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Teaching Online Political Science

Teaching Online Political Science. Frank Fuller. How to Improve on Teaching Political Science. How do we improve on online political science courses? Biglan’s taxonomy of disciplines: “soft-applied” science, within social sciences.

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Teaching Online Political Science

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  1. Teaching Online Political Science Frank Fuller

  2. How to Improve on Teaching Political Science How do we improve on online political science courses? Biglan’s taxonomy of disciplines: “soft-applied” science, within social sciences. Political science is about understanding concepts; models can help visualize these. http://www.nvc.vt.edu/toalg/Website/Lecturing1Oct03.jpg

  3. Political Science is coming to the Forefront of Technology There has been much research documenting teaching political science online. Lofgren: group assignments online, 24-hour access, continuous interaction, add changes, etc., constant feedback from professors and students to revamp projects. Political science tech: more advanced, and online courses are typical today. Technology can improve instructional quality (2008). http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2006/Election2006CD.png

  4. Online Instruction is Quantitative Databases are readily available; having social science data handy helps in doing research. Univ. of Michigan: home to National Election Studies. http://www.electionstudies.org/

  5. Great for Modeling and Forecasting Poll Election result PollyVote (Rep. two-party) Damped Polls Experts IEM 9/3/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/4/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/5/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/6/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/7/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/8/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/9/2007 46.60 48.22 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/10/2007 46.60 48.22 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/11/2007 46.60 48.22 48.5 48.00 48.8 47.5 9/12/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 9/13/2007 46.60 48.23 48.5 48.00 48.9 47.5 • Geographic Information Systems =Excellent Mapping Tool • Forecast election results effectively. • Abundant Data sets available. http://www.midmogis.org/website/MidMoGIS/maphtm/viewer.asp http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pr1ZdfEZ874nj4KRoxUTUXA

  6. Quantitative Instructional Programs Political science has become more quantitative in recent years. Robinson (2007): Statistical modeling and mathematically-oriented research growing, as in American Political Science Review articles, the field standard. Political Science based on probability, getting close to the mean, but not an exact science; models help clarify info. Better utilization of online tools helps in studying global politics and various political systems. http://www.atpm.com/7.04/images/spss-workspace.gif

  7. Saves Time and Tediousness http://www.sciencemag.org/products/bt-statsw.dtl • Bornstein: Reduces time to insert data, allows computer modeling more efficiently than by hand (1996).

  8. Political Science is Seeing and Hearing Political science: great for interactive learning. Teaching a live feed of Washington DC and showing policy in action is quite effective. Congressional Debates on $700 million bailout

  9. Interactive Learning • Linser: Learning by doing is great for political science; role-playing online can help us understand political processes (2004), i.e. Civilization, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_(computer_game)

  10. Interdisciplinary Work • Atwater: more interdisciplinary work may improve political science worldwide (2008). • Political Science----Economics----Philosophy----Conflict Resolution-----Psychology----Sociology---History----and More! http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/2861795085/

  11. Political Science in the Future • Improving Social Science Models, building on available data, Interactivity, role-playing, learning by doing, and finally cross-disciplinary work show the relevancy of political science as an important subject worthy of study. • More research is still needed to examine better methods of online political science learning, but by addressing it and experimenting with technology, we are on the right path. http://www.davidstuff.com/geo/geomenu.htm

  12. Sources • Atwater, M. .M. (1996). Social Constructivism: Infusion into the Multicultural Science Education Research Agenda. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 33(8), 821-837. • Bornstein, David. (1996). Statistical Software. Some of the Problems in South Africa. Science. http://www.sciencemag.org/products/bt-statsw.dtl Last retrieved: Oct. 10, 2008. • Roni Linser. (2004). Predictive Power of Role-play Simulations in Political Science: Experience of an E-Learning Tool. Presented at the International Conference on Politics and Information Systems, Technologies and Applications (PISTA), Orlando, USA, July 21-25 2004.  • Lofgren, Hans. (2008). Designing for Policy Studies Online. Deakin Studies Online: Contemporary Online Teaching Cases. http://www.deakin.edu.au/itl/teach-learn/cases/files/participants/lofgren.htm# Last retrieved: Nov. 3, 2008. • Robinson, William C. (2007). IS 531: Political Science. Social Science Information: Political Science Lecture Notes. http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/531_lec_pol.html Last retrieved: Nov. 3, 2008. • Smith, Glenn Gordon, Ana T. Torres-Ayala and Allen J. Heindel. (2008). Disciplinary Differences in E-learning Instructional Design: The Case of Mathematics. Journal of Distance Education, 22(3), 63-88.

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