Examining the Design, Development, and Partnership in the Creation of an Online, Asynchronous, Dual-Enrollment Microeconomics Course

Abstract

When higher education was forced to transition to virtual instruction during the early months of COVID, Auburn University’s Department of Economics continued instruction through both synchronous and asynchronous lectures. During that same time, the Auburn First Dual Enrollment Initiative was gradually increasing its course offerings for interested Alabama high school students. As the Auburn First program recognized the demand for an online microeconomics course, the Department of Economics recognized the importance of delivering quality online instruction.  The authors of this article came together through the partnership of these two departments in August 2020. Tasked with enhancing the quality of the online microeconomics course for the Auburn First Initiative, the economics instructor and the instructional designer spent the remainder of 2020 collaborating virtually—both synchronously and asynchronously—to design and develop an interactive, media-rich course to meet the needs of dual enrollment microeconomics students in the 2021 spring semester. In this article, the instructor and instructional designer reflect on their experiences, challenges, and solutions in the course design, development, and implementation of the online, asynchronous, dual-enrollment microeconomics course. The paper also includes recommendations for faculty and instructional designers for developing more effective collaborative relationships.