Teaching

Having had unique opportunities to flow from academia to operations multiple times in my career, I have fallen in love with economics as the science of leadership. My opinions and ideas about teaching economics have been shaped considerably by my leadership experiences and teaching assignments throughout my military career. I have seen first-hand how understanding and applying economic principles can strengthen and reinforce effective leadership. While it’s tempting to share story after story about my time as the Chief Financial Officer for an Air Force Base, the Director of Financial Operations for a deployed Joint Task Force, or the Director of Economics at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I believe it will be more effective to share how the leadership principles I’ve learned tie in with economics, and specifically with excellent instruction. My teaching approach has earned me recognition as the top educator at Air University, Air Education and Training Command, and as one of the Dean of Faculty’s top three (of 50) Lieutenant Colonels at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Passion for Economics

First, I’ll acknowledge that my passion for teaching economics comes from my belief that economics is truly the quintessential science of leadership. While a traditional definition of economics might claim that it is the study of the allocation of scarce resources to achieve some set of wants or needs, the action that allocates resources is decision-making. Our lives are defined by the decisions that we make, and every decision we make allocates resources. If economics is the study of the allocation of resources, this implies that economics is really the science of decision-making. Not only do leaders make decisions that shape the lives of others, the ultimate measure of a leader is how well they influence the decision-making of others to improve their lives. For leaders to maximize the benefits they produce, they should master the science that informs their own decisions and the art of influencing others. I find this perspective of economics to be motivational, energizing, and empowering. It motivates the way I approach the classroom, my students, and my research. It means that every interaction with a student is an opportunity to enrich their lives. Every class period reinforces principles that can be used to enhance decision-making. Every learning activity must be designed to maximize what each student takes from the classroom to influence their lives and the lives of those they interact with. While the theory of economics forms the foundation of our science, I am an applied economist because I believe that the principles we study can be personalized, operationalized, utilized, and applied in order for us maximize the impact of our science.

Leadership & Teaching

My teaching goal is to help students master the foundational principles of economics, motivate them to apply these principles in their own personal and leadership decision making, and empower them to educate themselves throughout their lifetime. This is the passion that I bring to the classroom, the staff meeting, and the research team.

The responsibility of economics instructors to effectively employ economic principles in their course design uniquely necessitates individual mastery of the principles we are teaching. Instructors teach the principles that influence individual decision making while at the same time utilizing those principles to construct the optimal learning architecture to lead their students toward mastery so that they, in turn, can be in a better position of influence. The best instructors take advantage of their role to add value in students’ learning processes, but they also recognize when it’s time to get out of the way and let students explore ideas on their own.

Ascribing to the theories presented by Coase (1937), Alchian and Demsetz (1972), and North (1990), productive leaders create and influence institutions and environments to decrease operating and transactions costs. Leaders’ actions reduce the conditions that lead to traditional market failures associated with externalities, information asymmetry, and perverse incentives, and they improve efficiency of markets by reducing search, negotiation, coordination, and enforcement costs. Leaders provide vision and enhance a sense of belonging to maximize the return on relationship capital within and between organizations. Leaders add value to an organization by understanding the formal and informal constraints affecting a situation and adjusting incentives to motivate improved decision making. Leaders improve efficiency when the benefits of management exceed the costs of management. Efficient leaders must know and recognize how and when to contribute to their team’s output, and recognize when their involvement will decrease efficiency.

Pedagogy For Deep Learning

One tool I like to use to structure instructor feedback and mentoring considers how well instructors fulfill the principles identified above by addressing the following four assessment areas: (1) Are learning objectives clear and consistent? Do students know what they need to learn, and what they need to be able to do with what they learn? (2) Are learning activities consistent with the learning objectives for the lesson and the course, and what student faculties are engaged to encourage them to internalize the principles being taught? (3) What avenues are utilized to obtain and provide feedback for the instructor and the students? (4) Is the environment conducive to success for all participants? Are there distracting or disrespectful elements? Are appropriate courtesies rendered for each member to feel respected, valued, and involved? The parallels between these evaluation questions and the functions of leadership described above are meaningful and informative.

I also believe that for each student, the most important person in the room is themselves. The most important principles to them are those that they are motivated to learn. I recognize that there is a difference between what the instructor teaches and what the student learns. Instructors should not only prepare to teach what they consider valuable, the best instructors are well-prepared enough to be flexible in meeting students where they each are motivated to learn and finding where those desires intersect with course learning objectives.

Unfortunately, formal education can sometimes stifle students’ desire to learn. While we may look to direct incentives to motivate learning behavior, education research long ago established that external incentives once removed can actually decrease intrinsic motivation (Deci 1971; Lepper et al. 1973; Harackiewicz 1979). I have been disappointed by undergraduate education systems that tell students what they need to learn and how they need to learn it. We reward or punish them for how well they do exactly what we tell them to, and then upon graduation we tell them to go be independent lifelong learners. This model feels flawed to me. Therefore, I seek to foster intrinsic motivation for learning by allowing students some space and time to explore their own ideas, and provide opportunities for them to get feedback from their peers.

One way I’ve incorporated this idea into course design is by requiring that a certain number of learning activities be completed, but the student can choose from a menu of options to achieve a learning objective. Options might include review and discussion of multiple executive summaries, sharing critical points from a podcast involving a subject matter expert, or presenting a mini-lecture to the class. Additionally, I created elective blocks required for credit, but in which the student chooses which subjects they want to study, develop their own learning objectives and report on how they achieved those objectives. I see a shift in students’ thinking and motivation when they finally realize that I’m not going to tell them exactly what to do for that portion of the class, and there is some growth involved when they recognize that continued learning will really be up to them in the future.

Additionally, courses and lesson plans should be built to provide frequent feedback for the instructor and the student. Instructors should build in mechanisms for feedback regarding students’ comprehension and be responsive to feedback regarding student performance and desires. Feedback mechanisms should also be available for students to know how well they understand the material, where they are performing well, and where they can improve. My favourite mechanisms allow for students to make mistakes and grow throughout a course. While it can take more time to grade and provide feedback, I enjoy designing course requirements that grant credit for full achievement of an overall learning objective rather than partial achievement of multiple objectives.

Essential Relationships

A productive learning environment is built on a foundation of trusting and respectful relationships between all classroom participants. As with markets, the greater the diversity represented in the classroom, the larger are the potential benefits of trading ideas and learning from each other. As with markets, increasing diversity can also increase transactions costs, as participants may need to learn the value of things they may be unfamiliar with or how to overcome communication barriers. The instructor serves as guide and exemplar of individual respect by demonstrating appreciation for all perspectives.

Instructors bear a responsibility to two communities. First, and most importantly, we are obligated to our students to help them learn what will be most valuable to them. Second, we serve the community of economists by promulgating the ideas that form the foundation of our science. Based on these two allegiances, instructors serve two functions.

First, we maximize learning by consolidating information and optimizing the learning environment. Thus, we reduce the cost of learning for students and of deciphering which principles and ideas are most important to learn, and we create an environment that promotes student inquiry and mastery. Such an environment maintains a critical balance between instructor-directed, structured learning and student-led inquiry and discussion. This balance preserves students’ agency of choice, a level of individual autonomy, as well as accountability and incentives for exhibited performance.

Second, we promote key principles that define our science. Our obligation to the scientific community requires us to maintain our position at the frontier of knowledge. Instructors must continually update their skills and intellectual development through active research and study. I have provided my research statement in the attached documents.

Summary

Economics is the quintessential science of leadership. This perspective motivates me to create courses and learning experiences that maximize student internalization and application of principles that can improve individual and organizational decision making. I accomplish this objective by balancing instructor-led experiences with opportunities for students to make choices, optimize within the course, and capitalize on intrinsic motivation to explore their own developing ideas. I am accountable to my students to optimize the learning environment and use time and resources efficiently. I seek to maintain my position at the frontier of knowledge through active study of our science and how to apply it most effectively in the classroom. I enjoy helping others do the same.