The Uncommon Econ project is a series of modules instructors can easily plug into introductory economics courses. The videos are designed to expose students to diverse role models and a range of exciting and relevant topics through professionally produced videos. There are also accompanying curricular materials, grounded in evidence-based active learning principles, which are designed to deepen student engagement and learning. The project hypothesizes that this classroom intervention will positively influence students' perceptions about economics, strengthen their sense of belonging in economics and their belief in their own abilities, and improve learning, persistence, and retention, particularly among diverse students. The modules will also provide professional development opportunities for economics instructors, enabling them to implement best practices in their classrooms. Read more about what we do and why it matters.

Our first season which is currently in production will include five videos on the following topics: supply and demand, production and costs, market structure, price controls, and externalities.

The teaching materials will include brief background information on the topic to help prepare instructors before showing the video and connect it to their principles course, recommendations for how to use the video in class, an in-class activity that is scalable to classes of any size, and a research brief that provides a brief bio and showcases the work of the research scholars.

The videos and all instructional materials, including research briefs, will be ready for review before implementation in Spring 2025 (approximately Nov/Dec 2024).

The scholars who are featured in these videos are PhD economists whose rank ranges from doctoral candidate to full, tenured professors. They are from universities all over the world and are experts in their field. Our episodes will draw from their recently published papers, and they will explain their work in their own words.

We will use pre- and post-surveys that the selected faculty adopters distribute to their classes to measure student engagement impacts as well as other outcomes. We will also measure overall class performance (final grades) and persistence (taking more classes, majoring/minoring in economics) using institutional research data collected from your home institution.

Please email us at uncommonecon@gmail.com or contact a project co-Principal Investigator, listed on our Contact page.

May 15, 2024 is the priority deadline for our first cohort of faculty adopters who will begin the research study Fall 2024. The application is available here. Rolling deadlines will be implemented for all subsequent cohorts. To stay up to date, visit our homepage for the most up to date application link.

Selected faculty will be compensated $500 at the end of the 1st semester and $1,500 at the end of the 2nd semester for a total of $2,000 for one year of participation.

Faculty will be selected based on their responses to the application form and the best fit for the parameters of our research study.

Initial selections will be finalized no later than June 1, 2024.

No. It is important that faculty teach their control semester and their treatment semester in the same way. The only difference between the two is the use of the provided videos and teaching materials required by this study.

No. Faculty selected to participate in our experiment will be designated as consultants on this research project. They will not be responsible for handling survey data nor work with any collected data. Therefore, faculty will not need to provide proof of Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program training, will not need IRB approval from their home institution, and will not enter into a reliance agreement with Salisbury University. Selected faculty will need to inform their own IRB office about this project and may need to request what is known as “permission to recruit student subjects” for this study from their IRB office.

Faculty who are selected to participate agree to: Teach Principles of Microeconomics, in person, during 2 semesters at a US-based institution. We are not currently accepting courses taught under a quarter system. Attend 1 informational session, 1 training workshop, and 1 feedback session, all virtual. Distribute an in-class, online survey at the beginning and end of the 1st semester. Distribute an in-class, online survey at the beginning and end of the 2nd semester. Use a minimum of 3 out of the 5 of the video modules (5-7 minutes) in class and lead a discussion from the provided curricula (at least 10 minutes). Help us interface with your institutional research office to collect college/university-specific, de-identified student data (ex: GPA, major, etc.). It is important that faculty teach their control and treatment semesters in the same way with the only difference being the videos and curricular materials required by this study. Institutional Review Board (IRB): Faculty selected to participate in our experiment will be designated as consultants on this research project. They will not be responsible for handling survey data nor work with any collected data. Therefore, faculty will not need to provide proof of Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program training, will not need IRB approval from their home institution, and will not enter into a reliance agreement with Salisbury University. Selected faculty will need to inform their own IRB office about this project and may need to request what is known as “permission to recruit student subjects” for this study from their IRB office.

No. We do not require permission from your department or chair. We do ask you for assurance that you are scheduled to teach Principles of Microeconomics for two consecutive semesters in your application.

To apply, you only need to complete the application form. If selected, each faculty will have to complete a form from Salisbury University to get paid.

Selected faculty will help identify the appropriate point of contact at their institutional research office for us to speak with about securing additional student data to be matched with the survey data.

Faculty selected to participate in our experiment will be designated as consultants on this research project. They will not be responsible for handling survey data nor work with any collected data. Therefore, faculty will not need to provide proof of Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) program training, will not need IRB approval from their home institution, and will not enter into a reliance agreement with Salisbury University. Selected faculty will need to inform their own IRB office about this project and may need to request what is known as “permission to recruit student subjects” for this study from their IRB office.

We don’t anticipate an issue here since you’ll still be teaching your class as usual and then taking 15 minutes out of several (3 to 5) classes to show a video (5-7 minutes) and lead an in-class exercise (10 minutes).

No. You can use any textbook and cover topics in whatever order you usually do. Selected faculty will only be required to do the following: Show a minimum of three out of the five video episodes in class. Each video has a runtime of approximately 5-7 minutes. Lead the in-class activity that is connected to each video used. Each activity takes approximately 10 minutes. Each module (video + in-class activity) is designed to integrate into any Principles of Microeconomics course independently of the textbook being used or the sequence of topic coverage. NOTE: For selected faulty, it is important to not change the textbook or order of material coverage in between the two-semester (control and treatment semester) sequence.

You should allow for a minimum of 15 minutes per module (video + in-class activity/discussion). There is a minimum requirement of using 3 out of the 5 modules provided which is 45 minutes total for the semester. The videos will be between 5-7 minutes with an additional in-class activity/discussion of 10 minutes.

Absolutely! Our videos and instructional materials will be posted on our website UncommonEcon.com as they become available.

No. Our current evaluation plan is designed for instructors under a semester system. However, you are welcome to use the videos and curricular materials in your classes when they become available!

Yes. Our current evaluation plan is designed for instructors who teach Principles of Microeconomics every semester. However, if we are unable to recruit enough faculty who teach every semester, we will modify the design to accommodate non-consecutive semesters.

Faculty may apply regardless of the number of students they teach. Our materials will accommodate any size class and the teaching materials provided to selected faculty will include suggested adaptations for classes of different sizes.

No. Our selection criteria requires that courses are taught in person. Online or hybrid courses are not allowed for participation at this time. However, you are welcome to use the videos and curricular materials in your classes when they become available!

Yes, we accept applications from community college instructors. However, regardless of institution type, final selection of faculty adopters will based on the overall needs of the experimental design and the best fit for the parameters of our research study.

The pre-survey will be given in the first week of your class. The post-survey will be given in the last week of your class. Specifically, during your treatment semester the survey timing is essential. They must be given before (pre-survey) and after (post-survey) you have used all the video modules (video + activity). For example, if you cover supply and demand in the first week of your class and plan to use our video and activity on supply and demand, you must ensure that your students complete the pre-survey before using any materials.

The online survey takes no more than 5 minutes and contains questions about student interest in, and perceptions of, economics and their relationship with the subject.

You should email the link to any students who don’t show up to take the pre- or post-survey and ask that they complete it as soon as possible.

Please let us know as soon as possible about any change in plans. If you are selected as a faculty member, you will be provided with a primary contact for the member of our team who will be managing the faculty participants.

Faculty will be compensated $2,000 for their participation ($500 at the end of the 1st semester and $1,500 at the end of the 2nd semester) for their single year of participation. We will also provide instructional support through our workshops and by creating a community of practitioners and a means for which lessons can be shared within and between our faculty cohorts.

Each session will be held online via Zoom and will be scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance. The informational session (1 hour) will be scheduled prior to the start of the fall semester (late July/early August 2024). The training workshop (2 hours) will be held in January 2025 prior to the start of the spring semester. The feedback session (1 hour) will be scheduled for May or June 2025.

Yes. We will provide 5 modules (each with a video + curricular material) which are each connected with a different Principles of Microeconomics concept (ex: supply and demand, production and costs, externalities). Selected faculty adopters must use at least 3 of the 5 modules available. It is up to the individual faculty member to decide which modules are best for use in their course.

Not at this time. Since this is a new research study, the videos and curricular materials are currently under development and production and there are no prior study participants. Selected faculty will allocate approximately 15 minutes of their class time during 3 in-class meeting days. During this time, they will show the video (5-7 minutes) and complete the accompanying in-class activity from the teaching materials (10 minutes). Faculty will choose their 3 modules from our selection of 5 which correspond to standard Principles of Microeconomics concepts. The teaching materials will include brief background information on the topic to help prepare instructors before showing the video and connecting it to their principles course, recommendations for how to use the video in class, an in-class activity that is scalable to classes of any size, and a research brief that provides a brief bio and showcases the work of the research scholars.

Not at this time. Since this is a new research study, the videos and curricular materials are currently under development and production They will be ready for review prior to our Spring 2025 treatment semester for our selected faculty adopters (approximately Nov/Dec 2024). Since Fall 2024 is our control semester, we must make our faculty selections before the video and instructional materials are finalized. We are happy to generally discuss our plans to help you feel more comfortable. If that's not sufficient, we understand!

No. If selected, faculty adopters will be compensated $2,000 for the year of adoption (1 control semester and 1 treatment semester). They agree to: Distribute 4 online surveys (1 pre-survey and 1 post-survey in the control and treatment semesters). Use 3 video modules (video + activity) in their class (approximate total time of 45 minutes in the treatment semester). Attend 1 informational session, 1 training workshop, and 1 feedback session (4 hours total, virtual). Help us interface with your institutional research office to collect college/university-specific, de-identified student data (ex: GPA, major, etc.). Faculty adopters are not required to engage in the study at a level that is consistent with co-authorship. Adopter’s contributions will be acknowledge with names, affiliations, and professional links on our website and listed in the acknowledgements section of this project’s published research.

Please email us at uncommonecon@gmail.com or contact a project co-Principal Investigator, listed on our Contact page.

The Salisbury University (SU) Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol, as written, is the official approved document for SU and the office Co-Principal Investigators (PIs) on the project. We cannot expand the role of PI to anyone outside of the official PI/Co-PIs on this project. Faculty Evaluators serve as participants in the study and therefore are not considered co-PIs. Institutional Research Offices and Institutional Review Boards may contact us at uncommonecon@gmail.com to request a copy of the approved IRB protocol. As an example of the SU policy: We (at the SU Grants and Sponsored Research Office) receive inquiries from SU faculty whereby they are serving a very similar role of facilitating research for a colleague. Our practice is to allow access to students if an IRB approval from a U.S. institution can be provided. We never request to change the language in this document, request a reliance agreement, or expect that the SU faculty member be added as a project PI. If another institution has a stronger approach to these issues and wishes to require a campus-based IRB approval process, they certainly may.

The Salisbury University (SU) Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol, as written, is the official approved document for SU and the office Co-Principal Investigators (PIs) on the project. Faculty Evaluators serve as participants in the study and the Faculty's institutions operate as facilitators. It is not appropriate for participating faculty or their institutions to make changes to any component of the approved protocol language. Faculty Evaluators, Institutional Research Offices, and Institutional Review Boards may contact us at uncommonecon@gmail.com to request a copy of the approved IRB protocol.

The Salisbury University (SU) Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol, as written, is the official approved document for SU and the office Co-Principal Investigators (PIs) on the project. Those Co-PIs, and their institutions, are the appropriate entities to receive a Reliance agreement. Faculty Evaluators serve as participants in the study and the Faculty's institutions operate as facilitators. Faculty Evaluators participating in the research study do not require a reliance agreement.

The Uncommon Econ team is not asking Faculty Evaluators to collect any information from their students, just to administer an online survey both at the beginning and end of the control and treatment semesters. We will, however, ask Evaluator's Institutional Research Offices (IROs) for student information, including: birth date, gender, race, GPA, economics courses taken and grade received, major, and home zip code. The information from the IRO will be matched to the in-class survey results and then de-identified before it is sent to the Uncommon Econ team. We will be collecting the student ID, first name and last name that can be used for this matching, but these data (i.e. student ID, first name and last name) will not be returned to us. The Faculty Evaluator's IRO will de-identify all student survey data collected via Qualtrics before sharing the survey results, as well as the “sociodemographic” student data with Salisbury U.  No student identifiable data will be shared with Salisbury U. or other external partners/collaborators.

We understand the challenge here: we’re asking your Institutional Research Office (IRO) to allocate time and effort to this project. However, this initiative isn’t just another diversity effort—it’s designed to address persistent issues in economics education by offering an innovative, evidence-based approach that could set a new standard across institutions in the US. Research on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives reveals a mixed track record: some projects bring meaningful change, while others fall short due to lack of alignment with educational goals or scalability across different campuses. This project is different in that it brings DEI efforts directly into a high-enrollment course and targets students early in their academic journey, using a scalable model to reach as many students as possible. By helping us access institutional data, your IRO would not only enable us to rigorously evaluate the impact of these modules but also empower your institution to be among the first to pilot a program that could significantly shape the future of economics education nationwide. Please read our case, below, listing the direct benefits to your institution, broader institutional benefits, and benefits to the Economics Department of participating faculty to learn more.

Safeguarding Privacy We take the confidentiality and privacy of institutional data seriously. All data provided by institutional research offices will be fully de-identified before they are sent to us, ensuring compliance with institutional and federal data privacy standards. We will work closely with your office to address any concerns and accommodate institutional requirements for data security. We strictly uphold all protocols and standards for working with human subjects and adhering to FERPA. Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval IRB Protocol #250 was approved by the Salisbury University IRB Committee after full board review on 7/25/2023. Faculty Evaluators, Institutional Research Offices, and Institutional Review Boards may contact us at uncommonecon@gmail.com to request a copy of the approved IRB. FERPA-Compliant Data Sharing We are adhering to regulations as outlined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA allows universities to share de-identified student data for research without violating privacy, provided it’s stripped of direct identifiers and aggregate information is shared in a way that maintains confidentiality. For more on de-identifying data under FERPA, see the U.S. Department of Education's De-identified Data Resources. Universities may enter into agreements with researchers, government agencies, or other universities to share data under FERPA's de-identification rules. You can find more on these policies here: Protecting Student Privacy.

Follow this link to the online media release form which will submit a signed copy back to your episode lead or print and sign this PDF and submit it back to your Uncommon Econ Episode Lead via email - see all UE team members on our About Us page.

Not at this time. Since this is a new research study, the videos and curricular materials are currently under development and production. They will be ready for review prior to our Spring 2025 treatment semester for our selected faculty adopters (approximately Nov/Dec 2024) and then posted on our website for the general public.

Since this is a new research study, the videos and curricular materials are currently under development and production. They will be ready for review prior to our Spring 2025 treatment semester for our selected faculty adopters (approximately Nov/Dec 2024) and then posted on our website for the general public.

The scholars who are featured in these videos are PhD economists whose rank ranges from doctoral candidate to full, tenured professors. They are from universities all over the world and are experts in their field. Our episodes will draw from their recently published papers, and they will explain their work in their own words.

Please email us at uncommonecon@gmail.com or contact a project co-Principal Investigator, listed on our Contact page.