Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Mary Washington
International Economics, Fall 2014
Introduction to Econometrics, Fall 2014
Principles of Macroeconomics, Fall 2014
Instructor, George Washington University
Economic Development, Summer 2013
Survey of International Economics, Summer 2013
Intermediate Microeconomics, Summer 2013
Financial Economics, Summer 2011 & Summer 2012
Teaching Assistant, George Washington University
General Education Curriculum (GPAC), Fall & Spring 2012-2013
Graduate Microeconomics I & II, Fall & Spring 2010-2012
Principles of Macroeconomics, Fall & Spring 2009-2010
I am passionate about economics and I express my passion in my teaching. I convey my love for the subject to my students and motivate them to share in this passion through my lectures, my innovative teaching techniques, and my interactions with them outside of the classroom. For students that have a drive to learn more on the subject, I work to inspire them to move beyond the textbook and lecture notes and convey to them how much of a difference they can make using the tools they have learned.
I have found new and creative ways to engage students through new technology, group assignments, discussion time, and projects. One of the new technological tools that I use is called Top Hat. This app is available for students’ computers, cell phones, tablets, and other devices and has allowed me to ask a range of questions that facilitate active learning throughout each class period and prepare students for future assignments. It has also allowed me to assess how well students understand the concepts discussed in lecture that day and distinguish students that are experiencing difficulties.
The first 5 minutes of class are devoted to discussion of world events, where myself and students bring up current events related to the course. Students are given extra credit incentives to analyze current events that relate to the course and bring them up during this time. I then relate these current events to past, current, and future topics that will be covered in the course. For instance, we recently analyzed the potential impacts of Scotland’s independence. I have found that this makes students excited to learn.
I have found that regular homework assignments are essential to prepare students for exams. I assign homework problems to solidify and challenge their understanding of the material discussed in class. These questions build off of the material in class and Top Hat questions and encourage students to synthesize new material. I have also found that in-class group assignments that challenge students knowledge engages peer learning and further engages students.
In upper level courses I have found that having a group project made up of a research paper and short presentation allows students to apply their newly acquired knowledge. I have found that setting deadlines throughout the progression of the course walks students through the process of finding a research question and writing a research paper and after grading each part of the project students are given ample ability to make any revisions. Beyond attaining a good grade, I give students the incentive of presenting their papers in undergraduate seminars.
I believe that every professor has room to grow in their teaching abilities and student feedback is essential in this. I do everything I can to make myself as approachable as possible and I give an extra credit incentive to all students to complete online course evaluations. Because of the praises and criticisms that I have received on these evaluations I have been able to improve my teaching skills year after year.
I believe that every year I teach, I continue to learn not only from my own self-identified successes and failures, but also through experimentation with new approaches to help motivate and encourage students, and from all of the students who continue to inspire me. I love working with students from all different backgrounds because I believe they all have interesting ideas that can move our field forward.
Average Scores from Teaching Evaluations. Scoring range was 1-5, with 1 being the most negative and 5 being the most positive |
| |
|
Summer |
Summer |
Summer |
Summer |
Weighted |
| |
2011 |
2012 |
2013(i) |
2013(ii) |
Mean |
Total Number of Respondents |
|
2 |
17 |
23 |
11 |
53 |
Total Number of Students Enrolled |
|
19 |
18 |
23 |
13 |
73 |
Overall Rating of the Instructor |
|
4.5 |
3.8 |
4.5 |
4.4 |
4.3 |
Professor demonstrated concern about whether students were learning |
|
4.5 |
3.8 |
4.3 |
4.6 |
4.2 |
Clarity of lectures |
|
4.5 |
4.3 |
4.2 |
4.5 |
4.3 |
Professor was knowledgeable about the subject and course material |
|
4.5 |
4.2 |
4.8 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
Professor's enthusiasm for topic/subject |
|
4.5 |
3.9 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
4.3 |
Professor's accessibility outside of class |
|
4.5 |
3.6 |
4.2 |
4.5 |
4.1 |
Professor designed and used fair grading procedures |
|
4.5 |
4.4 |
4.5 |
4.4 |
4.5 |
Professor provided adequate feedback on exams/papers/performance |
|
5 |
4.1 |
4.2 |
4.5 |
4.3 |
Overall Rating of the Course |
|
4.5 |
3.6 |
3.7 |
4.1 |
3.8 |
Amount You Learned in the Course |
|
4 |
3.8 |
3.8 |
4.1 |
3.9 |
Economic Development, Summer 2013 (II)
Survey of International Economics, Summer 2013 (I)
Intermediate Microeconomics, Summer 2013
Financial Economics, Summer 2011 & Summer 2012
“Melanie Allwine was a great instructor. She definitely loved the material she was teaching and taught it with great enthusiasm.” Summer 2013
“Allwine is an excellent instructor who really strives to help her students understand the material.” Summer 2013
“The instructor, in my opinion, and probably the opinion of most in the class is the model of a perfect professor. GW needs a lot more professors like this and students would love class a lot more. She developed a plan at the beginning of the class, had organized lectures everyday with reinforced power points, and finally gave a homework that further enhanced what we learned in class. By making thehomework graded on completion she took out the stress of learning and made it interesting. In her class, if you did the work, studied, asked questions and payed attention you achieved an A or a B. If you didn’t you got a C or lower. This is how classes should be.” Summer 2013
“Professor Allwine was fantastic. She has a clear teaching method and delivered materials very well.” Summer 2013
“Honestly, she was one of the professors I have had at GW. She presented the goals of the course clearly on the first day and then reinforced those in each lecture through very well explained and thought out power points. She then was extremely fair with testing. If you came to class, took notes, and studied, did homework, and asked questions you had a great chance of acing the material. This is how al GW classes should be.” Summer 2013
“Professor Allwine was fantastic. She has a clear teaching method and delivered materials very well.” Summer 2013
“She is very helpful and I truly appreciate her time spent in office hours and readiness to respond to information via email.” Summer 2013
“Homework assignments were very valuable- they helped me to better understand the processes we learned about, and going over them the next day helped to clear up any confusions I had.” Summer 2013
“The homework after every class was really effective in helping reinforce the points. Also, by making it graded on effort alone was really nice and allowed us to work on the homework and learn without the stress of just looking for a right answer. I wish more teachers would do this.” Summer 2013
