{"id":1682,"date":"2021-01-27T08:25:39","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T16:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2024-07-23T13:10:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T20:10:53","slug":"diversity-in-online-economics-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/diversity-in-online-economics-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Student diversity drives learning in economics bachelor\u2019s degree online"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/h2>\n

Learners come from a range of professional backgrounds and often seek jobs in analytics, data or finance<\/h2>\n

For Oregon State University economics instructor Michael Jerman, the demographics of the students he teaches in person differ from those he teaches online.<\/p>\n

His on-campus students are primarily pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree straight out of high school. But his Oregon State Ecampus students come from a much wider variety of backgrounds \u2013 all different ages, career goals and life experiences \u2013 and are learning online in cities across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very rewarding for me,\u201d Jerman says. \u201cThis term, one of my students was in Austria, for instance. We could even bring that into the class. We could talk about how policies and social movements in Austria are similar to the United States or other places where people are around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students who enroll in the Oregon State economics bachelor\u2019s degree online<\/a> gain a strong foundation in quantitative analysis, oral and written communication, problem-solving and research methods. Designed for adult learners looking to change career paths or advance in their current field, the program also enables students to choose from three specializations to align with their specific goals: general economics; law, economics and policy; and managerial economics.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, there\u2019s a lot you can do with an economics bachelor\u2019s degree. So it\u2019s not surprising that Jerman\u2019s students have ranged from Major League Baseball team employees looking to secure an analytics role to military personnel preparing for a career after their deployment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a big world out there,\u201d Jerman says. \u201cWe get to experience it with Ecampus, which is pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n

A unique kind of classroom<\/h3>\n

In Oregon State\u2019s online programs, coursework consists of much more than a professor simply posting course material from the in-person program in the online format, Jerman says. Instead, faculty work closely with Ecampus\u2019 expert instructional designers to ensure students engage with the material in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Instructional designers] are very, very active in the pedagogy community and keeping up with the latest trends and research regarding what works and doesn\u2019t work in these [online] modalities,\u201d Jerman says. Ecampus students also have access to one-on-one student success coaching, creating a strong support network of its own, he adds.<\/p>\n

Even online, there are plenty of ways for students to interact and build meaningful relationships with each other and their instructors. In Jerman\u2019s economics classes, students complete group projects and participate in discussion boards in addition to reviewing academic papers and fulfilling other course requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has their own experiences that they can draw from,\u201d Jerman says.<\/p>\n

\"Michael

Michael Jerman is an instructor for the economics bachelor’s degree online in the School of Public Policy at Oregon State.<\/p><\/div>\n

Advancing a career online<\/h3>\n

There are a wide variety of jobs that economics students can seek upon graduation. In general, Jerman says, economics students pursue data- and analytics-focused roles, though the program can also lead to positions in finance or banking.<\/p>\n

The flexibility of the online learning format is ideal for somebody who works full time and wants to further their education without sacrificing their career or uprooting their lives, Jerman says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flexibility is much more rewarding, much more valuable for [a large majority of] students,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Jerman advises prospective online economics students to take advantage of all of the resources available through Ecampus and build connections with the instructors and other students, regardless of the distance between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust go in with that emphasis on being engaged rather than being a passive learner. Try to actively engage with the material, with the content and with your classmates,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about Oregon State’s online bachelor’s in economics?<\/p>\n

Request information<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 3<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>Meet Michael Jerman, OSU instructor for the online B.A.\/B.S. in Economics program. Throughout his teaching career, he’s seen trends change and classrooms evolve, but one thing has always rung true. Students learn best from their peers who have different experiences than their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,9,672,676],"tags":[26,261,640,25],"class_list":["post-1682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-ecampus","category-faculty","category-learning-experience","category-why-osu","tag-distance-education","tag-economics","tag-health-and-human-science","tag-online-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/jerman_m.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-r8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1697,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/real-world-economists\/","url_meta":{"origin":1682,"position":0},"title":"Earn an economics degree online and learn from real-world economists","author":"Tyler Hansen","date":"February 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon State offers an economics bachelor\u2019s degree online through OSU Ecampus, and having Ph.D. instructors like Taylor Rhodes on the faculty is one of the program\u2019s many benefits. 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