Extra credit option: The Cooperative Learning Lab (CLL)

Description: Your performance on the items listed in the course syllabus determines your basic grade in the class. However, the Cooperative Learning Lab can earn you a grade of A with a weight of up to 10 percent of your course grade. There is no penalty for failing to pursue the CLL  extra-credit option. The only course requirement is that you at least try the first unit as part of an assigned team.

The CLL has three objectives: (1) to provide you with an extra incentive to study together with your classmates, (2) to provide a form of evaluation not centered on what can sometimes be high-stress written exams, and (3) to provide you with an opportunity to talk about the material of Intermediate Microeconomics and its applications with someone other than the course instructor.

The CLL divides the course material into six units with the following schedule:

Procedure: The unit tests are administered by program tutors (selected economics majors) during the CLL times. Initially, you will take the unit tests together in teams of three or four students. You are encouraged to work together throughout the term, but you will have ample opportunity to work alone if you prefer. Here is how it works:
	1.	Your team gets a copy of a CLL unit test from a student tutor. A typical unit test consists of about three problems to solve and is designed to take about 20 minutes to complete. You think about your answers to each question and then discuss your answers with each other until you all understand each answer. Note: You cannot start a unit test later than 45 minutes before closing time.
	2.	Write up and submit written answers (it doesn't matter who does the writing). IMPORTANT NOTE: Bring along some other work to do, since you may occasionally have to wait awhile for your turn to discuss the test answers with a tutor.
	3.	A student tutor will call on your team when it is your team's turn. For each test problem, the tutor will randomly select a team member to orally discuss the answers to that problem. During the discussion, the tutor may ask for clarification of certain points or extensions of the written answers.
	4.	If your team answers all of the questions correctly, the tutor will give each team member a pass. If your team needs more work on certain concepts, each of you will receive an incomplete. The student tutor will try to explain what your team is having difficulty with. You are then encouraged to take another test for the same unit until you pass.
	5.	You may repeat units as often as is necessary for you to pass them. You receive the same credit for a unit no matter how many tries it takes you to complete it successfully.

Grading: The tests for each unit are available only during the days scheduled for that unit. If you pass all six unit tests and try them each time on your assigned day, then 10 percent of your final course grade will be weighted as an "A,"  and 90 percent will be based on the required course assignments listed in the course syllabus. If your course grade is a "C" (2.0) without the CLL, and you earn the maximum CLL extra credit, then your final grade would be calculated as: .9 x 2.0 + .1 x 4.0 = 2.2 which is high enough to earn a C+ instead of a C.

Final comments: If you never pass a cooperative learning lab unit test, your grade will be based entirely on the weights given in the syllabus for the required course assignments. However, you will be missing out an important aid in improving your understanding of the course material. Working together:

•    allows you to improve your understanding of the material by discussing it with each other,
•    is usually more fun than working alone,
•    provides some variety, and
•    fosters teamwork skills which are increasingly useful in professional work.

I hope that the CLL gives you an opportunity to improve your understanding of the material. Not only do you get feedback on your knowledge of the course material, but you reinforce your learning via discussion with the members of your group as well as the student tutors. Because the discussions are with other students instead of the professor, the atmosphere of the CLL is relatively casual. Grading the performance on these unit tests as "Pass/Incomplete" further reduces test anxiety. I hope that these features make the CLL a useful and enjoyable way for you to learn economics.