Feb 9, 2012
Teaching and Technology
Feb 9, 2012
Is the Lecture on its Way Out?
No matter what you call it—”peer learning” or “active learning” or the “flipped class”—teaching that emphasizes activities (discussion, simulations, problem-solving, etc.) seems to be associated with better learning. This NPR story provides a compelling example.
What do you think? Are you teaching more with activities? Does it work?
Read MoreFeb 2, 2012
Smart Crowdsourced Resources for Teaching Research Methods
Looking for good resources for teaching your social science research methods class?
A few weeks ago at SPSA in New Orleans, I heard about a really great website, the Online Portal of Social Science Education in Methodology or OPOSSEM. At their workshop,
Read MoreJan 31, 2012
Spotlight: California Budget Challenge
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new assignment for Americans Governing titled California Budget Challenge. The new assignment, authored by Dr. Tressa Tabares of American River College, includes a link to an online budget simulation by the nonpartisan group, Next 10. The simulation requires students to decide how much to spend on schools, prisons, the environment, and other state programs, as well as how to pay for them. Email the Polisci desk to have it added to your course!
Jan 31, 2012
User Tip: Checking on Students in the Notebook
As most college courses are in week 2 or 3 now, here are a few tips for checking on students’ progress. Inside each Soomo course (Central Ideas in American Government, Americans Governing, Comparing Governments or Between Nations) is a class-specific Notebook.
Once logged in, professors can click on
Read MoreJan 25, 2012
State of the Union Wordle
Yesterday in the office, a few of us were guessing what the key topics of Obama’s State of the Union address might be. So, this morning, we plugged the transcript into our favorite word-jumbler tool, Wordle, to see which topics were featured most prominently. Here’s what Wordle showed us! (You can also visit our published version here.)
For those of you who missed last night’s State of the Union address, here’s an interesting “enhanced” version from whitehouse.gov. It features a split screen that displays President Obama on the left side and additional information graphics on the right side.
Tell us, what’s important for students to know about Obama’s State of the Union address? Read More
Dec 31, 2011
Spotlight: Developing Data
Soomo recently released a new assignment for our Comparing Governments collection, called “Developing Data.” In this TED lecture presented at the U.S. State Department, public health professor Hans Rosling uses animated data on global health and development to explode common misconceptions about the developing world. In the assignment we also ask students to use Rosling’s own data organizer, GapMinder, to pour through some statistics for a bit of first-hand experience. Feel free to review the new assignment and email Maureen at the PoliSci desk to have the assignment added to your course.
And we’re curious, what other good data sites do you use in your comparative politics courses?
Read More
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