Intermediate Micro and Principles of Macro Extend Offerings from Company Founded by Paul Romer; Materials in Use by More Than 100 Institutions and 10,000 Students Nationwide
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 03, 2003—Annual meeting of the American Economics Association—Aplia Inc., a new-generation educational publisher, today announced an extensive expansion of its product line. Intermediate Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics are now available, joining Principles of Microeconomics, which is already in use at more than 100 institutions and with 10,000 students nationwide.
The new products continue Aplia's mission of providing technology-based learning solutions that encourage more effort by students and save time for professors, thereby positively altering the way technology is used in the classroom. Aplia offers through these new products customizable content and tools that professors can use in their existing course websites or in new websites built in the Aplia environment.
"All of us who teach recognize that student effort is the most important input in education, and frequent, graded homework assignments are the best way to encourage that effort," said Paul Romer, chairman and founder of Aplia and one of the nation's leading economists. "Unfortunately, the costs of traditional homework, such as grading, providing feedback, and managing paper flow are simply too high, making professors less likely to assign the homework students need to thrive. Our focus at Aplia is to use technology in a way that motivates students to put in that effort while not requiring more time from professors. These two new products follow in that vein and will allow many more professors and students to benefit from this approach."
Aplia's web-based products have been built with the help of a community of economists committed to teaching. In fact, Aplia's Intermediate Microeconomics content utilizes much of the work of Theodore Bergstrom of the University of California - Santa Barbara. His Workouts text, written with Hal Varian to accompany Intermediate Microeconomics - A Modern Approach textbook, is now, for the first time, available online through a partnership between Aplia and W.W. Norton & Company, publishers of the text, which is in its sixth edition. Now, professors can easily take advantage of the rich problems found in Workouts, quickly assign problems online and let the machine score them automatically, provide feedback reports, and handle record keeping.
Beyond that, the new products offer the following features and benefits:
Intermediate Microeconomics
- Provides a comprehensive group of class-tested problem sets
- Integrates algebraic and numerical problems with graphing tools that have rich functionality
- Displays math (including subscripts and fractions) with no special plugins or programs on the student's machine
- Lets students select answers involving mathematical formulas through a simple and user-friendly interface
- Gives students detailed information about correct and incorrect answers and encourages them to try again until they get the right answer
Principles of Macroeconomics
Aplia's Principles of Macroeconomics offers the same features found in the Principles of Microeconomics product, with an emphasis on problems linked to news articles from such publications as the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Economist, about current macroeconomic developments. The features of this product will include:
- Problem Sets: A database of thousands of high-quality, machine-scored problems covering key macroeconomic topics to be assigned as graded or practice homework sets
- News Analyses: Analyses and associated problems linked to news articles about macroeconomic developments. The summaries draw connections to course concepts, discussion questions, and problem sets.
- Experiments: Online interactions that teach important macro concepts such as the difference between the real and nominal interest rates
- Tutorials: Guided activities that provide remedial support for students with weaker math skills in fundamental topics
- Interactive Tools: Text readings interspersed with dynamic graphs and self-assessment questions to help students comprehend difficult topics and reinforce their learning about macro concepts
As with all of Aplia's products, professors are able to browse Aplia's rich library of high-quality content, then select, tailor, and assign specific items to meet their course needs.
Many professors using the materials indicate that their students are learning more effectively and are coming to class more prepared and ready to delve into economic topics.
"Aplia harnesses and exploits some of the fundamental advantages of web-based delivery — grading for large classes, having students work on problems and be confident in answers they receive, providing well-written materials to help students learn the topics, and applying interactive graphs that truly help students learn," said Associate Professor Dennis Kaufman, University of Wisconsin, Parkside.
To date, more than 100 schools are using the materials, including Auburn University, Cal State Fullerton, Georgia Institute of Technology, Indiana University, De Anza Community College, Oregon State University, San Jose State University, Stanford University, US Air Force Academy, and Virginia Institute of Technology.
CONTACTS:
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Susan Prager Marketing Specialist 650-413-6678 sprager@aplia.com |