ABSTRACT
Introduction Although outlets dedicated to research in economics education have existed since the establishment of the Journal of Economic Education in 1969,1 its content has remained almost exclusively mainstream regardless of whether such research discusses course content or pedagogical practices. Despite the lack of a dedicated outlet for heterodox approaches to economics education, it takes little effort to locate a significant (and growing) body of work appearing throughout heterodox journals and in edited volumes. In light of literature critical of the status quo, one might find it surprising that there has been little change in either content or pedagogical practices over the decades for which this information has been gathered. For example, the lecture mode still dominates despite scores of active learning exercises described throughout the literature (Becker and Watts 2007) and the principles textbook has deviated little from the Samuelsonian model of the 1950s in spite of significant changes in the economics it is purported to introduce (Colander 2005a, 2006). Despite this apparent inertia, I remain optimistic about the future of pluralism in economics education, and in the forthcoming pages I describe what I see as an opportunity to expand economics education in a way that is consistent with a pluralistic perspective. Any call for change must be accompanied by discipline-wide conversations, lest change be relegated to the margins. The lack of communication between heterodox and mainstream economics educators is readily apparent in reviews of either mainstream pedagogical journals or competing heterodox outlets in which the status quo is routinely criticized. Rarely are leaders in economics education on the other side of the aisle invited to participate in these conversations. As a result, voices calling for change speak in languages that are both exclusionary and isolating, whether one considers research across the array of heterodox paradigms or in comparison with the mainstream, and their impact is relegated to participants who are already engaged in this work or are predisposed to alternative perspectives. The goal of this chapter is to provide an alternative approach for promoting pluralism in undergraduate economics education, one that is motivated by conversations covering broad educational goals, focusing on desired student
outcomes rather than classroom inputs. I begin by describing my view of this pluralistic agenda and why change is needed. To highlight the difference between my approach and previous reform attempts, I provide a brief categorization of past heterodox efforts, arguing that their minimal impact is due, in part, to the isolationist tendencies of this work. Emerging trends in higher education toward liberal education and outcomes-based assessment are then described, providing a motivation for advocating pluralism through focusing conversations on desired student outcomes. In conclusion, I offer a number of recommendations consistent with this alternative approach.
