior to opening.

A brief history of the list

This list grew out of an evening gathering at the Eastern Economic Association annual meeting in 1993. At that time several econ professors were having a conversation about teaching of the “this works and that doesn’t” type. As the night wore on and the topics got more and more involved, someone pointed out that it would be nice to be able to continue this conversation over an extended period. Our Twitter account is a modern supplement to that list. Subscription to the list tends to hover in the 350-400 range with representation from all over the world.

The purpose of tch-econ

The topic here is very straightforward. This is a place to discuss ideas related to the teaching of economics. We particularly concentrate on undergraduate university-level teaching, but do occasionally foray into graduate or secondary-school teaching. This is also a place to make contacts and form collaborative teams to work on projects related to the scholarship of teaching and to multi-campus collaborative efforts. For example, numerous sessions at professional meetings have been initiated from here, multiple collaborative papers began here, and there have been quite a few cross-campus teaching activities that began here. We hope these activities will continue.

There are only a few rules:

First and foremost – stay with the topic. This list has been very productive in part due to the willingness of the members to take conversations of a dogmatic or pejorative nature elsewhere.

Second – this is not the place to sell anything. It is quite appropriate for a book author to point out how they have dealt with a particularly difficult point in material presentation. It is not appropriate for a book author to post an advertisement for their book.

Third – be civil. We will find ourselves in disagreement (we are economists after all). That is fine. However, these differences are to be aired in civil discourse.

If you ever have any problems with the list, or with anything on the list, please feel free to contact me. I will help in any way I am able.

Dr. Brandon Sheridan, list manager
bsheridan4@elon.edu