CORE USA

ABOUT CORE USA

As part of its strategy to improve the teaching of economics, CORE is now seeking to expand its outreach and impact in the United States. It is doing so in collaboration with Barnard College, which has received funding from the Teagle Foundation for this purpose. CORE USA is motivated by the following goals:

• The development and expansion of CORE’s novel introduction to economics in the United States, especially at institutions that place a high value on the quality of innovative pedagogy, through a membership program and annual gathering.
• The education and certification in CORE’s content and pedagogy of graduate students who have shown promise in both scholarship and teaching, and who are committed to quality teaching as a central component of their careers.
• The identification of a set of institutional partners with shared goals for the improvement of economics education and a commitment to the development and use of high quality, open access instructional content.
• The creation of a growing community of educators using CORE materials and contributing to their development and improvement.

CORE USA Teaching Workshops: Every summer, CORE USA hosts an annual teaching workshop open to both faculty members and graduate students and involving both experienced CORE instructors, as well as, potential CORE adopters. Over the course of 2-3 days, participants receive overviews and teaching tutorials on how to use the CORE content. They also participate in active discussions and small group sessions where course content and pedagogy are shared and refined. Graduate students who actively participate in and attend the full workshop are certified as CORE-Teagle Fellows (see below for more information).

Who can apply? CORE USA’s annual workshops are open to full-time instructors and graduate students. We also welcome joint applications from clusters of individuals who have worked together using CORE materials or who have a strong commitment to doing so. Each member of the cluster should apply individually but identify all others in the cluster so that these applications can be linked. The workshops are designed to bring together teachers who are already using CORE, as well as a group of students and faculty who may be interested in adopting the material. The following types of participants are invited to apply:

• Experienced CORE team members
• Faculty who have taught CORE
• Faculty wishing to teach CORE
• Graduate students with an interest in eventually teaching CORE

Support and accommodations: All participants who attend the full workshop will receive a modest stipend. For graduate students who need it, we will provide accommodation and reimbursement of travel costs within reason. For faculty participants, we will provide accommodation, but we request cost sharing by the home institutions to cover travel costs.

If you have any questions, please contact our project manager, Sarah Thomas, at coreusa@core-econ.org.

CORE-TEAGLE FELLOWS

We want to create a cadre of confident, networked, new PhDs excited about making teaching a fulfilling and central part of their careers in economics, and so CORE USA will hold a series of workshops to bring together instructors who already have experience implementing CORE, and a larger group of potential adopters. Graduate students who complete a workshop will become certified CORE-Teagle Fellows, which will be a signal of their commitment to quality teaching for their future employers, at liberal arts colleges, public policy schools and in economics departments. These future teachers will be selected through a competitive application process which will require them to show both their exceptional promise in teaching, but also their scholarship potential. CORE-Teagle Fellows will not only be exceptional teachers, but also talented researchers.

Meet the 2017-2018 CORE Teagle Fellows

CORE USA CONSORTIUM

CORE USA also aims to identify institutional partners who share our desire to improve economics education, and who want to use high-quality, open-access instructional content. This is why we are launching the CORE Consortium, a membership program for institutions who want to enter into a long-term, multi-year commitment to support faculty and graduate students using CORE, and host future workshops on a rotating basis. By the end of the 36-month period covered by the Teagle grant, we hope to have at least half a dozen institutions on board as members, as well as a leadership team and an administrative structure.

For more information about CORE USA, the CORE-Teagle Fellows program, or the CORE USA Consortium please email us at coreusa@core-econ.org.