Zara Elizabeth Crockett

Central Ideas in American Government 4e

cia4We are so very pleased to announce the publication of the fourth edition of Central Ideas in American Government. Authored by Dr. Jocelyn Evans (University of West Florida) and Dr. Kristy Michaud (California State University-Northridge), the fourth edition includes the same great features as previous editions such as polls, Get the Gist study questions, Your Turn questions, and all of our engaging assignments. And because the webtext is completely online, a picture of student learning emerges as students work through the content, which can be viewed using Course Analytics.

Updates for our newest edition include:

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Posted April 9, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in About Us, American Government, New Assignment

Spotlight: New American Government Assignments

howtheyruleimageWe are pleased to announce the release of some new and updated American government assignments, which are available for both Central Ideas in American Government and Americans Governing. Click the assignment titles below to take a peek.

  • Old MacDonald Had An Agency - In recent decades there has been amazing growth in the organic food movement. This assignment looks at the federal standards governing accreditation for organic farmers and the role of the USDA as a clientele agency. (Special thanks to Jocelyn Evans for her help creating this assignment.)
  • How They Rule - Highlights and overview of the 2011-2012 Supreme Court term, including [click to continue…]

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Posted April 9, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in New Assignment

UN Human Development Report for 2013

waterdrinkerThe 2013 United Nations Human Development Report is out! This year’s highlights include China’s growing middle class, Brazil’s rise in overall living standards, and a special feature on “The Rise of the South,” which spotlights the remarkable development taking place in countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa.

On April 8 there is a live webcast of the Columbia University Conference on the 2013 Human Development Report. The Plenary, “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a [click to continue…]

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Posted April 8, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in Comparative Government, Global Studies, International Relations

TLC 2013: Conference Recap

tlcWe’ve just returned from APSA‘s 2013 Teaching and Learning Conference in Long Beach, California. Along with a fresh boost of vitamin D (thanks to the one sunny day we were there), we also picked up a ton of great ideas about teaching political science. Here’s a quick recap of a few of our favs. [click to continue…]

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Posted February 22, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in Conferences

Supreme Court Stories: Marbury v. Madison

Soomo is pleased to announce the release of “Supreme Court Stories: Marbury v. Madison ,” the first video in our new video series that presents the stories of the real people and events surrounding pivotal Supreme Court cases. And it’s just in time for the 210th anniversary of the decision!

In the Marbury v. Madison video, political science professors Jocelyn Evans, Kyle C. Kopko, Kirk A. Randazzo, and David Woodard talk about the election of 1800, the appointment of the “Midnight Judges,” and the first instance of judicial review.

The idea for the series emerged from conversations we had with professors, who [click to continue…]

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Posted February 22, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in American Government, Video

Emmy Award-Winning Video

EmmySoomoEveryone at Soomo is so excited because we won an Emmy for best Informational or Instructional Program!  At the 27th Annual MidSouth Emmy Awards. Soomo brought home the award for our music video Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage. Created for Soomo’s American government webtext, the video is currently featured in assignments that are part of two Soomo Publishing titles: Central Ideas in American Government and A History of The United States, 1865 – Present.

Soomo CEO and Founder David Lindrum said, “I’m thrilled to see our film team receive this recognition. Imagine that—an Emmy for textbook content.”

Tim Alden Grant, the video’s director, commented on the award saying,  [click to continue…]

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Posted February 22, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in About Us, American Government, Press, Video

StatPlanet: Very Cool Data Tool

StatPlanetWe recently discovered this very cool data tool for visualizing World Bank data. StatPlanet World Bank won first prize in the World Bank’s Apps for Development competition back in 2011. The app enables you to explore and analyze the 5000+ indicators available from the World Bank database using interactive maps and graphs. It sort of reminds me of Gapminder but in more of a map format. There’s also StatPlanet EdStats that focuses on visualizing global education statistics (also from the World Bank). Now to create a new assignment!

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Posted February 22, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in Comparative Government, Global Studies, Teaching and Technology

It’s TLC Time!

Long Beach downtown and Queensway BayIt’s that time of year again, time for APSA’s Teaching and Learning Conference! This year the conference is being held in sunny Long Beach, California and runs from February 8-10 at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel.

We Soomo-ans love the TLC conference not only for the great tracks and papers presented, but also for the gang of passionate and fun professors talking about what they do best…teach! To help us (and you) prep for the conference, we pulled together all the important conference links, a list of local eats, [click to continue…]

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Posted January 18, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in Conferences

Fourth Time’s a Charm?

Did you know Obama is getting sworn in four times? FDR was sworn in four times for four terms. But two flukes have led to Obama actually being sworn in twice for each of his two terms.

This bit of presidential trivia could tie in to a discussion of term limits nicely.  You might also check out our assignment on Federalist No. 72, authored by Dr. Lilly Goren of Carroll University. The assignment also includes a PDF of presidents who have served two complete full terms.

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Posted January 15, 2013 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in American Government

Heading to SPSA?

OrlandoSoomo’s heading to the SPSA Annual Meeting in sunny Orlando this week.  We are excited to see all our friends and listen to the presentations. (I am also looking forward to seeing the famous “marching of the ducks” at the Peabody Hotel.) If you’re also going to the conference, here are a few things to do and see there:

  • On Thursday, January 3 at 11:45, we are particularly excited to hear Professors Jocelyn Evans (UWF) and Mitchell Brown (Auburn) present the findings of their recent research, “Assessing the Unassessable? Using Curriculum Analytics to Measure Student Learning Outcomes.”   The researchers analyzed analytics data from students using Soomo’s webtext, Central Ideas in American Government, along with exams and course grades to investigate what kind of connections there are between course work and course outcomes. Some of the results are surprising! The panel will be in Bayhill 32. [click to continue…]

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Posted December 31, 2012 by Zara Elizabeth Crockett in Conferences, Teaching and Technology

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