Waymaker Microeconomics (Summer 2018)

This course provides a strong foundation in microeconomic theory, whether preparing for further study in economics, the social sciences, business, or other disciplines. Designed to help students think like economists, course materials use engaging, real-world examples to explore how individuals and firms make economic choices. Key topics include supply and demand, elasticity, utility, production and costs, and an analysis of types of markets: perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Content coverage also includes public goods and externalities, labor markets, income distribution, globalization and trade, and exchange rates and international finance. An orientation module helps students refresh skills around modeling, graphing, and algebra for economic problem-solving.

Contributors

This course, based on OpenStax Principles of Economics, includes additional noteworthy contributions by the Lumen Learning team and:

• Steve Greenlaw (University of Mary Washington)
• Sophie Haci (Houston Community College)
• Melissa Walker (Nashville State Community College)
• Veronika Dolar (SUNY Old Westbury)
• Michael Fusillo (Tufts University)
• Shawn Kilpatrick (Northeastern University)
• Jennifer Pakula (Saddleback College)
• Clark Aldrich

What’s New?

This new edition of Waymaker Microeconomics includes significant improvements and enhancements:

Data-Driven Improvements

Several topics proved to be consistently difficult for the thousands of students who took a Waymaker Economics course during Fall 2017. We have made specific improvements to address these difficult topics, several of which are explained below:

• The Production Possibilities Frontier: The new version of the course includes additional applied graphing practice and two new videos on this topic (see https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-microeconomics/chapter/the-production-possibilities-frontier/)
• Price Elasticity and Total Revenue: The new version of the course includes additional applied practice on this topic (see https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-microeconomics/chapter/elasticity-and-total-revenue/)
• Surplus and Efficiency: The new version of the course includes a “Learn by Doing” page for additional practice in solving for consumer and producer surplus (see https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-microeconomics/chapter/learn-by-doing-consumer-and-producer-surplus/)
• Graphs in Economics: The new version of the course includes several new practice questions, including those which enable students to manipulate graphs (see https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-microeconomics/chapter/interpreting-slope/)

General Improvements

• Improved course organization 
  • Modules are more consistent in size and depth
  • Content is organized around specific, granular, learning outcomes, which are listed at the top of each page
  • Practice questions, try it questions, and quiz questions all align with learning outcomes
• “Try It” embedded practice questions for every learning outcome (for example, on this page, Factors Affecting Demand, students learn about concepts and then immediately check their understanding with applied practice)
  • Some quantitative “Try It” questions are intentionally designed for unlimited practice using different number sets (example at the bottom of this page on Price Floors)
• “Learn By Doing” pages for even more practice
  • Similar to the “Try It” questions, some “Learn By Doing” pages consist of quantitative practice questions that serve as another checkpoint for students to assess their own understanding (see Learn By Doing: Graphing Demand)
  • Other “Learn By Doing” pages are simulations which allow students to manipulate variables and assess the impact of decisions (see Learn By Doing: Demand for Food Trucks)
• “Watch It” embedded videos that explain and reiterate key concepts throughout the course
  • Most videos come from Marginal Revolution University, Dr. Mary McGlasson (mjmfoodie), ACDC Economics, and Crash Course Economics
• Interactive graphs (as seen in the salmon fishing example on this page: Changes in Equilibrium)
  • Complicated graphs are explained in a step-by-step process to help students see and understand how the graph changes
• Discussions and Assignments for every module (available here with instructor log-in)
• Problem Sets for every module (available here with instruction log-in)

About Lumen

Lumen Learning’s mission is to enable unprecedented learning for all students.

We do this by using open educational resources (OER) to create well-designed and low-cost course materials that replace expensive textbooks. Because learning is about more than affordability and access, we also apply learning science insights and efficacy research to develop learning activities that are engineered to improve subject mastery, course completion and retention.

If you’d like to connect with us to learn more about adopting this course, please Contact Us.

You can also make an appointment for OER Office Hours to connect virtually with a live Lumen expert about any question you may have.