Certell/Univ. of Colorado: Common Sense Economics for Life: Teacher's Edition

[eriehiker]

I have been spending a lot of time this month working through the Davar unlimited exam sale, but I have also been taking an online graduate course in economics called Common Sense Economics for Life. This particular session of the class is an accelerated summer session that runs from June 5 through July 16 and it is intended for teachers, but seems open to anyone. Normally, the time period for the course is about double this, but I am now on summer break and the accelerated version fits my schedule. This course appealed to me because it offers the chance to earn 3 graduate credits transcripted with the ECON prefix. This one comes in as ECON 5010-770. The credits themselves are awarded by the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and their extension arm. The course itself is a partnership with a course provider called Certell, which is, apparently, based in Indiana.

This course also has appeal for me because it is one of the two required courses for the University of Colorado graduate certificate in economics education. I will be attending economics summer camp in July at Oberlin College to earn the second required graduate course. Then, I will need to take 6 more online graduate credits to earn the certificate. Following this, I will pick up six more graduate credits to earn the 18 in economics that I would need to teach at the community college level since I already have a master's degree (MAT) in teaching. An economics education graduate certificate will also pair well with the BSBA CIS/Accounting that I am working on through TESU.

The course itself is reasonably enjoyable. Each week, the professor assigns two or three modules from the 15 total modules in the course. There is a reading assignment from a provided text, a pdf slideshow, 2 to 5 video segments, one to 4 audio clips, a five or six question set, a pre- and post-module forum discussion post and a module quiz. Every three to five modules, there is an exam. I am through five modules and my grade is currently a 97.5%. It is very doable, but it does take some careful work to make sure everything is correct. The professor and assistants are very responsive.

Economics is something of a conservative academic discipline and there is a very definite conservative spin to some of the content. I have watched some content from the American Enterprise Institute and John Stossel is widely used in the video section. This might annoy me, but most of the course is pretty standard economics content and the course costs only about $375 for three in-discipline graduate economics credits. Very good deal in my mind.

Links:

CSE1000ED: Common Sense Economics for Life | certell.org

http://www.uccs.edu/Documents/lases/Cert...mmer17.pdf

Earn a Certificate in Econ/PFL

[videogamesrock]

Thank you for this.

[cookderosa]

excellent review - and WOW at that price!! With an ECON prefix no less.

[dfrecore]

Economics is something of a conservative academic discipline and there is a very definite conservative spin to some of the content. I have watched some content from the American Enterprise Institute and John Stossel is widely used in the video section. This might annoy me, but most of the course is pretty standard economics content and the course costs only about $375 for three in-discipline graduate economics credits.

John Stossel considers himself a libertarian and not a conservative.

[Leslie K]

Hello eriehiker:

I am interested in learning more about the graduate certificate you are pursuing in Economics Education. I was unable to find it online. Could you provide some more information or send me a link, please?

Thank you!

Leslie K

[RANSOMSOUL]

Great find...Thanks for the detail!

[eriehiker]

Hello eriehiker:

I am interested in learning more about the graduate certificate you are pursuing in Economics Education. I was unable to find it online. Could you provide some more information or send me a link, please?

Thank you!

Leslie K

Hi Leslie!

The certificate is through the Colorado Council for Economic Education and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The web site says that it is open to Colorado K-12 teachers with a valid teaching certificate. I called them up and they said that a lot of their programs happen in Colorado, so it might be difficult. However, pretty much everything can be done online. I was going to do 18 credits in graduate economics anyway so that I can teach at the community college level, so I am just going to do everything via this program since this is the least costly option I can find for graduate credits with an ECON prefix. I have had zero problems taking this particular online class and the next class for me is an economics summer camp program at Oberlin, OH which is about 1.5 hours from my house. I have a feeling that they will just award me the certificate once I complete the requirements. If they don't, I want the credits anyway. And if the Colorado certificate is really that important, I will just pay the fee and use reciprocity to get any sort of certificate from Colorado via my Michigan license.

http://www.ccee.net/certificate-program/

[eriehiker]

Oh, and this certificate is only 12 credits. I am going to do six additional credits so that I can teach at a community college. This program has options beyond the certificate requirements and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs extension program has several other online options with additional graduate level ECON credits. So there seem like a lot of options here. They also have a diversity program that awards graduate level sociology credits with the SOC prefix. That one interests me, but this is my first priority.

[Leslie K]

I am interested in getting 18 graduate credits as well for college teaching purposes.

Thanks for the additional info. I will contact them and check it out.

You say you are able to get three graduate credits for a summer econ camp at Oberlin? That might work for me next summer as well.

[ECH90]

I definitely need to check on this! I am currently in CS.