Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Advocates of computer-mediated communication have seen great promise in its democratizing effects on female participation in class discussions. Others have raised doubts about the “democratization claim.” A review of the literature suggests that, on balance, the use of gender-specific language in online interactions is highly context-dependent. Of particular interest is the extent to which the manifestation of gender-typical rhetorical styles is shaped by the gender composition of the online group. In this paper we report early findings from a continuing study of male and female online discussion behavior. Our data, obtained from student postings to fourteen discussion groups in four comparative politics courses, permitted us to perform a content analysis of 1,287 messages containing 9,481 statements made by 285 students. In addition to suggesting overall differences and surprising similarities between male and female discussion styles, our preliminary findings point toward the productive effects of mixed-gender discussion groups.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: As the founding director of both U.C. Berkeley's Washington Academic Internship Program and Ohio State University's Academic Center, I have almost ten years' experience placing upper-division undergraduates in meaningful field placements and creating curriculum that increases sophistication about policy analysis. In an explicitly interdisciplinary program, one is presented with the challenge of teaching students accustomed to various methodologies, approaches to the literature, and writing skills. By combining common readings and speakers, and asking students to write analytical essays based on these common tests, the classroom promotes coherent discussion and a focused approach. By working independently with each seminar participant in developing a policy paper for written and oral presentation, each student, regardless of major, becomes a local "expert" and has the ability to delve deeply into his/her policy concern. With careful exploration of workplace experiences and the institutional culture of each internship location, it is possible to make each student a sophisticated specialist while sharing this knowledge with others and gaining from the collegial exchange of perspective, challenges, and accomplishments.

There are many models for academic internship programs; the paper explores several of the major choices and speaks to their strengths and limitations. The significance of these programs is that they result in greater civic knowledge, exposure to policy professionals, provide a meaningful opportunity for undergraduate research, and foster the experience of conversing and writing across the curriculum. An interdisciplinary approach demonstrates both how policy recommendations are often reflections of one's training and one's work environment--an important lesson as undergraduates anticipate their post-baccalaureate lives.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Faculty have been concerned about the effectiveness of their teaching and have worked to assess the quality of student learning, since teachers began thinking about pedagogy. Over the last thirty years, the development of such student-centered pedagogies as service learning, role-playing and simulations, discussions, internships, and civic engagement programs demonstrate our concern that students are invested in their own education. Simultaneously, political science departments have responded very negatively to assessment requirements and externally mandated program review, often seeing it as intrusive and pointless.

Effective forms of student evaluation can be used to develop departmental assessment programs in a manner that most faculty can endorse. Using a peer-review approach to demonstrate the connections between classroom outcomes and departmental objectives, this presentation will provide practical advice and concrete tools that can be widely adapted.

The two specific tools presented enable the professor to 1) assess student learning in simulations and discussion in a particular class; 2) teach students how to be more sophisticated participants in a discussion or role players in a simulation; 3) help students become more accountable for their own learning; 4) provide regular feedback to students during the semester, allowing for skill improvement; 5) communicate expectations for classroom performance; and 6) evaluate student improvement in targeted skills over time. Many faculty regularly use similar forms of evaluation, albeit in a less formal manner.

What faculty do not realize is that these kinds of simple course assessment devices can easily become the core of a comprehensive departmental assessment plan. Professors know what outcomes (knowledge, skills, and values) they wish to foster in their students. Outcomes that have the widest applicability can become the first objectives that the department evaluates. By asking similar questions of students at different points in their career (first methods course, upper-division content courses, senior seminar), comparing responses, and making changes, faculty can begin assessing departmental progress toward goals while improving student learning.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: How can we draw students in to research methods courses? How can we better engage students once they enroll? This paper reports on a pilot project to use service-learning to solve these problems. A group research project can increase students’ interest in and engagement with the content of a research methods course, while simultaneously performing a service to the wider community. The paper discusses trade-offs inherent in such an undertaking, the logistical
problems (and potential solutions) involved in such a project, and a sample curriculum that may be used by instructors to develop similar courses.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: I have been placing students in political internships for over 25 years – first undergraduates, and more recently masters students. During that time I have seen experiential education grow more popular; but as it has done so, it has also come to be seen more and more as a way of encouraging citizenship, broadening students’ experience, and giving them practical training.

Those objectives are worthwhile, but I believe we need more emphasis on experiential education as a way to teach basic political science – from such basic concepts as power, authority, and legitimacy, to more subfield-specific such as the conditions determining the relative power of party and committee leaders in a legislative body. Therefore I am submitting this proposal under the pedagogy theme, rather than as civic education, service learning,

Educational theorists from John Dewey to David Kolb have argued that while some students learn best when they begin with theoretical abstractions and then work out their applications to the world of experience, others do best with just the opposite approach: first experiencing the world, then processing that experience into theoretical abstractions.

My presentation showed how political science can be taught experientially, using the methods I developed (with help from many others) for the undergraduate political science internship at Suffolk University. Elements covered include:
• Student journals – how to instruct students, what to get out of them, how to interact with students about them
• Reading assignments – what sort of reading to look for, what objectives are possible
• Internship seminars – their purpose, how to conduct them, why they are needed
• Site visits – why you should do them, what you learn from them
• The instructor’s role
• Evaluation – what does a grade mean? What do you evaluate? Alternative methods of evaluation