Digital Education Innovator To Give Eckley Economics Lecture

Feb. 27, 2018

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University will welcome Carlos Asarta, the Director of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) and Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Delaware, for a talk titled “Teaching Digitally-Minded Students” as part of the Robert S. Eckley Lecture Series in Economics.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. in the Hansen Student Center, and is free and open to the public.

“Professor Asarta's research focuses on the areas of economic education, and the use of technology in classroom,” said Illinois Wesleyan Associate Professor and Chair of Economics Amit Ghosh. “At IWU, where we greatly value the quality of student learning, he will be presenting his applied research on the effectiveness of educational practices targeted at digitally-minded students, a topic that transcends disciplines.”

Asarta, who holds a doctorate and master's degree in economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has published research in academic journals including the Journal of Economic Education, Internet and Higher Education and Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. Asarta has contributed toward updating the classroom to reflect the digital prowess of its students, most recently through his work as co-creator of Connect for Principles of Economics (McGraw-Hill).

With its “digital first” approach to learning, Connect for Principles of Economics takes all of the key ideas from Principles of Economics, a classic textbook utilized in many introductory college economics courses including at IWU, and formats the information in a more student-friendly, interactive format. It consists of 220 distinct concepts, each of which features a two to four-minute explanatory video, dynamic examples of applied concepts and assessment tools, all designed to make the course work more individualized to each student’s abilities and learning styles.

Asarta has received several teaching, service and research awards, including the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award from the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska (2013), the Lerner College Outstanding Teacher Award (2015) and the Abbejean Kehler Technology Award from the National Association of Economic Educators and the Council for Economic Education (2016).

The Robert S. Eckley Lecture Series in Economics is funded through a generous gift from late IWU president Robert Eckley, his wife Nell and the Eckley Family Foundation. 

By Rachel McCarthy '21