The Challenge

The two main challenges we are trying to address are engagement, a more active research-led teaching curriculum, and an innovative approach to teaching in higher education which adapt to way the new generation consumes information.

Over the past decades, we have been observing two factors in student behaviour. The first one is a decline in engagement, which was intensified and highlighted by COVID-19. The second one is that if we look at the NSS results and the research intensity measured by the REF, we find a consistent negative relationship between student satisfaction and research intensity, particularly in economics. Past research shows that an appropriate integration of research in higher education has positive results in student motivation and final grades in different areas (see for example: Kinkead, 2003; Land and Gordon, 2013). But also, the benefits of social networks in academia have been proven to be positive, facilitating interactions among PhD students (Nandez and Borrego, 2013), or using the platforms as discussion forums and collaborative learning platforms (see for example: Al-Balhrani and Patel, 2017; Middleditch et al. 2022).

The Solution

In the academic years 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 we introduced an Instagram account (@dailylifeecon: https://www.instagram.com/dailylifeecon/), the most used social networks by generation Z as a way of (1) introducing research-led teaching activities, (2) increasing engagement, and (3) relating teaching to students’ real lives. We introduced the account in the following modules Principles of Microeconomics 2 (University of Manchester – year 1); Managerial Economics I (University of Manchester – year 2); Microeconomics 4 (University of Manchester – year 2); and Monetary Economics (Lancaster University – year 3).

We use the way Generation Z consumes media today and the different features of Instagram to address the issues of engagement and introduce a more research-led curriculum.

(1) We use stories ahead of the lecture, posts which are only available for 24 hours to introduce the students to the lecture topics and motivate participation and engagement. For example, ahead of a lecture on real interest rates and inflation, for his module in Monetary Economics, Will released a questionnaire on the student’s shopping basket and whether they had noticed any price increases in specific goods. The students then have a sense of the next day’s lecture topic, and they relate it to an activity in their daily lives. This also served as a discussion topic during the lecture which linked to the theoretical concepts explained.

(2) Reels (90-second videos) or posts which briefly explain concepts that relate to our module content and their students’ lives, for example, how their decision to live on or off campus relates to an economic decision concept we see in Microeconomics 4. Some of these reels and posts will also have the option to follow up with further reading with an original case study (written by us) or an academic article or specialised publications the posts links to.

Parallel to the Instagram account we have a page of extra resources for those curious minds who want to know more! https://sites.google.com/view/dailylifeecon/home

The Outcome

We collected data on followers and their interactions per post. We studied whether engagement with the Instagram account influenced the student’s final mark, and find a correlation between interacting with the account and getting a higher final mark or the probability of getting a higher mark above the average.

We also used pre- and post-exposure questionnaires where we asked the students how they perceived the use of social networks as an engaging tool, more specifically, their opinion about the Instagram account @dailylifeecon. 122 students filled in the questionnaire. 75% of the students found the account helpful in explaining economic concepts related to their module, and over 70% helped them to relate the theoretical economic concepts to real-world situations.

School: School of Social Sciences (SoSS)

Discipline: Economics

Academic: Sofia Izquierdo Sanchez (University of Manchester) and William Tayler (Lancaster University)

Courses: ECON20001-Managerial Economics, ECON20022-Microeconomics 4, ECON10172-Principles of Microeconomics

Cohort Size: 400, 300, 200

Themes: Teaching Ideas, Teaching Innovation

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