Issue 24, February 2019

This paper analyses and evaluates the effect of a specific continuous assessment activity on learning outcomes (competences and content) in the context of the subject Public Economics. Specifically, students worked in groups to carry out a critical analysis of the public policies proposed by the four main political parties in their respective electoral programs for the 2016 general elections: Ciudadanos, Partido Popular, Partido Socialista Obrero Español and Podemos. The results of the students’ analyses were exposed in class and assessed by their peers, applying cooperative learning for the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. A survey on the satisfaction level of participating students indicated that they found the activity useful mainly for the development of non-cognitive skills related to oral communication, synthesis, teamwork and self-learning. Likewise, the survey pointed out that the activity helped students to better understand the theoretical contents of the subject and the link of these concepts to the Spanish socioeconomic situation.

In this paper we describe an experience of teaching innovation based on gamification. The initiative consisted of transforming the course of Corporate Taxation, which is taught in the Degree of Business Administration and double Degrees with Business Administration at the Rey Juan Carlos University, in the game Fiscal Re-Game. The objective is to create an active learning environment in which the students feel more motivated and committed to their training by incorporating game mechanics. In this novel design, the students advance in levels that are associated to the different topics of the teaching guide and with which they obtain points that are part of their global scores. The activities proposed in the course made it possible that students became more easily involved with the study of the subject from the beginning of the course. The evaluation of the results shows that in the groups in which this innovation has been implemented students dedicate more time to prepare the subject and the classes are more participative and dynamic. The proposed design is a good example of gamification that can be used in subjects with similar characteristics.

The free software data analysis program R has gained much popularity in recent years, due in part to the development of friendly interfaces like RStudio. Among the many complements available, the Shiny package means that interactive applications can be created which allow users to experiment with the changes in the results arising from changes in the inputs. This interactivity can be used to develop a series of pedagogical tools to reinforce learning. There is a wide range of possibilities, from applications that illustrate how a technique works, to others that facilitate understanding difficult concepts, or even enable teachers to assess the acquisition of concepts and competences. Thus, this paper presents some interactive applications for self-assessment written in R code that provide students with customized exercises of a common structure. The common structure facilitates collaborative work among students, while the customized features mean that each student does some autonomous work, so avoiding mere replication of work done by colleagues. Students can use the tool to assess their progress and to reflect on their learning processes. In addition, the customization of the exercises and their easy marking are key features for teachers. Therefore, we think that this set of applications allows teachers and students to address the teaching and learning of a subject – in this case Statistics – in a more effective, engaging and attractive manner. Indeed, it is possible to design applications like these in other disciplines (Public Economics, Applied Economics...) in different degree qualifications, or even use them to promote and encourage mainstreaming between different subjects.

A book is reviewed, written by a large group of researchers, specialists in the field, who propose a methodology, based on statistical profiling, to design, more efficiently, active employment policies. It is a very complete book, which contextualises the problem to be solved, explains the methodology to be followed and proposes several illustrative examples within the framework of the Spanish public employment services. This book can be very useful to guide the work of labour intermediaries and for teaching (not introductory) and research in labour economics.