WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:02.020 --> 00:00:07.760 I started out teaching ECON 201 in the Fall of 1967 to 500 undergraduates 00:00:08.840 --> 00:00:10.800 Over the years that's more than doubled 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.500 Now I'm teaching over 1000 every Fall Semester 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:19.720 I'm teaching it as though this will be the last course a student takes 00:00:19.730 --> 00:00:22.190 in the principles of microeconomics. 00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:28.920 What I want them to see is that ECON is a way of thinking about the world, 00:00:29.020 --> 00:00:33.040 Partly through a focus on the hard core of economic principles 00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:35.880 Partly by trying to illustrate them with examples... 00:00:36.040 --> 00:00:39.660 If I'm teaching the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility 00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:42.000 I use an example my niece having a dish of ice cream... 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.860 [Student] He kept on offering her ice cream, and each time he offered it, 00:00:45.860 --> 00:00:49.240 she was less and less happy with each consecutive scoop. 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:51.680 I thought that was completely completely relatable and made 00:00:51.680 --> 00:00:54.240 the concept a lot easier to understand. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:55.820 [Student] Sitting down the first day of class 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:57.689 I was immediately enthralled. 00:00:57.689 --> 00:01:00.500 He's very knowledgeable and passionate about what he teaches 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:05.170 Before I took the class, everyone was saying "You must take a class with Professor Elzinga," 00:01:05.170 --> 00:01:08.690 because he's written this great mystery novel, he's famous... 00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:13.280 Under the pen name of Marshall Jevons 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.820 my former colleague and dear friend William Breit and I 00:01:15.820 --> 00:01:20.660 have co-authored 3 mystery novels in which an economist 00:01:20.660 --> 00:01:23.000 is the central figure and solves the crime 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:24.540 using economic analysis. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:29.700 We had done academic articles and books before so we were used to being co-authors, 00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:33.399 and now our four Marshall Jevons novels 00:01:33.399 --> 00:01:36.560 are assigned reading material in economics classes 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.820 all over the country. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.370 I want the students in the large lecture 00:01:43.370 --> 00:01:48.170 to understand that if they want to see me, they can, they may have to wait a while 00:01:48.240 --> 00:01:51.450 but I want the student who's been sitting there for 00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:55.110 thirty minutes to know that I will stay around 00:01:55.110 --> 00:01:56.710 until I've seen all the students. 00:01:56.880 --> 00:01:58.120 [Student] Immediately you form a connection 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:01.340 He is a very personable man, he is very kind, he's a mentor. 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:05.600 A lot of my time is spent with students talking about career opportunities 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:09.100 The level of technical knowledge of the discipline that they take from here 00:02:09.100 --> 00:02:10.170 is really quite amazing, 00:02:10.170 --> 00:02:13.550 and so our graduates are highly sought after for 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:16.690 graduate schools, not just in economics but in Law and Medicine. 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:24.020 Because of the number of students, there's no one room where they can all take the test, 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:26.300 so they are all spread all around the grounds. 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:29.000 If anybody gets a perfect score on the final tonight, 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:33.600 that'd be great, and I would love to meet you and take you out to lunch or dinner. 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:38.420 And if anybody misses every question? I would like to meet you too, same offer would hold! 00:02:38.420 --> 00:02:40.360 The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:44.230 doesn't really fit the way I view the classroom when I start in the fall 00:02:44.230 --> 00:02:48.010 I'm still nervous again, I want to improve the course. 00:02:48.010 --> 00:02:51.160 Even after all these years, I haven't lost my passion for teaching. 00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:53.450 Thank you very much for your time this semester! [Applause]