Teaching

EDI teaching and curricular development includes an OSUN Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy, OSUN Applied Economic Policy Analysis Certificate, OSUN Network Collaborative Courses, modules on EDI's research themes, and student-led engaged research projects.

OSUN-EDI Summer Workshop

Public Finance and Economic Policy

The Open Society University Network (OSUN) welcomes undergraduate applications for its summer workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy. Organized and hosted by the OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI), this five-day workshop is for undergraduate students interested in public policy to tackle economic instability and insecurity, and in understanding the financing capacity and policy space available to governments to pursue these aims. 

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OSUN-EDI Certificate Program

Applied Economic Policy Analysis

OSUN-EDI is launching a new undergraduate Certificate in Applied Economic Policy Analysis. The certificate is designed for the next generation of policymakers committed to the principles of economic stability, shared prosperity, and economic rights by supplementing their economics training with insights from other disciplines. The certificate is designed to provide students with a set of cutting-edge interdisciplinary analytical techniques and theoretical approaches to tackle urgent twenty-first century problems. 

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Curricular Development

  • Economic Perspectives for Policy Making
    The OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI) is convening a collaborative workshop for faculty across the OSUN community interested in developing an undergraduate OSUN Network Collaborative Course connecting the history of economic thought to contemporary policy debates. This course demonstrates to students how the concerns and topics of classical political economy and early twentieth-century economic thought continue to influence and frame ongoing discussions about economic and social policy.
  • Right to Employment
    Right to Employment is an interdisciplinary OSUN Network Collaborative Course that focuses on social, economic, legal, and policy developments regarding the right to employment, and introduces students to international initiatives and innovative programs. Students read economic analyses, policy proposals, legislative documents, and program reviews. The course can be tailored to the pedagogical and research interests and capacity of each OSUN partner including adjustments for the particular OSUN program, context, and location.
  • Democratizing Work after the Pandemic
    This OSUN Summer Course rethinks and re-imagines work as a democratic project in the post-pandemic world. Working people are not simple ‘resources.’ That was a central lesson of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The course examines why economic well-being and economic security cannot be governed by market forces alone. It evaluates how and why existing economic structures exacerbate rampant inequalities, erode the very foundations of economic stability, and threaten the lives of the most vulnerable.
  • GIS Across Boundaries
    This networked interdisciplinary course trains students to use standard GIS tools (such as ArcGIS and QGIS) for manipulating and analyzing geospatial data. It aims to confront environmental, social, and economic inequality by using these data. Environmental justice, economic security, ecological sustainability, and other local policy issues are addressed by working hands-on with real world data sources. Quantitative and exploratory data analysis, data visualization, photogrammetry, and data storytelling make up the bulk of the syllabus, but not without a keen eye on social issues.