Teaching water and sanitation economics and policy with a focus on low- and middle-income countries

Dale Whittington, Duncan Andrew Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper describes our experience from 2010 to 2018 developing and delivering a multidisciplinary graduate course on “Water and Sanitation Policy and Planning in Developing Countries.” This course was synchronously taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Manchester, UK. We describe both our learning objectives and the conceptual framework for policy analysis that were used to structure the course. We discuss our problem-based learning approach to case studies and policy memo format assignments. We summarize eleven key messages that we want students to think hard about when reflecting on the course materials. This aligns with our aim to prepare students to address key challenges of water and sanitation access and provision that they could encounter in careers in the global Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector. We discuss how our teaching was improved from 2012 after we converted our in-person class for parallel delivery as two massive open online courses (MOOCs) on Coursera. This afforded more class time to use a “flipped” classroom format, enabling more active participation because students could watch recorded lectures outside class.
Original languageEnglish
JournalApplied Economics Teaching Resources
Volume5
Issue numberMay 2023
Early online date5 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2023

Keywords

  • water
  • sanitation
  • water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector
  • massive open online courses
  • MOOCs
  • low- and middle-income countries

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