Beyond the Textbook: Modernizing Money, Credit, and Banking Courses with Innovative Resources and Applied Learning

This article presents a redesign of a Money, Credit, and Banking course to provide viable alternatives and/or supplements to a traditional textbook. Open educational resources from the Federal Reserve (news articles, podcasts, and FRED economic data) and the Community Banking Case Study Competition were combined to more effectively engage students by connecting theory to current monetary policy issues and the unique challenges that local community banks are facing. Both innovations decreased student textbook costs, increased student engagement, and addressed course learning outcomes. Practical implementation steps and lessons learned are presented to guide other instructors who wish to revitalize their upper-level economics courses with these applied exercises.

by Carolyne Soper

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Soper, C. (2026). Beyond the Textbook: Modernizing Money, Credit, and Banking Courses with Innovative Resources and Applied Learning. Available online at Journal of Economics Teaching, DOI: 10.58311/jeconteach/4ab9601a74192b4dfa9b6fc971cd6b1622e917a7

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