For Eric Robbins, the challenge of teaching finance online isn’t the content — it’s the connection. In a subject that rewards precision and critical thinking, he has built a teaching approach designed to make students feel noticed, supported, and prepared to do real work in the real world.
Robbins is an associate teaching professor of finance at Penn State Behrend, where he teaches in its Black School of Business and for the online bachelor’s in finance program offered through Penn State World Campus.
Robbins holds two of the most respected designations in the finance profession — the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter and the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) certification — and spent more than a decade working in wealth management before transitioning to teaching full-time. That industry experience shapes everything about how he designs his courses.
His courses covering investments, retirement planning, and behavioral finance are grounded in the kind of experiential learning that students can point to in a job interview. He works with real data, partners with industry executives to vet his projects, and has authored his own textbooks linked directly to his courses, now in their seventh and third editions, respectively.
“I believe in giving students projects that they could highlight in interviews,” Robbins said. “They work with real data and conduct real analysis — the kind of work they’d actually do in the professional world.”
Read more about Robbins in the Q&A below.
What courses do you teach, and how do you approach online finance education?
I teach FIN 420, FIN 450, and FIN 477 at the undergraduate level — courses focused on finance theory and applied analysis. I’ve also authored textbooks linked directly to those courses, so students have integrated resources built around what we’re covering each week rather than having to piece things together from outside sources.
My broader approach is built around one core challenge: creating a sense of community in an otherwise asynchronous experience. That starts before the first assignment — I use an introductory discussion so students can get to know one another, and I build in ongoing peer engagement throughout the semester, so the course doesn’t feel like a solo exercise.
But community isn’t just about students connecting with each other. It’s also about students knowing I’m there. I post a short video every week with the course announcements — previewing what’s coming, flagging topics that tend to trip people up, and just reminding students there’s a real person on the other side of the screen. I also commit to responding to all emails within 24 hours, and I give detailed feedback on every assignment, especially when students are working through multi-stage projects where each step builds on the last. I think that’s where real learning happens — not in the content delivery, but in the back and forth.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching online, and what has pushed you to grow?
The most rewarding part is watching students develop. Finance rewards cumulative thinking — the concepts stack on each other — and there’s something genuinely satisfying about watching that process unfold over a semester. I especially value being present for the “light bulb” moments, when a student realizes something about the world, or about themselves, that broadens their thinking in a lasting way. Those moments happen in online courses just as much as they do in person. You just have to create the conditions for them.
The biggest challenge I’ve faced is instructor presence — or more precisely, the perception of it. In an asynchronous course, students can’t see you. There’s no office they can walk past, no face at the front of the room. If you’re not intentional about visibility, students start to feel like they’re working alone.
My answer to that has been systematic rather than reactive. The weekly announcement videos ensure students hear from me before each new unit — not just through a text post, but as a person explaining and contextualizing what they’re about to do. The 24-hour email response commitment means no one sits with an unanswered question for long. And the feedback I give on assignments is substantive — I’m not just grading; I’m pushing students to go further. Together, those three things add up to a course that feels inhabited, not automated.
What kinds of projects do you assign, and what makes them different?
My projects are designed to replicate what students would actually do in a professional finance setting. They work with real data, conduct real analysis, and produce deliverables that look like the kind of work you’d present to a manager or a client. I’ve had several of these projects vetted by industry executives to make sure the rigor holds up, that what students are doing in my course would genuinely be recognized as meaningful by someone working in the field.
That matters to me for a specific reason: online students are often already working professionals, or they’re preparing to enter a competitive job market. A project that could only exist in a classroom doesn’t serve them. A project they can bring into an interview, walk someone through, and say “here’s what I did and why” — that’s a different kind of credential. I want every student who finishes my course to have something concrete they can point to.
To support that, I’ve written textbooks on investments and retirement planning that are tied directly to the courses I teach — so the resources students are using were built around the same material, not retrofitted from somewhere else. And for students who need more, I’m available by email or Zoom. I make that clear in every weekly announcement.
The experiential dimension extends beyond the course shell, as well. I’ve organized trips for finance students to visit firms in Pittsburgh. In years past, I have taken students to national finance conferences in San Diego, Orlando, Nashville, Boston, and Philadelphia. These experiences put students in the same rooms as professionals working at the highest levels of the industry. World Campus students are invited to join those trips alongside residential students, because that kind of exposure shouldn’t be reserved for people who happen to live near campus.
Can you share a moment that captures why this work matters to you?
I receive emails from students at the end of most semesters, and honestly, they’re some of the most meaningful feedback I get — more telling than any formal evaluation. Students don’t write those emails because they have to. They write them because something happened in the course that they want to name.
One I received recently came from a student serving on active duty with the Marine Corps. He wrote about how the course shaped his thinking about markets and investing, and he thanked me for the flexibility I’d shown around his military commitments — and for writing a reference letter for his commission. Reading that, I was struck by how much was happening in that student’s life alongside the course work, and how much it mattered to him that the course met him where he was.
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for teaching genuinely one of the most interesting and engaging classes I have taken at Penn State. Your very personal feedback and the way it connected behavioral concepts to real financial decision-making made it actually useful in the real financial world. It has definitely shaped how I think about markets and investing going forward. I also want to sincerely thank you for your flexibility and understanding with my active-duty commitments on the Marine Corps enlisted side of my life. Balancing course work with military responsibilities is not always easy, and your willingness to work with me made a significant difference.
Beyond individual courses, I’m proud of the community I’ve tried to build around the finance program more broadly. I manage a Canvas page connecting more than 600 finance students — from both Behrend and Penn State World Campus — where I share job openings and virtual events. That group exists because online students shouldn’t have to feel like a separate category from their residential peers.
In 2020, I was honored to receive the UPCEA Mid-Atlantic Region Excellence in Teaching Award, which recognizes outstanding online faculty across the region. It was a meaningful recognition, but what I remember most from that period is the note from a student who said the course changed how they think about money. That’s the part that stays with you.
Why does online education matter to you?
Online learners are working adults, military service members, parents, and professionals. They’ve chosen to pursue a degree without putting the rest of their lives on hold — which means they’re already managing more than most people realize. The least I can do is make sure they feel like full members of the Penn State community, not just names in a course roster, and that what they’re doing in my class has real value beyond a grade.
That’s what drives the intentionality behind everything I do — the videos, the feedback, the projects, the Canvas community, the invitations to join students on trips to New York and Chicago. Online education done well isn’t a compromise. It’s a different format with its own strengths, and it’s my job to make the most of them.
A Penn State education online
Penn State World Campus has been offering a Penn State education online since 1998 and is consistently recognized for delivering high-quality, flexible programs designed for working adults.
Faculty like Eric Robbins are central to that mission — creating learning environments that are rigorous, responsive, and connected to the real world.
Today, Penn State World Campus offers more than 200 degree and certificate programs online, giving learners around the world access to respected Penn State faculty and curricula rooted in research, professional practice, and student success.
Explore the bachelor’s in finance program offered online through Penn State World Campus.
Not sure if finance is the right fit? See how a finance degree compares to an economics degree to find the undergraduate major that's right for you.