Teaching
Instructor Experience
I was instructor for ECON 2010 (Introduction to Microeconomics) in Spring 2024, and an instructor for ECON 3010 (Intermediate Microeconomics) in Summer 2023. I also unofficially taught micro core-prep sessions to aid the first-year graduate students in preparing for the qualifying exam in microeconomics. Both ECON 2010 and ECON 3010 involved developing a curriculum, writing lecture notes, lecture quizzes, homeworks, practice problems, and tests, as well as lecturing, grading, holding office hours, and meeting one-on-one with students. More information and course materials are available upon request.
In ECON 2010, we began with PPFs and trade, and then moved on to supply and demand. We covered taxes, subsidies, price restrictions, and quantity restrictions, and price supports. Then we drilled deeper into the producer decisions, graphing cost curves and examining short-run and long-run supply, as well as monopolies.
ECON 3010 began with consumer theory: budget sets, indifference curves, and solving for optimal consumer choices. Then we moved to producer theory, covering cost minimization, short-run and long-run cost, and profit maximization. From there, we examined competitive equilibria in the long run and the short run, as well as monopolies, Cournot competition, Bertrand competition, and Stackelberg leaders.
Teaching Evaluations
The table below summarizes course evaluations while I was an instructor. For each question, students respond with a number between 1 and 5, with 1 = “strongly disagree”, 2 = “disagree”, 3 = “neither agree nor disagree”, 4 = “agree”, and 5 = “strongly agree”. The rating is the average of the student responses, so ratings between 4 and 5 indicate a consensus between “agree” and “strongly agree”. More granular data is available upon request.
| Question | Rating |
|---|---|
| The course increased my enthusiasm for the topic. | 4.10 |
| Through this course, I gained a deeper understanding of the subject matter. | 4.52 |
| I had access to the course materials I needed to learn, including access to required textbooks, course readings, technology tools, and other materials. | 4.27 |
| The instructor clearly communicated the course schedule and expectations for participation (e.g., readings, discussions). | 4.62 |
| The instructor clearly communicated the course learning objectives. | 4.51 |
| The instructor implemented learning activities and assignments that allowed me to demonstrate understanding of the course material. | 4.37 |
| The instructor provided me prompt and useful feedback on my learning. | 4.20 |
| The instructor provided opportunities for my active participation. | 3.87 |
| The instructor was available to help support my learning. | 4.60 |
| The instructor fostered an environment where I felt valued as an individual and that I belonged in the class. | 4.33 |
| Overall, the instructor was an effective teacher. | 4.46 |
| The instructor created an environment that respected difference and welcomed diverse perspectives. | 4.25 |
Teaching Assistant Experience
I worked as a teaching assistant for ECON 2010 (Introduction to Microeconomics), ECON 3720 (Introduction to Econometrics), and ECON 5090 (Mathematics for Economists). This role involved teaching discussion sections, holding office hours, and grading. Contact: Marc Santugini, ms3ae@virginia.edu
- ECON 3720: Primarily focused on teaching students how to use STATA for OLS, predictions, tests, and instrumental variables. I held weekly discussions on STATA and met with students in office hours to go over questions and assignments.
- ECON 2010: Taught discussion sections on production and trade, the supply and demand model with various government interventions, and producer cost curves.
- ECON 5090: Worked with incoming first-year graduate students, covering topics from real analysis and linear algebra to constrained optimization and the envelope theorem. This included a weekly discussion section and extensive office hours.
Teaching Evaluations
| Question | Rating |
|---|---|
| The course increased my enthusiasm for the topic. | 3.85 |
| Through this course, I gained a deeper understanding of the subject matter. | 4.30 |
| I had access to the course materials I needed to learn, including access to required textbooks, course readings, technology tools, and other materials. | 4.33 |
| The instructor clearly communicated the course schedule and expectations for participation (e.g., readings, discussions). | 4.40 |
| The instructor clearly communicated the course learning objectives. | 4.40 |
| The instructor implemented learning activities and assignments that allowed me to demonstrate understanding of the course material. | 4.38 |
| The instructor provided me prompt and useful feedback on my learning. | 4.30 |
| The instructor provided opportunities for my active participation. | 4.20 |
| The instructor was available to help support my learning. | 4.50 |
| The instructor fostered an environment where I felt valued as an individual and that I belonged in the class. | 4.35 |
| Overall, the instructor was an effective teacher. | 4.42 |
| The instructor created an environment that respected difference and welcomed diverse perspectives. | 4.17 |
Student Testimonials
“Daniel set this class up extremely well. I wish that all classes were taught in the way that Daniel taught this class. He focused on only the important information, used multiple examples with variables and numbers, and paced the information very well.”
“I really liked how this ECON class was smaller and not in a big lecture hall. I felt like my learning experience was more personal, and I could get all of my questions answered, without the pressure of asking them in front of 300 other people. I also felt like the coursework was extremely manageable, and if you paid attention and did the work, you had a guaranteed chance of doing well on the tests.”
“He was kind and patient with students, answered questions when they arose, and treated everyone fairly and equally.”
“The instructor was exceptional. Truly passionate about the course material and incredibly accessible and helpful. The instructor went the extra mile for those struggling in the class to help ensure comprehension. Their feedback on homework was incredibly detailed and helpful, allowing for easy learning from mistakes.”
“I really enjoyed my experience taking ECON 3010 over the summer. Our TA/Professor was beyond generous with his time and was always more than willing to help us with whatever we were struggling with in the course during daily two-hour long office hours. His explanations and the structure of his lectures were also fairly easy to follow (especially after the first week of brand new material). Daniel Kwiatkowski was by far one of my favorite instructors at the university, and I’d love to take a class with him again in the future.”
“Professor Kwiatkowski was an amazing instructor. He is very good at explaining concepts and created an open environment in which I always felt safe to ask a question.”
“This course was structured well and was easy to follow. Our knowledge was tested through daily quizzes, which helped me understand if there were topics or steps I didn’t understand to solve a problem. This course was extremely helpful in giving me a better understanding of microeconomics and the role it plays in society.”
“I think that he did a very good job at teaching the concepts and where to apply them. I really enjoyed the course. I also liked the structure of the class in that we had lecture and then a quiz after lecture to practice the concepts that we learned that class. At the end of the week, we would have a homework assignment that put the concepts we learned into practice. I loved this class!”