International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 2015, Volume 27, Number 3, 393-406 http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/ ISSN 1812-9129 Helping Students to Succeed in General Education Political Science Courses? Online Assignments and In-Class Activities Joseph Jozwiak Spokane Falls Community College The inclusion of supplemental online assignments and in-class active learning activities can lead to greater levels of student engagement and learning. Students reported that they were more engaged in the classroom and felt that both helped them in exam preparation. Both were also shown to have positively affected student performance and, perhaps most hearteningly, seemed to have had the greatest impact on lower achieving students. On many college and university campuses the across the nation as they hope to instill in their students Introduction to US Government and Politics course is the skills to advance through their studies and graduate traditionally delivered as a lecture, often in a large (close to) on time. At my university the retention rate auditorium. Class usually begins with a few late fluctuates around 65%, which is below the state arriving students searching for seats. Most of the light average. This also has the effect of helping support the in the room is provided by hanging projectors emitting financial situation of the schools that the students images of lecture slides onto screens. As the last attend. This fact has not been lost on the upper stragglers sit down, the lecturer checks the microphone administration, where budget concerns have (as in by tapping it and proceeds to pick up where the last many public and private universities) taken on a new lecture left off. The students sit passively, only half urgency. In several recent meetings on our campus the listening, but they dutifully take notes when the lecturer administration stressed the fact that raising the retention advances to the next slide. The sounds in the lecture rate was also a faculty responsibility and that if hall are usually the clacking of keyboards, the hushed instructors could just “reach out” to a small number of whispers of side conversations and, as the end of class students, maybe as few as 50 across the university, we approaches, ominous groans when a new text-filled could meet the state average. Also spurring activity was slide appears. the fact that my university recently went through the This is environment that many public (and private) accreditation process (Southern Association of Colleges colleges and universities place many of their first year and Schools, in our case), and our Quality Enhancement students, in many ways their most challenged students, Plan (QEP) was centered on the First Year Experience. who are trying to juggle a new living environment, new In preparing the QEP, the university identified certain personal responsibilities and freedoms, and new barrier courses where student GPAs averaged below 2.0 academic demands. The situation is further exacerbated for several semesters. Somewhat surprisingly, most of by the fact that many of them come poorly prepared for these courses were found in the “soft sciences,” such as college and that most would benefit from courses to sociology, history and political science, rather than in help them improve their study skills. I was recently the more demanding “hard sciences.” assigned a mid-afternoon large lecture class, and I At many universities administrative mandates often wanted to change my approach to the class for two come on short notice and with the demand for important reasons. Firstly, students often approached immediate improvement, but this wasn’t initially the this required course with a mixture of apathy and case for us. Last spring the political science faculty that resentment. Secondly, our university’s administration routinely taught the introductory courses (US was encouraging the department to (re)consider the Government and Politics and State and Local Politics) course’s delivery in light of its low success rates. This in our core curriculum were asked to establish a article will examine the effects of two changes to my Community of Practice (COP) to brainstorm ways to Introduction to US Government and Politics course and improve student success. We were given a full year to seek to answer the following question: can investigate possible interventions, and we began to incorporating online assignments and adding numerous strategize about how to introduce more active learning in-class activities improve student engagement and exercises into the courses. But we also wanted to learning? include more developmental skills activities in our courses, such as note taking and exam preparation, as What Is To Be Done? well as to create more out-of-class assignments like take home quizzes or response papers. The faculty also The questions of retention and completion have wanted to include other student support organizations become important ones for colleges and universities on campus as we did have some additional funding for Jozwiak Political Science Courses 394 more supplemental instruction. To further assist the found that cumulative attendance produced a positive students, we also wanted to involve our campus’s and significant impact on students’ exam performance Center for Student Success and English Writing Lab. and that, not surprisingly, attending lectures However, as the spring semester drew to a close, corresponded to improved exam performance. Studying we were “encouraged” by the upper administration to helps, argued Diseth (2007), who (also unsurprisingly) settle on an intervention for implementation in the found that successful in-class performance was directly upcoming fall semester. The faculty was a bit surprised related to the amount of time spent studying. However, by the acceleration of the timetable, and this led to as Rau and Durand (2000) have found, the real benefit some quick decision making. Rather than the more was seen for students studying over 14 hours a week. expansive course redesign alluded to above, we instead More traditional classroom activities have also been chose to pilot a series of online assignments from the shown to increase exam performance, such as making Americans Governing website notes and study guides available (LaSere Erickson & (http://americansgoverning.com), developed by Soomo Weltner Strommer, 1991), encouraging good note Publishing, to supplement the course. One important taking (Peverly, Ramaswamy, Brown, Sumowski, & factor in our decision was the fact that our department Alidoost, 2007), devising in-class exercises that uses a common text, Keeping the Republic, and the supplement and contextualize homework (Cuadros, publishing firm had worked closely with CQ Press to Yaron, & Leinhardt, 2007), and having reviews that develop a companion site. Cost considerations also allowed for the exchange of ideas, encouraged problem played an important role in this decision, and we solving strategies, and assisted in studying (Huerta, wanted to keep student costs low. The faculty was 2004; Shapiro & Levine, 1999). aware that several different options existed from larger Despite the growing recognition that active publishers, but we chose to remain with Soomo as learning fosters student success (Brown, Roediger, & several of us had good, albeit limited, experiences using McDaniel, 2014; Reeher & Cammarano, 1997; the website. However, while I was confident that the Simpson & Kaussler, 2009), the vast majority of online exercises could enhance student learning, I had political science classes are delivered quite less confidence in their ability to generate and traditionally, usually through lecture (Hartlaub & encourage student engagement. So thinking again about Lancaster, 2008). However, even the most elementary student attitudes toward the course, I decided to include in-class exercises can encourage student engagement more in-class activities in the hope that a more active and help students gain a basic understanding of political learning environment would also help to improve fundamentals and current issues (Colby, Beaumont, student engagement and learning. Ehrlich, & Corngold, 2007). Reading the newspaper can significantly increase student interest in the Literature Review political world, enhance their knowledge, and positively influence their attitudes towards community The relationship between student engagement and involvement (Huerta & Jozwiak, 2008). While informal student success in the classroom has been well class discussion can also lead to engagement, Oros documented, and the discipline of political science has (2007) has argued that structured debates can teach begun to strongly encourage active learning to engage critical thinking skills. Even though some have argued students (Blount, 2006; Elder, Seligsohn, & that simulations may not be all they are advertised to be Hofrenning, 2007; Hunter & Brisbin, 2000; Kirlin, (Kille, 2002; Prince, 2004; Rochester, 2003), or that 2002; Perry & Wilkenfeld, 2006). However, when they need to be better assessed (Grosen & Washbush, trying to determine why students are successful in the 2004), studies have shown that they can increase classroom, researchers tended to be fairly prosaic in student engagement (Caruson, 2005; Jones, 2008; their conclusions. They have found that prior Wakelee, 2008), and, as a result, several authors have preparation and knowledge were essential to observed better student performance (Frederking, 2005; understanding student success (Cavell & Woehr; 1994; Jozwiak, 2013; Shellman & Turan, 2006; Simpson & Plant, Ericsson, Hill, & Asberg, 2005; Touron, 1983). Kaussler, 2009). The development of civic competence Schuman and his collaborators have noted that grades is often an important component of US Government in college were primarily determined by student and Politics courses, and Bernstein (2008) has found aptitude and classroom attendance (Schuman, Walsh, that the use of simulations can enhance this learning Olson, & Etheridge 1985). Their findings were goal and foster skills that can be useful in subsequent supported by Tiruneh (2007), who found that classes. attendance had a statistically significant impact on An emerging literature on civic competence and student grades and also noted that instructors probably engagement outside of the classroom stresses should find a way of making attendance some alternative teaching pedagogies. Taking students out of percentage of the final grade. Lin and Chen (2006) have the classroom and having them view city council Jozwiak Political Science Courses 395 meetings is not only “cool,” but also has also led to participation because they allow students more time to higher levels of civic engagement (Van Assendelft, reflect on their responses (Spiceland & Hawkins, 2002). 2008). Several studies have shown that service learning These boards may also provide an opportunity for exercises fosters improved performance (Ayers et al., students to exercise their voice, an important 2010; Jenkins, 2008; Saltmarsh & Zlotkowski, 2011; consideration for students who are more naturally Smith, 2006; Sternberger, Ford, & Hale, 2005). Kiltz reticent (Li, 2004). Wilson, Pollock, and Hamann and Ball (2010) have argued that service learning is (2007) found that reading the online postings from significant because it is an integrative learning strategy other students and the instructor was most clearly which combines meaningful community service with linked to improved course grades. Significantly, this instruction. Linked learning and service objectives that was particularly true for students with lower GPAs. challenge both the student and the community member Hamman, Pollock, and Wilson (2009) have found that can lead to tremendously beneficial outcomes. The reading online postings was the key to explaining students learn civic responsibility, and local increased student performance, but responding to posts communities are strengthened. Together with her co- had only a small impact on grades. In sum, these studies authors, Goss (2010) has found that research service largely agree with the earlier work of Pollock and learning experiences allow students to link classroom Wilson (2002), who concluded that an online theory to the challenges faced by organizations in civil component might benefit all courses. As was the case society. Dahlberg, Barnes, Bush, and Bean (2000) have with the active learning exercises, the literature on argued that service learning projects can also enhance online learning suggests that these actives can benefit participation and performance in the classroom, student learning. The online supplemental activities especially for students from traditionally suggested above are not discipline specific, so any underrepresented communities. Taken together, these academic area could use these profitably. studies argue that active learning, both in and outside of the classroom, can increase student engagement and On-Line Activities improve student learning. And while the studies cited above often look specifically at examples from political At our institution, and I suspect many others, science, it is not difficult to imagine their application in instructors routinely refer students to textbook other disciplines, such as sociologists linking with local companion websites. Most large publishers have community agencies to engage students in service companion websites for their texts which provide learning or chemistry classes monitoring local water supplemental material including chapter outlines or quality to exemplify key concepts from organic summaries, flash cards, multiple choice quizzes, and chemistry. short answer exercises that can assist students in With the advent of new technologies, additional reviewing for exams. Recently, publishers have on-line supplemental materials can also positively begun to develop more robust websites that allow influence student performance if they are used by the include sophisticated homework assignments as well students. Orton-Johnson’s (2009) study showed that as on-line chats (synchronous or asynchronous) and some students are reluctant to use these materials. They simulations or role playing exercises. Many also trusted the traditional texts as authentic, whereas the include additional content such as updates on current newer materials challenged existing learning practices events or recent research. Our introductory American and threatened expectations. Roberts (2008) noted that government course employed the Americans a considerable number of the students did not use the Governing website (http://americansgoverning.com) podcasts intended to help them prepare for exams. which had numerous content pieces related to key More positively, Taylor (2009) has also experimented concepts presented in the textbook chapters. For the with podcasts and found that, when combined with Keeping the Republic’s introductory chapter the other teaching methods, students reported higher levels website includes, for example, an excerpt from of engagement with the material. Another advantage of Locke's Second Treatise, a map that traced the spread podcasting, argued Taylor, is that it can preserve a of democracy, and two newspaper editorials that look high-quality lecture that students can repeatedly listen at democracy and US foreign policy. The website in order to gain information or further clarifications. also includes two videos for the introductory chapter. And he agreed with Roberts’ observation that podcasts The first is a thirteen-minute clip that reviews did allow for more time to engage with the students in contemporary debates over health care, and the the classroom. Creating on-line discussion forums can second is a five-minute clip that asks students about foster critical thinking, synthesizing, and applying what they thought the purpose of government might knowing, which can enhance student learning be. Over the course of the semester students were (Hannafin, Land, & Oliver, 1999). Asynchronous asked about once a week to do an online exercise discussion boards can encourage greater student designed to support material presented in lecture. Jozwiak Political Science Courses 396 In this course there was a concerted effort to use consistently followed, helped students develop more audio or video clips from the website as supplemental effective study habits. As soon as the students were activities. This was done for two reasons. First, there done answering the multiple choice questions, they was a desire to add something more dynamic than extra received feedback. reading in order to lure students into the content. There were some drawbacks to the multiple choice Second, students respond to materials differently, and exercises though. There was always the potential for this would allow them to encounter the material in students to work in groups and share answers. But at various types. Over the course of the semester there was the same time if some of these questions, or variations a mix of assignments from various formats. For of them, were used on the exam, the chances for student instance, the students watched a video on a local success were lowered if they didn’t do the work mayoral race in New Jersey to exemplify electoral themselves. Another problem with the software in that politics. To help support the classroom discussion of particular semester was the fact that it didn’t include a presidential powers, the students listened to several close time which ended student access to the questions. audio clips from the Watergate tapes. In the course’s This problem was mitigated, however, by downloading discussion of federalism, the students read the a comma separated file from the on-line grade book just transcripts of the phone conversations between the after an announced due date and time passed. In this Kennedy Administration and state officials during the semester the assignments were due at the beginning of de-segregation of the University of Mississippi, but class, so I simply downloaded the spreadsheet just prior they were also able to listen to audio clips that helped to heading to class. This took just a few seconds. More them understand the tone of the back and forth between recent versions of the publisher’s software have the two sets of officials. These clips were also useful resolved this issue, enhancing the functionality of the later in the semester when the class discussed the website. In sum, using these supplemental materials politics of civil rights. While the presentation of this enhanced student engagement in the class by requiring content was important, several video clips used were them to think about the content outside of large lecture. interviews with students that revealed their attitudes These assignments were also small, low stake toward politics, which interested our students greatly. assignments that, if taken seriously, allowed students to But perhaps most importantly, a few of the video clips easily accumulate points. They also had the added showed students doing work related to politics such as benefit of helping them prepare for the exams. The conducting exit polls during a recent election in Florida. advantages of the assignments far outweighed their While the website had a default selection of disadvantages, which were largely related to technical assignments to accompany each chapter, the software glitches or student learning curves. But each of these did have a degree of flexibility. Instructors had the can be allayed, either through technical support calls or option of choosing different assignments in each constant reminders through in-class announcements and chapter as well as moving assignments from one online postings in the course software. chapter to another. Each assignment came with a series of pre-loaded questions, either informed multiple In-Class Activities choice or short answer questions. The questions were comparable to those found in test banks that accompany It is not uncommon for instructors to build up a most US government textbooks. It was possible to add repertoire of activities with which they feel comfortable questions to target specific concepts that were and that students find at least moderately interesting. emphasized in lecture. The advantage of using the short But to avoid student disengagement, or even apathy, answer option was that it encouraged students to engage described in the introduction, I revised the course’s in critical thinking and writing, the latter of which has content and created several new in-class activities. been shown to be vitally important for student success. Some of these were more traditional, such as reading However, students’ written responses must then be quizzes, but a few strived to be innovative, such as one- downloaded and assessed by the instructor. Given that day simulations. Overall, the activities were designed to this was a class of 225 students taught without the reward attendance and consistent effort. As in the case assistance of graders or teaching assistants, the multiple of the online assignments, most were low stake choice option was chosen. Once a question has been activities, worth about 10 points each, but which totaled answered, it could not be changed. Despite numerous to the rough equivalent of one exam. faculty warnings about this early in the semester, A real challenge in teaching large lecture classes is students often suffered negative consequences for their keeping students caught up with their reading. To help lack of attention to this detail. However, this eventually ensure this, one of the activities I used was a reading encouraged the students to preview the questions, quiz. Admittedly, this may not be the most innovative listen/watch attentively, take notes, and then attempt to teaching tactic, but it can be used profitably in all answer the questions. This pattern of behavior, if classes, even in large lecture classes. Over the course of Jozwiak Political Science Courses 397 the semester the students were given four reading Supreme Court, for example, the students watched ex- quizzes, generally close to an exam, to underscore the Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s visit to the Daily Show importance of reading before the exam. I provided as a way to help explain the operation of the court. The some timely warnings so they were not perceived as clip was useful in two ways. Firstly, it begins with a punitive pop quizzes. They usually contained ten discussion of the general population’s lack of questions over key concepts. Toward the end of class knowledge about the basics of US government (at the quizzes were passed out, and students were given which point student learning is “celebrated” because about ten minutes to complete them. However, early in they do know most of these facts). But more the semester, more time was allotted to the quizzes, importantly, Justice O’Connor then reflects on her time where the intention was to turn these quizzes into active on the bench, discusses how appointments were made, learning exercises. After they completed the quiz and how the court she served on operated. This is a individually, the students formed small groups and two-part clip which runs about ten minutes and really worked through the quiz again. This usually took about helped to contextualize the textbook’s discussion of the five minutes. At this point I asked them to signal their Supreme Court. final answer by drawing a star around their choice. To explain the struggle for civil rights, one can use Then, as a class, we would walk through the quiz one a plethora of learning tools, including clips of speeches more time, discussing the answers and considering why or the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary, but sometimes some choices were right and what might have placing the students in an uncomfortable situation can disqualified the others. This allowed the students to get also be an effective teaching device. In order to have more experience with exam-like questions, it the class consider racism and state power with regard to encouraged them to read critically, and it modeled the voting rights, students were given the 1965 Alabama practice of working in groups. While this can take time, Literacy Test. After they attempt to answer the first 25 it effectively worked as an exam review and, at the questions, the sense of frustration in the classroom was same time, allowed the instructor to assess the class’s palpable. As with the quizzes discussed above, the class preparedness. Given that the students worked in small worked in small groups through the 1965 test trying to groups and were usually able to answer all the answer the questions. Very few groups scored well, and questions correctly, the early semester quizzes were the students really began to understand the test’s power graded relatively leniently. However, on successive to disenfranchise. This activity was assessed through quizzes the scores moved from taking the group participation, but the ensuing class discussion was used answers to mixing the individual results and the group to create a question (or two) on the exam, validating the results. Although the class did spend time discussing students’ participation and reflection. the answers on the last quiz, only the individual score The above examples were ways to move beyond was recorded. lecturing by encouraging more student activity. Another way to move beyond the lecture is to However, the course also presented several embed links in a slide presentation, which is a opportunities for more truly active learning, including particularly useful way to present photos, graphs, or exercises in ideological self-assessment, polling, videos. For instance, in the course’s discussion of the campaigning, and budgeting. One of the first exercises Supreme Court, the role of the Warren Court was the class engaged in was participating in the Pew emphasized in discussions of judicial activism and Center’s “Where Do I Fit?” ideological survey. This presidential appointments to the bench. To support the was a short survey (20-25 questions) that placed lecture, one slide highlighted the controversial justice students/respondents in several categories, ranging from by including a photo of an “Impeach Earl Warren” enterprisers (who are fervent believers in the free billboard, and another slide pictured Justice Warren and market) to liberals (who are positive on most things President Eisenhower together. It is now a governmental) to upbeats (moderates who tend to be commonplace to embed video links into lectures to younger and can, for instance, accept the notion that supplement that day’s content, but nonetheless the “torture can be a good thing”) to disaffected (outsiders strategic use of videos can also allow for a break from who have little interest in politics, little faith in the straight lecture. While shorter clips are useful to private sector, and little hope for the future). This tied illustrate a point, they don’t allow for much reflection, very well to the chapter that analyzed the ideological so longer clips are sometimes more useful. To increase composition of American society. The students did the their effectiveness, students were given a short ten survey online and then came to the class with a printout question response sheet before viewing the clip. This of their “identity.” The students were then broken into allowed them to preview the questions and fill in the their groups so they could physically see the answers as they watched. A discussion would naturally distribution in the classroom. In a large lecture hall with follow where connections between the video and key seating split by a central aisle, it was beneficial to have concepts were made. In the course’s discussion of the the enterprisers up in one corner and the liberals down Jozwiak Political Science Courses 398 in front at the opposite corner. By splitting these groups they saw their questions used as in-class examples. In up this way, and then distributing the other groups assessing this exercise, students were given credit for between them, students saw the ideological spectrum the quality of their work. and were able to a get a general sense of the distribution Showing campaign ads has been a traditional way of opinions. Usually there was a small group of of introducing students to electoral politics. It was a real enterprisers, a smattering of social conservations and eye opener for students who had seen neither Johnson’s pro-government conservatives, a larger group of “Daisy Girl” ad nor Reagan’s “Morning in America” upbeats, and a significant showing for liberals (this ad, which allowed the class to discuss the advantages distribution has usually held true over the years, even in (and disadvantages) of negative and positive more conservative Texas). There were usually a small advertising. The Wisconsin Advertising Project (WAP) number of disaffecteds. I gave an overview of each (http://wiscadproject.wisc.edu/) has several ads group’s general characteristics and also reminded them available for viewing and, when combined with the that no one group was better (or worse) than another. textbook, helped to trace out the history of political The disaffected group was the one group that needed to advertising. The WAP ads also had storyboards be treated with care, as they (and everyone else) could available to go along with the video clips. These see they were the smallest group (which could engender storyboards were important as they allowed students to an even greater sense of marginalization). However, in see how ads are planned and the relationship between a large lecture environment the groups were usually images and text. They were also useful as models for large enough to allow for anonymity so individual another in-class active learning exercise. In this class students wouldn’t feel isolated or singled out. the students were placed in random groups, and each When discussing public opinion and polling, received a large sheet of paper (11x17) with six another way of getting students engaged in the material rectangles and asked to create their own campaign ad. was to actually have them construct their own surveys. The students brainstormed about potential campaign It was beneficial to have an introductory lecture themes and related images. They were encouraged to presenting sample surveys to help students model their take into account the lecture material, but they were own surveys. This was also useful in presenting also given the freedom to be creative. As with the problems related to polling. In this exercise the polling exercise, several student generated ads were groupings from the ideological survey were also used. presented to the class. These were used to inform The students were asked to form ideologically like- discussion on the use of imagery. They were also minded groups numbering of about ten where they analyzed for their overall effectiveness. In assessing constructed their own surveys. As the instructor I this exercise, students were given credit for the quality roamed the room in order to encourage groups to avoid of their work. Groups that worked to develop a theme very simplistic questions (“Should marijuana be and used appropriate images were more positively legalized?”) and to develop something more assessed. In a successive semester’s State and Local sophisticated (“Should ‘illegals’ be given a path to Politics course this exercise was again used, but instead citizenship through successful military service?”). of groups being randomly assigned, the students were Students invariably asked whether these questions grouped based on their ideology. Each group was asked should be “yes or no” or “something else.” I usually to present two ads, one ad that would appeal to their responded that they were the pollsters but that they party’s base and another ad that would try to appeal to needed to consider the clarity of each of their questions, independents, encouraging them to integrate concepts whether it forced or led respondents and how difficult across chapters. would it be to tabulate their responses, all problems Unsurprisingly, current events can often be worked related to polling. Once the groups developed their ten into almost any course on politics, which makes the questions, two students from each group role-played as class more relevant to the students. Over the course of pollsters (one asked the questions and the other the past few years the federal budget has been a source recorded the responses) and surveyed the other groups of considerable interest. While several on-line in the class. The remaining group members sat in their budgeting exercises are available, this class used the place in the classroom and responded to pollsters from “You Fix the Budget” exercise from New York Times. the other groups. The ideological groupings lead to This can be done on-line, but the basic elements of the interesting exchanges between groups, including exercise are available by downloading a table for questions such as, “Why are you asking that?,” and, classroom use. The exercise involved filling in a “You guys really think that?” In the following class budgetary grid by dictated by taxing and spending period the exercise allowed an extended discussion on options. For instance, students could reduce spending question and sample bias using student generated by cutting or reducing Medicare. But they also had the questions and data. Students who participated learn option of raising taxes by raising corporate tax rates or from the experience, but they were also validated as letting the Bush tax cuts expire. To get to the partisan Jozwiak Political Science Courses 399 differences present in any legislature the ideological whether there was a difference between the attitudes of groupings from earlier in the semester were used. As the lower and upper division students, nor was any expected, the liberals were much more willing to raise demographic data collected. The students were asked taxes, the enterprisers much more willing to cut the following questions about both the online and in- spending, and the more centrist groups willing to class activities: “Did you do the online assignments?,” consider a greater mix of the two. One of the lessons of “Were the assignments helpful for lecture?,” “Were the the exercise, beyond suggesting that ideology drives a assignments helpful for understanding concepts?,” and great deal of the debate, was that balancing the budget “Were the assignments helpful for exams?” The called for difficult choices and a combination of raising students were also asked about whether the in-class taxes and cutting spending was probably going to be activities kept students engaged. Finally, the survey necessary. When roaming the room answering student asked what grade the student expected to receive in this questions about the implications of cuts (“Who gets class. The number of usable surveys was 135, which hurt by this?”), it became clear that they were clearly was significantly lower than the 200-odd students that interested in the project and really did want to balance were in class that day. The lower number was due to the the budget while staying as true to their ideology as fact that more than a few students did not fill out both possible. Stopping by one group of enterprisers who sides of the survey. were struggling, I asked what the problem was. “We’re As Table 1 shows, a very high percentage of the going to have to raise taxes. That hurts.” It was also students did the online assignments, which was to be clear that these relatively young students were having expected given that they were graded assignments. It no problem raising the retirement age and slowing the was also interesting that the overall rate of participation growth of spending on Medicare as a way to balance was slightly higher for the online assignments than the the budget. In terms of immediate assessment, the classroom activities and can be explained by ease of students were given credit for participation; no access. qualitative assessment was given. Table 2 reports that students generally found the The above examples are clearly most appropriate activities and assignments were helpful in making for political science courses, but the teaching strategies connections between content found online and in class. can be usefully applied across all disciplines, where The scores for the classroom activities were slightly participation and experiential learning lead to student higher, however. engagement and learning. To a certain extent the point Table 3 reports that students generally found the of the exercises was not the ultimate quality of the work activities and assignments were valuable, and, overall, generated in that seventy-five minute period, but rather the students felt that both helped them prepare for the the learning process as students grappled with the exams. These figures were slightly lower than reported course’s content. In many ways these in-class activities for the helpfulness in understanding key concepts. This tried to emulate problem-based learning (Kaunert, was an interesting result and was probably due to 2009) where, moving beyond the traditional classroom students expecting a more direct and immediate benefit experience, students are given the autonomy to work in on the exams. small groups relatively independently of the instructor Finally, Table 4 reports student engagement. The to solve complex problems based in real life (Duch, figures for the in-class activities show high levels of Grohl, & Allen, 2011; McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006; student engagement. Nearly 85% of the students felt Williamson & Gregory, 2010). that these activities kept them engaged in the class. While this particular class was not asked about their The Sample engagement as a result of using the online activities, a subsequent class (operating along the same overall The theoretical literature suggests that the in-class course design) was asked this question, and these activities should have encouraged student engagement results are reported in the “Online” column. There was in the classroom as well as improved student scores. To a considerable degree of difference as the students test whether the students were engaged in the class, a reported far lower degrees of engagement. Clearly there survey was done at the end of the semester to assess are some severe challenges comparing these two their attitudes on both the online assignments and in- groups, and not too much should be read into these class activities. There were approximately 225 students figures, but they do suggest a real difference in levels of enrolled in the course. The course met in a large lecture engagement. setting that had a capacity of 250 seats. This was a Indirect measures, such as surveys, can be useful in seventy-five minute class that met twice a week at 2:00 assessing the degree of student engagement. As shown, in the afternoon. Over 95% of the students were either students reported that they felt that the in-class first or second year students, with a smattering of activities and online assignments positively influenced juniors and seniors. No attempt was made to determine their attitude toward the course. They responded that Jozwiak Political Science Courses 400 Table 1 How many times did you complete the activities/assignments? In-Class % Online % Always 45.9 54.8 Almost Always 40.0 36.3 Sometimes 12.6 --5.2 Almost Never --1.5 --3.0 Never --0.0 ---.7 Table 2 How helpful do you feel the activities/assignments were in understanding course concepts? In-Class % Online % Extremely helpful 25.9 16.3 Somewhat helpful 65.9 60.7 Neither helpful nor unhelpful - 4.4 - 9.6 Somewhat unhelpful --3.7 11.1 Not at all helpful 0 --2.3 Table 3 How helpful do you feel the activities/assignments were in your preparations for in-class exams? In-Class % Online % Extremely helpful 19.3 15.6 Somewhat helpful 62.2 56.3 Neither helpful nor unhelpful 12.6 13.3 Somewhat unhelpful 4.4 8.9 Not at all helpful 1.5 5.9 Table 4 How helpful do you feel the in-class activities were in keeping you engaged in the class? In-Class % Online % Extremely helpful 45.9 -9.92 Somewhat helpful 43.0 40.07 Neither helpful nor unhelpful - 5.2 25.79 Somewhat unhelpful - 3.0 11.11 Not at all helpful - 3.0 13.09 the activities also contributed to learning the material. advantaged in the usual ways, such as political However, did student learning increase as a result of organization and fundraising, but in the case of Newark completing the online assignments and participating in an additional advantage was….” The rationale for the the in-class activities? One way to partially answer this selection of each question was a desire to have the question is to compare exam results of questions taken students recall key concepts, as is the case in the former directly from the online assignments with the overall question, or place new information in the context of exam scores. When answering these questions on the other course content, as is the case in the latter question. exam, students were usually prompted to consider the As Table 5 shows, the students performed better on online activity, so a standard four option multiple nine out of ten questions related to the online exercises. choice question would look something like this: “From The overall average on the exam questions scores from the Americans Governing assignment on JFK vs. the online source was approximately 79%, about 15% Barnett, Governor Barnett did not abide by the U.S. points better than the 63% overall exam score for the Supreme Court decision to integrate the University of semester. Mississippi because he thought segregation laws with On exams the students were also asked to answer regards to education were…” and “From the Americans questions related to the in-class activities. For example, Governing video on local parties, we saw an incumbent two questions from the first exam were: “In the ‘Where Jozwiak Political Science Courses 401 Table 5 Online assignment averages compare to overall exam averages Online AVG Exam AVG JFK/Barnett 89.05 63.12 Local Party 69.71 64.90 Exit Poll 82.71 64.90 Al Gore/Internet 79.80 64.90 Local News/Sensationalism 61.06 64.90 # Congressional Seats 65.36 60.00 Legislative Process 91.22 60.00 Watergate 85.85 60.00 Supreme Court 74.27 65.78 Symbolic Speech 86.89 65.78 Overall Average 78.59 63.43 do I fit?’ class exercise, the group that had the most provide a way for students to learn and retain faith in the nation, its leaders, and progress in the nation information. was the?” and “In the ‘Where do I fit?’ class exercise, In traditionally taught large lecture classes on our the two groups which disagreed the most were?” campus, and I suspect on many other campuses, Students were offered four choices. Examples from the additional opportunities for graded assignments simply fourth exam, for instance, were, “As we discussed in don’t exist, and students are largely assessed through class and also saw in the O’Connor/Stewart interview, exam performance. However, in this course the online which Chief Justice had billboards erected urging for assignments and in-class activities allowed for more his impeachment?” and “As we saw in our in-class graded assignments, which were expected to positively exercise, in contrast to the Kentucky display of the impact student learning and would be evidenced by Decalogue, the Texas display was ruled acceptable by high grades on these assignments as well as raising the the US Supreme Court because?” overall grade average. In order to assess whether the As Table 6 shows, the students did not do as well assignments and activities actually helped the students, on these questions as they did on the online questions, it is useful to compare student performance on these doing just about as well as the exam average. The additional assignments to their exam scores. overall average of the exam questions scores relating to As Table 9 reports, the scores on the online the in-class activities was slightly below 62.91%, a assignments and in-class activities co-vary with exam shade below the 63.43% overall exam score for the scores, although the decline on the in-class activities is semester. much steeper than the decline on the online In the semester that this course was taught I did not assignments. The distance from grade columns are a teach a second large lecture course using a traditional very simple measure which compares the average score lecture approach, so an immediate control group does on a task with the lowest possible score to maintain a not exist. However, I did have a similar class the grade (for instance, 90 points for an “A”). The table previous semester that lacked significant amounts of in- initially groups students by their exam scores, so those class activities and had no online assignments. Using students who averaged an “A” are together in the “A” this class as a control group, there is some evidence to row. The table then reports their average scores on the suggest both the online activities and the in-class online assignments and in-class activities and then the exercises had a positive impact on student learning. distance from the overall exam average. Table 9 shows When comparing the current semester’s scores to the that as the average exam score declines the distance past semester’s scores on similarly worded exam from grade score increases, meaning that students who questions, where the main, and usually only, difference score less well on exams tend to be helped by the was the “prompting” clause, the current semester additional online assignments and in-class activities. students scored about 11% higher, suggesting that these Therefore, students who tend to perform the most assignments were a useful supplement to the lecture. poorly on exams tend to be helped the most by the (See Table 7.) As evidenced in Table 8, even though the additional assignments. If the online assignments and students didn’t score as highly on the questions related in-class activities are weighted in proportion to their to the in-class activities, there was about a 10% contribution to the overall course score, which was improvement in scores when compared to previous about one-third of the grade, then the effect is about a - semesters, suggesting that these in-class activities did 1.49 percentage point for A students, a +.41 for B Jozwiak Political Science Courses 402 Table 6 In-class assignment averages compare to overall exam averages Online AVG Exam AVG Where do I Fit? Enterprisers/Liberals 82.19 63.12 Where do I Fit? Upbeats 52.51 63.12 Literacy Test 70.77 63.12 Electoral Map/Purple 60.09 64.90 Survey/Word Order 91.34 64.90 Iraq Photos/Frame 79.32 64.90 Budget/Liberals 34.63 60.00 Budget/Cuts 49.76 60.00 Congressional Power 49.27 60.00 Warren Billboard 33.49 65.78 SC Dissent 80.78 65.78 Decalogue 70.78 65.78 Overall Average 62.91 63.43 Table 7 Current semester question scores for online assignments compared to last semester Current Past Local News/Sensationalism 61.06 51.01 Exit Poll 82.71 79.19 # Congressional Seats 65.36 49.46 Watergate 85.85 69.93 Overall Average 73.75 62.32 Table 8 Current semester question scores for in-class activities compared to last semester Current Past Electoral Map/Purple 60.09 61.74 Survey/Word Order 91.34 85.23 SC Dissent 80.78 57.74 Decalogue 70.78 58.45 Overall Average 75.75 65.79 Table 9 Class Average “Task” Comparison In-Class Activities Distance from Grade Online Assignments Distance from Grade A 90.69 --+.69 80.27 ---9.36 B 83.03 -+3.03 79.46 ----.54 C 75.75 -+5.75 76.00 -+6.00 D 71.80 +11.20 74.63 +14.63 F 66.03 +16.03 73.56 +23.56