Designing a Conversion Masters Subject with Flexible Assessment

This paper develops a consistent approach to the design of a subject, The Economics of Financial Markets, which is a required course for a conversion Masters program. The course is a large enrolment (>50) with students coming from a number of countries and backgrounds in economics. In general, students display anxiety about theoretical aspects of the course and find it difficult to distinguish between the economics of financial markets and financial markets as taught in a standard finance course. Students display a high degree of reliance on lecturer notes and are more equipped to undertake rote learning than analysis. The subject design takes these factors into account and draws on educational principles and on economic analysis to establish the design framework. In order to distinguish the economics of financial markets from financial markets the subject design provides economic organising concepts; these are the efficiency of financial markets and the impact of financial variables on the real sector of the economy. In addition, the subject design develops a standard analytical procedure for analysis of financial instruments and financial markets. In each sector of the subject, standard analytical procedures are identified as are the specialised vocabulary of the economics of financial markets. The subject design incorporates both formative and summative assessment. The summative assessment is flexible allowing for some student choice but also providing incentives for students to undertake more than the minimum assessment tasks. The assessment instruments are related to the objectives of the course. Overall the assessment is designed to reduce student anxiety and encourage learning.