Björn Thor Arnarson
Abstract
Open and Unstructured Assignment in International Economics
This project introduces a new mandatory assignment to the course Advanced International Trade.
The assignment is designed to be open and unstructured. The idea behind the design is to challenge
students in new ways and strengthen their skills in an applied policy relevant setting that complements student learning in other areas of the course. A “revise and resubmit” mechanism was incorporated in the assignment to enhance the learning experience and complement the open and unstructured format.
The topic of the assignment was a hypothetical situation where students should evaluate the potential impact of adding a country (or region) to the common EU market. The assignment is constructed to be both open and unstructured. It is open as students are free to find their own data and formulate the exact question being analyzed; it is unstructured as students are free to approach the assignment as they see fit and only broadly guided as they should use the Gravity Equation
framework (standard in the field).
For the assignment, a structure of individualized feedback was introduced. The students were
instructed to submit their assignment before a pre-specified deadline. However, they were informed
that they would receive individualized feedback on their assignment which they (potentially) should
incorporate into their assignment and resubmit.
Overall, the format of the assignment was well received. Students did feel that the level of difficulty
was appropriate yet challenging for a master's level course. The format was more realistic and
challenged the students in new dimensions that provided a job-like experience.