Scott Wallace, School of Liberal Arts
Principal Investigator: Scott Wallace, senior lecturer, Department of Political Science, School of Liberal Arts
Project Title: Introduction to Political Science: Course Reformation and Revitalization
Funding Level: $5,000
Abstract:
Political Science Y101 (POLSY 101), an “Introduction to Political Science”, offers students with an interest in political science the chance to sample its subfields and to see what the field as a whole has to offer. However, as a course that is not required for majors and minors in political science, it has never had the high enrollments from which other introductory courses benefit. This, in combination with the 2013 changes to the undergraduate curriculum and a loss of faculty, has led to the decline of the course and a severe drop in its enrollment. This project seeks to address this decline and to revitalize POLSY 101 by creating the first fully online offering of the course, which has traditionally been offered in a face-to-face (F2F) format. Additionally, we seek to create this offering as an eight week course, envisioned to be offered during the second eight weeks of a semester. In making these changes, we hope to continue the transition toward successful online education in the Department of Political Science and to take advantage of the relative lack of offerings that are less than the full sixteen week, while still giving students full (3) credit hours.
