Selected Course Evaluations (University of Oregon)

My Econometrics courses are all "flipped", which means that students consume the lecture material before class, they're quizzed for understanding, and then during every class period, they're challenged to go deeper and solve more difficult problems in small groups. I find that students are so much more engaged this way and seem to be learning so much more. Here's some student feedback about the way I conduct my flipped classes:

• Excellent layout by reversing the way we did class, lectures from videos with mini quizzes outside of class and actual work in class where we can get help from the teacher. Perfect lay out for how Econometrics should be taught.

• The organization of this course is "flipped" from traditional classes. This allows students to learn the material via video lectures prior to class and then put the topics students learned through lectures to use through in-class activities. This was extremely beneficial to my own learning and I feel the class structure allows every potential question to be answered.

• I really enjoyed being able to work through the koans/watch the lectures on my own and then have those same concepts mirrored in the classworks was really helpful because I feel that it helped me to interact with the material, and meant that I benefited from the support of the instructor and my fellow classmates while working through complex subjects. I feel as though I have picked up concepts much quicker in this course, since lectures were directly followed by those active learning practices. I also really appreciated the lecture review sheet assignments- it was something that I likely would not have done on my own, but that helped me immensely as I was studying for the final and working to comprehend lecture material.

• I much prefer having student interaction and help with group work during class. I think it would have been significantly more difficult if our lectures were during class time and we had to do work outside of that. I also think it was a good way to get both student and teacher feedback.

• I really liked that we did classwork during the scheduled class time rather than lecture. It really helped me understand the material compared to EC 320.

• Prof O'Briant made sure that almost every time we were learning something, we were engaging with it actively. When learning to code in R, she gives us interactive assignments that teach us and then make us apply that new knowledge in a problem - the fastest and best way I've ever learned to code. When watching lectures, she rewards us for taking notes and distilling them into the most important info. And finally, every class period, we collaborate with a small group of other students on problem sets that are very challenging, but with enough collaboration with students and support from the prof, possible to do, and very growthful/educational.

• The reversed structure of this course was so helpful. This is both mathematically and conceptually challenging, so having access to the instructor as we were working through the content was invaluable.

• One of the best classes I have ever had.

• It was honestly one of the best-taught courses I have taken in a long time at the UO.

• This is my first time to have a flipped class and I really like it. I interact with the teachers way more frequently than in other classes. I also like the fact we can finish most of the group work in class time so we don't have schedule extra meeting time outside class, which can be quite stressful. I also like the interactons with the teachers. They are very encouraging and helpful. Conceptual and technical problems are all explained very clearly.

• The best class I have ever had at the University of Oregon with the perfect amount of challenge as well.

• It was definitely difficult, but having the class lectures recorded helped me a lot as I was able to rewatch content and then practice with other students during the class time.

• This was the most engaged I've been with a class in a while. Thank you so much Colleen!

• I think this class helps me solidify my understanding of OLS and R. Group work during class time is a great arrangement because we don't have to schedule for meetings outside class which can be stressful. I don't particularly like group work but I agree that it helps solidify our knowledge when we ask and explain to each others.

I've developed original course materials for all my classes. This includes econometrics workbooks (Econometrics I and Econometrics II) and koans for learning R programming basics at home. Here's some student feedback about the quality of those course materials:

• I really like the sophisticated workbook which is much easier to comprehend than the conventional textbook. The embedded quizzes are helpful for checking the understandings on the topics. Being an online textbook also means I can access it everywhere so I don't have to carry the heavy textbook around. I also like the fact that the workbook website is adaptive so I can read it on smaller screens and don't have to bring my laptop with me all the times. I also like the koan exercises very much. They are fun and very useful for learning the R language. Being able to test the answers of the koans before handing in also reduces the stress of the work.

• I really liked that there was so much work (i.e. classworks) because it was a really good opportunity to engage with the material and really understand it before the midterm.

• I want more koans, they were great!

• Lab instructions were very clear and I knew what to ask for help on when I needed it.

• I enjoyed how the R was taught and its importance in the class. In my 320 course it was much more of an afterthought.

Here's some student feedback on the support I'm able to give as an instructor.

• Very attentive to our individual needs.

• The instructor has been very supportive during the duration of the course. She has been able to make herself accessible and answer or help work through any questions that come up. This is really helpful because the course has such difficult material it can be hard to keep up but Colleen is able to break it down to a level that actually makes sense.

• She is probably the best econ teacher I have had at this school. She also is very smart and knows what she is talking about

• I honestly don't see any segments of the course that require much modification. I have been very happy with the course structure and the support from both the instructor and g.e.

• I have really struggled with this class in the past and have had to retake it multiple times but the way Colleen has organized and structured the class has really helped me. I struggle with psychological disability that can sometimes make it hard to keep up with lectures and classwork but I'm thankful for the way she was able to organize the class and make material so easily accessible. It helped so much and this was one of the last classes I needed to graduate and one of the most challenging class I've had to take at UO and without her structure and knowledge I honestly don't know if I would have been able to make it through the term.

• Colleen provided some of the quickest and most definitive feedback of any class I have attended at UO. The grading was quick and each point missed was clearly indicated why it was so. Even better, Colleen encouraged and made notes when points weren't missed, to inspire and motivate us. Honestly, one of the best teaching experiences I've had in my near 4 years.

• Give Colleen more people to teach please.

• I just want to reiterate that I think Colleen is doing an amazing job. She clearly is very knowledgeable and truly cares if her class is understanding the material. She was fantastic, I hope she continues to teach and you should hope it is for UO.

• I really appreciated the support from the instructor throughout the course, as well as the effort you could tell she put into organizing the class. Although we only had a month to complete a 10 week term's worth of work, I never felt rushed or left behind as we covered new and complex topics each day. Colleen is a talented and committed instructor: in building this course, she provided students with countless opportunities for interactive and involved learning, while also leaving room for us to work through fresh material at our own pace, through the koans and recorded lectures. I can be certain I have a much stronger foundation in both statistics and R than I did a month ago.

• Prof. O'Briant has all the qualities of an amazing teacher. She clearly puts deep consideration into the organization and structure of the course, and in making every part of it challenging, yet digestible and interactive. She is also very supportive, giving guidance on how to do certain problems when approached but always making sure you're still doing and understanding the work. Finally, she's very good at making these complicated and confusing subjects understandable, through clear and organized lessons with lots of examples. In short, she is a wonderful teacher whose future students will all be lucky!

In two years, I taught Econometrics II on four occasions as the instructor of record. Throughout this period, I continually refined my teaching methods to enhance student engagement and learning. The efficacy of these adjustments is evident in my course evaluations (see the improvement in the four plots below).

• Summer 2021: The course commenced as a traditional lecture-based format delivered online over Zoom. The innovation I focused on here was to develop koans for students to learn to program in R at home. The koans are short, fill-in-the-blank exercises with test files so that students can check their work before handing in. Because I designed them myself, they also integrate seemlessly with the programming and statistical analysis Econometrics projects I also had students complete.
• Fall 2021: The second time I taught EC421, I wanted to experiment with whether a hybrid model would even further improve student engagement and learning. One day each week featured a standard lecture, while the other was dedicated to collaborative problem-solving sessions in small groups.
• Summer 2022: Building on feedback and observing students' preferences, I transitioned the course to a fully flipped model. Students were assigned reading materials, lecture videos, and quizzes as homework, while class hours were exclusively reserved for hands-on problem-solving. These sessions made full use of Zoom's breakout room functionality, fostering peer-to-peer interaction and learning with lots of support from me as the instructor.
• Fall 2022: Encouraged by the success of the fully flipped model in the previous term, I continued with this methodology as I transitioned back to an in-person setting. I continued to improve my teaching materials and compiled my lecture material into a bookdown workbook. This course won me an award for exemplary teaching support for the Economics Department.

Here, I present a review of my course ratings over these four periods, a testament to my continuous efforts to innovate and adapt in response to students' needs and preferences. The data not only indicates how the course has evolved but also how my dedication to innovative teaching methods has positively impacted my students' experiences.