The effects of an experience of curricular renewal on Introductory Economics students

Abstract

This work describes the effects of introducing a new curriculum in an introductory course in Economics, through the book The Economy (Curriculum in Open-access Resources in Economics CORE Team, 2017), on students’ academic performance and perception of the subject in the context of the bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Salamanca (USAL). We find that this action results in an increase in the academic performance of students, a positive valuation of the new approach by students and increase in the pupils’ interest in the subject. Nevertheless, there remain relevant barriers limiting the potential benefits of this initiative, like the low use of suggested bibliography and the difficulties with English language reported by many students.