Summer Courses

Summer 2024 Course Information

See our full list of course offerings below!

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Econ 101

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • For Econ 101, students only need to consider whether they’d appreciate a solid understanding of how economic forces shape almost every aspect of their lives. Coming to this course with an open mind and a commitment to consistent effort will pay particularly high dividends. This course will teach you how to think; it will not tell you what to think.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • This is an asynchronous course where prerecorded lecture videos are provided by the instructor. The course will also include optional office hours meetings via Zoom throughout the week to help students learn the material and answer questions. There will be four one-hour exams on Canvas and one two-hour cumulative final exam on Canvas. There will also be homework assigned via Cengage MindTap software for each chapter of the book, and four one-page writing assignments on various economic articles. Section meetings with the TA each week can either be attended live over Zoom or watched on video as well.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are timed and are open access; they will be given through Canvas. They will be multiple choice exams and fill-in numerical answers, and students are allowed to work out answers on their own during its administration.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • No attendance or participation is required as part of the student’s grade.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • The instructor will be available via email throughout the semester and will answer student emails within 24-48 hours. The instructor will also be hosting Zoom meetings several times a week where students can ask questions.

What do office hours look like?

  • Office hours will be via Zoom.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • The instructor will be available via Zoom.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • Students should expect to devote at least 10 hours each week to this course. Ideally, the first part of each week would be devoted to watching lecture videos, with the latter half of the week reserved for section and for completing problem sets or preparing for exams.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • There are no required times students must be present. Students will be able to work at their own pace but there will be specific due dates for assignments and exams to make sure students are on track to cover all the material.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • The course has a TA, and he/she will lead sections each week via Zoom, which will also be recorded in case students cannot “attend” them in real-time. The TA will also hold Zoom office hours.

Econ 102

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • The summer course is excellent for students who have other time commitments or travel arrangements that make it difficult to enroll in a traditional course. Students must be self-motivated, as there are not many deadlines and learning is for the most part self-paced, with only two homework and exam deadlines during the course period in addition to weekly “surveys” that are graded only for participation. Students must have taken an introductory microeconomics course before taking this course; we will not do a micro review.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • There are interactive video lectures that can be viewed multiple times at the student’s own pace.
  • The course follows Sheffrin, O’Sullivan, and Perez’ Macroeconomics Applications and Tools textbook through chapter 15, and includes other real-world applications from outside the textbook.
  • In addition, there are several homework assignments and Chapter Quizzes tied to each textbook chapter that are completed online through MyEconLab.
  • Students also participate in weekly surveys to get feedback about student’s impressions about the models, real world applications, and so on—these are graded only for participation and are designed to increase student involvement and encourage participation in the Discussion board (Discussion board participation is not required)

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are taken online. There are two exams—one halfway through the online term and one on the final day of the online term. Students may take the exam at any time during the two specified calendar days.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • Only weekly surveys, which are completed on Canvas and are very short.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • I will be accessible by email every day during the course period.

What do office hours look like?

  • There are no office hours per se—the instructor is available by email and will usually get back to students within a few minutes (time changes permitting). If students have questions, they should contact me by email. If we cannot address questions in a written format, we can set up a Skype/FaceTime meeting.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • No—all interactions will be online; all students, whether they are in Madison or not, will have equal access to the instructor.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • The online course is a significant time commitment.
  • Although the course is self-paced students will on average view about 5 hours of lecture videos each week over the six week term and carries the expectation that students will work on course learning activities (reading, homework, quizzes, surveys, exams, studying, etc) for at least 3 hours for every hour spent watching the lecture videos. This syllabus includes additional information about expectations for student work.
  • Your learning will, for the most part, be self-paced. In addition to the short weekly surveys, there are two sets of deadlines—one halfway through the course leading up to the first exam, and the second at the final exam date. The first exam date will also be the deadline for all online homework and chapter quizzes related to material covered on the first exam. The second exam date will also be the deadline for the remainder of course material.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • Students must take the exams on the exam calendar days, and students must submit the weekly surveys ahead of their deadlines. All of this is done online.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • The TA will handle administrative issues and serve as a backup to answer questions if the instructor is unavailable for any reason.

Econ 301

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • For Econ 301, students should be prepared to revisit each of the topics covered in Econ 101 in a more analytically rigorous way. With a bit of calculus, however, students can discover a world of possibilities from topics in intermediate microeconomics – each with critically important policy questions accompanying and supporting them. Coming to this course with a solid background in Econ 101 and a commitment to discovering the merits of mathematics with a purpose will be any student’s best strategy. It might be best to think of Econ 301 as an applied mathematics course, in that it will deepen any student’s understanding of microeconomics by applying the calculus we only danced around in Econ 101

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • The course consists of lecture videos captured from a previous semester of the live course. Section meetings each week can either be attended live or watched on video as well. Over the six weeks of the course, there are four problem sets, one midterm exam, and one cumulative final exam

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are timed and are open access. They will be multiple choice exams, and students are allowed to work out answers on their own during its administration.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • No attendance or participation is required as part of the student’s grade.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructors?

  • An instructor will have online chat office hours for an hour each weekday of the course and will be available over email throughout the duration of the course. An instructor will also manage the course’s chat room, where students can and regularly do post questions throughout the course.

What do office hours look like?

  • Students access live chat office hours through Canvas and from there can speak to an instructor directly.

Will the instructors be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • An instructor will be in Madison at various points during the course, but not continuously.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • Students should expect to devote at least 10 hours each week to this course. Ideally, the first part of each week would be devoted to watching lecture videos, with the latter half of the week reserved for section and for completing problem sets or preparing for exams.

Are there required times students must be present? (Subject to Change)

  • Students need only carve out 70 minutes of uninterrupted time on the day of the midterm and two hours (120 minutes) of uninterrupted time on the day of the final exam. On each of these exam days, a full 18-hour window will be created during which students can schedule that uninterrupted time. It is our expectation that many students will be taking the course from different time zones, so we use this policy to ensure no one must take exams in the middle of the night for them (!).

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play? (Subject to Change)

  • The course has a TA who will lead sections each week, which will also be videotaped in case students cannot “attend” them in real time. The TA will also hold (**)  chat office hours each week.

Econ 302

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • The summer course is excellent for students who have other time commitments or travel arrangements that make it difficult to enroll in a traditional course. Students must be self-motivated, as there are not many deadlines and learning is for the most part self-paced, with only two homework and exam deadlines during the course period in addition to weekly “surveys” that are graded only for participation. Students that struggle with math concepts and need in-person interaction in order to feel more comfortable with mathematical methods are advised not to take the online course for Econ 302, as there are no in-person interactions.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • There are interactive video lectures that can be viewed multiple times at the student’s own pace.
  • The course follows Williamson’s Macroeconomics textbook through chapter 10, and includes other real-world applications from outside the textbook.
  • In addition, there are several homework assignments tied to each textbook chapter that are completed online through Canvas.
  • Students also participate in weekly surveys to get feedback about student’s impressions about the models, real world applications, and so on—these are graded only for participation and are designed to increase student involvement and encourage participation in the Discussion board (Discussion board participation is not required)

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are taken online. There are two exams—one halfway through the online term and one on the final day of the online term. Students may take the exam at any time during the two specified calendar days.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • Only weekly surveys, which are completed on Canvas and are very short.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • I will be accessible by email every day during the course period.

What do office hours look like?

  • There are no office hours per se—the instructor available by email and will usually get back to students within a few minutes (time changes permitting). If students have questions they should contact me by email. If we can’t address questions in a written format we can set up a Skype/Facetime meeting.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • No—all interactions will be online; all students, whether they are in Madison or not, will have equal access to the instructor.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • The online course is a significant time commitment.
  • You should expect to spend about an hour on each video lecture (inclusive of time taking interactive quizzes). That comes to about 24 hours of lecture time.
  • There are approximately 16 half-hour homework assignments, coming to 8 hours of homework commitments.
  • There are approximate 6 5 minute surveys, coming to 30 minutes of survey commitments
  • There are additional practice questions you should do for exam preparation; each set should take about an hour so that adds another 8 hours minimum for exam preparation
  • You should estimate an hour of reading time for every hour of lecture time (24 hours)
  • There are three hours of exam time.
  • All told that comes to about 70 hours over 6 weeks, or an average of about 11 hours per week, just to do the absolute minimum. You will no doubt need additional study time, so I would estimate about 15-20 hours a week for the course.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • Students must take the exams on the exam calendar days, and students must submit the weekly surveys ahead of their deadlines. All of this is done online.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • The TA will handle administrative issues and serve as a backup to answer questions if the instructor is unavailable for any reason.

Econ 310

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • The coverage and depth of the summer version of Econ 310/410 is exactly the same as it would be during the academic year, so in that sense the course is a great match for anyone wishing to complete the department’s statistics/econometrics requirement over the summer break. That said, summer courses are accelerated, with material that would be covered over 14 weeks during the school year condensed into a 6-week summer term. Given the short and intensive course format, the summer edition of 310 is probably the best match for those who will be able to invest substantial time and energy into the course for the duration of the six-week term.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • Each Monday through Thursday, the course consists of daily videos, practice problems, and online problem sets. Each Friday is set aside for review and to take a weekly quiz.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Each Friday there’s an online quiz reviewing that week’s material. To accommodate everyone’s schedule, these quizzes can be completed at any point during the 24-hour period corresponding to Friday in Madison. Once you start, you have 60 minutes to complete the quiz.
  • On the final Friday of the term, there’s a final exam. The final exam is similar to the weekly quizzes, except it is (a) cumulative and (b) you have 120 minutes to complete the exam.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • The class is 100% online, so there is no requirement to be in Madison at any point. But it is essential that you have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection throughout the summer term.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • I’m accessible throughout the summer term via the class discussion board, e-mail, online office hours, in-person office hours, and by appointment. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

What do office hours look like?

  • Over the summer, I have regular online office hours where we can meet via Zoom.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • Yes, if you prefer to meet in-person, I’d be happy to set up a time to meet on campus.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • As with any course, students choose to invest varying amounts of time, depending on their ambitions, learning style, mathematics & statistics background, and time constraints. That said, here’s two ways of thinking about the approximate time commitment:
    • The credit standard for this course is met by an expectation of a total of 180 hours of student engagement. Spreading these hours over a six-week term, students are expected to devote roughly 30 hours/week to all course activities (watching video lectures, completing problem sets, working on practice problems, taking exams, etc.)
    • A semester during the regular school year is 14 weeks, and the summer is accelerated to a six-week term, so the pace of this course is roughly 14/6=2.33 faster. Given this, for the duration of the six-week summer term, you should plan to spend about as much time as you would spend on 2-3 courses during the regular school year.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • There is no requirement to be in physically present in Madison at any point during the summer term, but there are online quizzes and assignments that must be completed at particular times.
  • Each Friday there’s an online quiz covering that week’s material. These must be taken at some point during the 24-hour period corresponding to Friday in Madison and, once you begin, you must complete the quiz within 60 minutes. On the final Friday of the term, there will be a final exam, which runs for 120 minutes.
  • In addition, online problem sets are due Monday-Thursday, so you need to be available at some point before 11pm each weekday to complete the problem set. It’s possible to work a few days ahead on the problem sets, so there is a bit of flexibility in the event that you need to be away from a computer for a day or two.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • There is no TA.

Econ 315

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • Econ 315 conveys the fundamental concepts of economic data visualization and analysis. Students who are interested in hands-on experience working with data using Tableau Software, learning best practices for visualizing, and analyzing visually economic data will find the course rewarding. Students should enjoy working and exploring economic data and should be able to commit time to learning Tableau.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • This is an asynchronous course where prerecorded lecture videos are provided by the instructor. The course will also include optional office hours meetings via Zoom throughout the week to help students learn Tableau and answer questions regarding the lecture videos and assignments. There will be four homework assignments, a semester project where students will create Tableau dashboards, and a take-home final exam. In addition, there will be many short Tableau assignments along with lecture videos – these assignments are designed to provide Tableau practice and reinforce the concepts covered in each lecture video.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Students will submit all assignments in Canvas, most assignments will require submitting Tableau workbooks. Students will be able to work at their own pace but there will be specific due dates for assignments to make sure students are on track to cover all the material. Students will have several days to complete the take-home final exam.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • The course is asynchronous so there is no required attendance. Participation is required in that students will need to complete the short practice assignments that are given after certain lecture videos.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • The instructor will be available via email throughout the semester and will answer student emails within 24-48 hours. The instructor will also be hosting Zoom meetings several times a week where students can ask questions.

What do office hours look like?

  • Office hours will be via Zoom.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • The instructor will be available via Zoom.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • Students should plan on spending 2-3 times as much time on this course per week as they would spend on an upper-level course during the regular semester. There are approximately 20 lecture videos that are about 1 hour long. The majority of the videos will ask students to complete a short assignment with Tableau which will take around 30 minutes.
  • Students should also plan on spending a considerable amount of time on the semester project. Four homework assignments and the final take-home exam will take approximately 3-4 hours each.
  • In summary, students should expect to commit 10-20 hours per week. All the assignments will be available from the beginning so that students can work at their own pace and schedule.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • There are no required times students must be present.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • The TA will work on practice exercises relevant to a given topic. The TA will also help students work on the short assignments given for many of the lecture videos and will be available to answer student questions. When applicable, the TA will post recorded videos of the practice exercises and will be available via Zoom to answer questions.

Econ 321

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • Econ 321: “Sports Economics” will examine the economics behind major professional and intercollegiate sports, teams, and franchises. What for most of us were the hobbies of our youths have grown into multi-billion-dollar industries. How? Why? An economist’s toolkit has much to offer those interested in how the sports world operates. With only Econ 101 as a pre-requisite, we approach the economics of sports conceptually from three different microeconomic perspectives: industrial organization (firm behavior), public finance, and labor economics. Students should consider whether a bit more economic rigor applied to the NFL or the NCAA will enhance their appreciation of the sports world beyond the latest SportsCenter video! If you are an inquisitive type, with an open mind about the various markets and market powers at work in the sports world, you should do well in this course. If it bothers you that the highest paid public employee in many U.S. states is the head football coach at that state’s flagship public university, well, perhaps this isn’t the course for you. If, however, you are fascinated by how recent NIL contracts have fundamentally changed how the NCAA operates in the intercollegiate sports world, well, then, maybe you should enroll!!

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • The course consists of lecture videos captured from a previous semester of the live course. Section meetings each week can either be attended live or watched on video as well. Over the six weeks of the course, there are four problem sets, one midterm exam, and one cumulative final exam.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are timed and are open access. They will be multiple choice exams, and students are allowed to work out answers on their own during its administration.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • No attendance or participation is required as part of the student’s grade.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructors?

  • An instructor will have online chat office hours for an hour each weekday of the course and will be available over email throughout the duration of the course. An instructor will also manage the course’s chat room & discussion boards, where students can and regularly do post questions throughout the course.

What do office hours look like?

  • Students access live chat office hours through Canvas and from there can speak to an instructor directly.

Will the instructors be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • An instructor will be in Madison at various points during the course, but not continuously.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • Students should expect to devote at least 10 hours each week to this course. Ideally, the first part of each week would be devoted to watching lecture videos, with the latter half of the week reserved for section and for completing problem sets or preparing for exams.

Are there required times students must be present? (Subject to Change)

  • Students need only carve out 70 minutes of uninterrupted time on the day of the midterm and two hours (120 minutes) of uninterrupted time on the day of the final exam. On each of these exam days, a full 18-hour window will be created during which students can schedule that uninterrupted time. It is our expectation that many students will be taking the course from different time zones, so we use this policy to ensure no one must take exams in the middle of the night for them (!).

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play? (Subject to Change)

  • The course has a TA who will lead sections each week, which will also be videotaped in case students cannot “attend” them in real time. The TA will also hold (**) chat office hours each week

Econ 410

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • The coverage and depth of the summer version of Econ 310/410 is exactly the same as it would be during the academic year, so in that sense the course is a great match for anyone wishing to complete the department’s statistics/econometrics requirement over the summer break. That said, summer courses are accelerated, with material that would be covered over 14 weeks during the school year condensed into a 6-week summer term. Given the short and intensive course format, the summer edition of 310 is probably the best match for those who will be able to invest substantial time and energy into the course for the duration of the six-week term.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • Each Monday through Thursday, the course consists of daily videos, practice problems, and online problem sets. Each Friday is set aside for review and to take a weekly quiz.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Each Friday there’s an online quiz reviewing that week’s material. To accommodate everyone’s schedule, these quizzes can be completed at any point during the 24-hour period corresponding to Friday in Madison. Once you start, you have 60 minutes to complete the quiz.
  • On the final Friday of the term, there’s a final exam. The final exam is similar to the weekly quizzes, except it is (a) cumulative and (b) you have 120 minutes to complete the exam.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • The class is 100% online, so there is no requirement to be in Madison at any point. But it is essential that you have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection throughout the summer term. Participation in the online discussion board will count for a small portion of your overall grade in the class.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • I’m accessible throughout the summer term via the class discussion board, e-mail, online office hours, in-person office hours, and by appointment. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

What do office hours look like?

  • Over the summer, I have regular online office hours where we can meet via Zoom.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • Yes, if you prefer to meet in-person, I’d be happy to set up a time to meet on campus.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • As with any course, students choose to invest varying amounts of time, depending on their ambitions, learning style, mathematics & statistics background, and time constraints. That said, here’s two ways of thinking about the approximate time commitment:
    • The credit standard for this course is met by an expectation of a total of 180 hours of student engagement. Spreading these hours over a six-week term, students are expected to devote roughly 30 hours/week to all course activities (watching video lectures, completing problem sets, working on practice problems, taking exams, etc.)
    • A semester during the regular school year is 14 weeks, and the summer is accelerated to a six-week term, so the pace of this course is roughly 14/6=2.33 faster. Given this, for the duration of the six-week summer term, you should plan to spend about as much time as you would spend on 2-3 courses during the regular school year.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • There is no requirement to be in physically present in Madison at any point during the summer term, but there are online quizzes and assignments that must be completed at particular times.
  • Each Friday there’s an online quiz covering that week’s material. These must be taken at some point during the 24-hour period corresponding to Friday in Madison and, once you begin, you must complete the quiz within 60 minutes. On the final Friday of the term, there will be a final exam, which runs for 120 minutes.
  • In addition, online problem sets are due Monday-Thursday, so you need to be available at some point before 11pm each weekday to complete the problem set. It’s possible to work a few days ahead on the problem sets, so there is a bit of flexibility in the event that you need to be away from a computer for a day or two.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • There is no TA.

Econ 455

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • This course covers a wide range of topics that fall under the umbrella of behavioral economics. To generate the necessary depth of knowledge for each topic students will be expected to actively engage with lecture material, as well as to complete long and oftentimes dense reading assignments on a daily basis throughout the abbreviated summer term. Focused, self-motivated students who love economics but are unsatisfied with some of the simplifying assumptions they’ve been forced to accept in their theory courses will love this course. If you are looking for a set of facts or equations to memorize, look elsewhere. If you are interested in better understanding how people make decisions, why they fail to act optimally, and where interventions might help decision-makers overcome their cognitive biases, this is the course for you. This course seeks students who are eager to not just gain knowledge, but also to put what they learn into action.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • The course content will be delivered via a collection of video lectures, worked numerical examples, and textbook reading assignments. Proficiency will be assessed via reading comprehension quizzes, a research paper, four problem sets, and a summative exam at the end of the course.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • There is one cumulative exam in the course. It will be administered via Canvas and virtually proctored. The exam will include multiple choice, fill in the blank, true/false, and short answer questions. Students are allowed to use scratch paper and calculators. Students are not required to show any work.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • There are no explicit attendance or participation measures included in the course grading structure. However, students are expected to meet with this instructor (virtually) each week to check-in and assess progress. Consistent participation is imperative; this course covers a great deal of material in a short amount of time so students must be actively engaged each week to remain on track for success.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • Given the abbreviated summer timeline, phone calls are preferred. Emails or text messaging are also good ways to reach me. I am available 24/7 during the Summer term, so just call if/when a need arises.

What do office hours look like?

  • Office hours are held daily and no appointment is necessary. All meetings will be accessible via Zoom and recorded. In addition, I will be on campus and available for face-to-face meetings three days each week.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • I will be in Madison and available to meet on campus for the duration of the course.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • This course will be the best full-time job any of those enrolled have ever had. We shouldn’t need to work any overtime, but students will need to set aside an average of at least 3 hours each day to complete tasks related to the course.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • No – all deliverables, including the final exam, can be completed within no less than a 48-hour window

Econ 522

What is the most important thing students should consider before enrolling in this course? What kind of learner would do well in this course?

  • It’s a lot of material compressed into a short time – need to be self-motivated and willing to devote significant time.

What is the format of the course? (Ex: video lectures, exams, papers, problem sets)

  • Several hours of video lectures each week; weekly problem set; one midterm exam and one final exam; online discussion forums for getting questions answered, working on practice problems, and discussing more open-ended questions.

How do exams work in the course, including how do students show their work?

  • Exams are problem-based, students submit a file (a Word file or a scan of handwritten work) giving their answers and explanations.

Are there attendance or participation requirements? If so, how are these measured?

  • Participation in online discussions is a component of final grade.

What is the best way to communicate with the instructor?

  • Questions about course logistics or material should be posted in weekly Q&A discussion thread so other students can also see the answer. Otherwise, the instructor can be reached via email.

What do office hours look like?

Professor and TA will hold Zoom office hours and answer questions regularly in the online discussion boards.

Will the instructor be in Madison and available on campus, in addition to being online?

  • No.

How much time is expected of the students each week? Daily?

  • Students should expect to spend 15-20 hours per week; the course is designed so this can be done at any time during the week.

Are there required times students must be present?

  • Only for the midterm exam and final exam.

If there is a TA, what role does the TA play?

  • The TA posts practice problems each week, facilitates student work on and discussion of those problems, and then posts video solutions.

For current course information, please see the Course Guide, Enroll App, or Class Search. For courses cross-listed with the Economics Department and listings of courses for past or upcoming terms you can also search the Course Guide.

For information regarding all classes offered by the Economics Department, you can search the Guide.

Enroll App

Choose your courses for a term, select your preferred sections, and enroll, swap, drop, or save courses for later.

To access the Enroll App:

  • Students – Log into http://my.wisc.edu and open your Academic Navigator to launch the Course Search & Enrollment app.

View tips for using the course search and enroll app

Course Guide

Course Guide is an online, searchable catalog of courses providing a broad spectrum of course information including the ability to browse course sections offered each term.

To access Course Guide:

View course guide and other enrollment related demos

Class Search

Class Search is the real-time, online listing of course sections offered each term. Students can click on course sections to add them to their enrollment shopping cart.

To access Class Search:

View class search and other enrollment related demos