gmklass@ilstu.edu
Department of Political Science
Illinois State University
Prepared for delivery at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the American
Political Science Association, August 30, 1996
final copy: 8/26/96
Introduction
A "cyberclass," I have decided, is a course with its own web page on the Internet. This paper summarizes the results of an informal review of the content of 47 Political Science cyberclasses. The purpose of this project is to summarize how Political Science instructors use web pages for their courses, to identify what seem to be the more promising applications of the technology, and to make some cautious assessments of where the technology is leading.
A course web page may be no more than the digital resting place for a variety of course materials that could just as easily - sometimes more easily - be distributed to students in printed format, only partially disguising an otherwise conventional lecture-textbook-multiple-choice course offering. Or it could be a focal point for a scholarly forum that engages students in a rich and informative dialogue or collaborative research effort with students and leading scholars at universities scattered across the globe.
Cyberclasses may represent only an incremental change in the way instructors present their courses. Students are given access to a digital syllabus as an alternative to a printed copy. They can click on a "mailto:" link to their professor's E-mail address instead of leaving a message on his or her voice mail. They can read Supreme Court decisions, the Congressional Record, or the Almanac of American Politics on their computers instead of in the library. Lectures can be presented with many-colored PowerPoint slides rather than scribbling on a blackboard. Such things might foster more student contact with the instructor, or expand the range and perhaps the quality of the material students read in the course of a course. Even the more advanced applications of the Internet technology - the virtual course - may be no more than an incremental improvement on extension university education.
At they very least, course web pages serve to open up the teaching process by putting at least some of the professor's work on public display. Potential students, and instructors teaching similar courses at other universities, and nosy administrators can get a better idea of what is going in a professor's classroom by clicking on a hyperlink to a course page. Instructors now have instant access to a variety of syllabi to model their own courses on and access to course materials not readily available.
Whether or not much more than this is being done with the new technology and whether the technology will substantially change the way instructors teach their courses remains to be seen. For many years those who study college teaching have decried traditional lecturing modes of instruction and called for new approaches to actively engaging students in the learning process. "Sage on the stage" is out, student "involvement-in-learning" and "guide-by-the side" instruction is in. The Internet offers the potential for new alternatives to traditional modes of instruction and the means for a more rapid diffusion of instructional innovations.
Surveying the Courses
The initial data base for this survey consists of 35 links to Political Science course web pages contained on the Political Science Cyberclasses web page created by Karl Ho, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Texas ("last updated" 5/2/96) <see note 1>. Thirteen additional courses not listed there, but included in the either the Political Science or Public Affairs section of the World Lecture Hall web pages at the University of Texas, Austin, were also surveyed. Although some sites were not fully operational at the time of this survey <note 2>, at least some information (the name of the instructor and the title of the course) was collected from 47 course pages taught by 34 instructors (or instructor-teams), with a more or less complete assessment possible for 40 of the courses. There are probably many other Political Science cyberclasses with course web pages not listed on these pages and many other courses without web pages would also qualify as "cyberclasses" for their use of discussion list and newsgroup conferencing. One additional listing of political science courses (and other Political Science teaching resources), discovered too late to be included in this survey, can be found at Bob Duval's Poly-Cy Guide to Internet Resources for Political Science - Teaching Resources site.
The 47 course summaries <below> employ a nine-component schema for an informal coding of the use of the Internet and the kinds of materials, resources and exercises in each course.
Components of a Cyberclass
Stages of Cyberclassing: At the first stage of incorporating the Internet into a course, Cyberclasses often differ only marginally from more traditional course offerings. Typically, at a minimum the stage 1 cyberclasses consist of: a home page for the course, a syllabus, and a set of hyperlinks to relevant Internet sites. More often than not there is a hyperlink to the instructor's E-mail account and some notes on the reading or writing assignments.
At a second stage, cyberclasses offer students something more than an electronic extension of a traditional class. To be classified in this category, the course must involve doing something that cannot be done without the Internet. In most cases this will involve some form of interactive e-mail discussion or the use of a computer-assisted simulation, role-playing game or case study, or student exercises involving subscribe to discussion lists, browsing relevant web sites, or constructing websites.
A "Classroom Without Walls" is the third stage of cyberclassing, a virtual course without physical (or, sometimes, temporal) boundaries. Pending the development of better video conferencing capabilities, students probably never see their professor or fellow classmates. In June 1996, the governors of 10 western states announced the establishment of Western Governors University (a.k.a. Western Virtual University) a regional "virtual university" that will begin operation in 1997. At the University of Minnesota, the Independent and Distance Learning University College already offers several hundred courses primarily through the Internet.
There is a crucial distinction among what might be classified as stage 3 courses, however. Some, such as most of those at the University of Minnesota, are self-paced independent-learning courses. Students go through a pre-packaged set of reading and writing assignments on their own without any interaction with other students, even by E-mail, and often with only minimal contact with the instructor. A "virtual seminar," on the other hand, is more elaborate. The assignments and discussions are scheduled, students are actively engaged in discussion with each other and the instructor and students may work together on group projects. Virtual seminars offer several advantages over traditional seminars, particularly when students are offered a chance to exchange their work with scholars from around the world or when students from another country can contribute special insights and expertise on the subject matter.
Some virtual seminars may be taken in conjunction with "real time" seminars, with actual classrooms and meeting times, at several two or more universities.
The Syllabus and course instructions: At a minimum a "Cyberclass" consists of a course syllabus located on a web page and a "mailto:" link to the instructor's email address. By itself an on-line syllabus is probably of marginal benefit to the students in any particular course, but the availability of syllabi on line will serve two increasingly significant functions. First, the on-line syllabus is a means of advertising the course to potential students and serves as a supplement to the printed course description in the course catalog.
Perhaps more importantly, the increasing numbers of syllabi available through the Internet provide a useful resource for faculty on other teaching the similar courses. I suspect that many instructors model their own courses on courses they took in graduate school. A greater diffusion of knowledge about how similar courses are taught on different campuses should contribute to the professionalization of the teaching enterprise. This is facilitated by archives of web-pages and syllabi archives, such as the World Lecture Hall, Karl Ho's "Political Science Cyberclass" page, and Manuel Avalos's race and ethnicity Syllabi Collection.
In addition to the syllabus, professors commonly place lecture notes, study guides and assignment instructions on their web pages.
The syllabus may either be in ASCII format, downloadable word processing document, or as a text file in HTML format. A slightly more sophisticated approach is to integrate the syllabus with the course web page. The course outline may contain links to the actual text of the many of the reading assignments and the commonly stern warnings about plagiarism can be followed by a link to the University's Student Code of Ethics.
Course materials: This refers primarily to reading assignments that professors have stored on the course web site. For better or worse, the time will come when most of the reading materials for most courses will be provided in electronic format. As it is, there are several impediments that restrict the kinds of reading assignments that an instructor can store on a course web site.
Copyright restrictions severely limit the reading assignments that can be provided to students on a web page. Many reading materials that could be provided to students legally in Xerox course packets cannot be placed on publicly accessible web sites - even materials that can be hard-copied free of charge for educational use - since there is no simple way to restrict access to documents only to students in a particular course. One of my colleagues attaches the following "Fair Use Notice" to his web page containing a number of re-prints of articles and papers:
"These WWW pages contain copyrighted materials whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Economics department makes theses materials available as part of its goal to promote critical thinking about statistical issues. It believes that this constitutes a "fair use" of the copyrighted materials as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use any of these copyrighted materials for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner."
Although the copyright legislation is ambiguous and court cases are pending, this somewhat liberal interpretation of Fair Use is not recommended.
Many materials that are available in electronic format on the Internet, particularly magazine and newspaper articles, may not be permanently archived - one cannot depend that a link to any particular CNN story or a New York Times article will remain active throughout a semester. Government and historic documents, and many primary texts in Political Theory and Philosophy are most readily available on course sites.
Some of these impediments can be resolved if and when editors and publishers develop website supplements to textbooks and journals or figure out other ways of making a profit by providing texts and articles in digital form.
Reference Links: Perhaps the most significant pedagogical advantage of a cyberclassing is the ability to direct students to a wealth of reference sites. Here, the instructor's web page serves as a staring-point guide to what is available on the Internet. American politics course web pages commonly link students to the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and the Almanac of American Politics. The CIA Fact Book is commonly found Comparative and International Relations course pages. Instructors sometimes refer to their set of reference links as their "Internet Library" or "Electronic Reserve Room".
Interactive discussion: Shared e-mail nickname files, Listserv mailing lists or, less often, USENET newsgroups can be used to create a forum for student discussion. The discussion may involve students in enrolled a single class, students at two or more University locations, individuals subscribed to a virtual course from remote locations, or participation in an open public forum.
Data Analysis, Projects and simulations: A variety interactive course projects, exercises, case study simulations on Internet sites can be located on web sites.
Study aids: It is possible to use a web page to create an Internet version of a textbook study guide or workbook, where students are given problems or questions and can link to the answers. For example, this STAT101 Note is a link to a hypertext introductory statistics text at the University of Newcastle containing semi-interactive workbook exercises.
Testing: A test is merely a form that students fill out. It is possible, using HTML forms and CGI or Java programming, to place both multiple on a web page, pending resolution of obvious problems in ensuring the integrity of student submissions. Most American Government textbook publishers now provide test-item banks in digital formats, and the publishers of the Lowi and Ginsberg text offer a forms-based web site for mailing answers to multiple choice items (perhaps automatically graded?) to the course instructor. For large courses in particular, it may be possible to post student grades on websites, although in the U.S. the Buckley law creates some impediment to this. Here is an example of a test-item bank using web browser forms used in a marketing course in Australia.
Archives: Courses may offer an archive of previous term papers, students' PowerPoint presentations or course discussion-list messages. Such archives provide for a public display of students' work, serving not only to inform future students and others about the nature of the course assignments and standards, but also create an audience for the students' writings. Public display of their work may encourage students to write better, or at least differently.
Distance Learning: Either an entire course or some components of a course may involve virtual or distance learning. Recorded here is some indication of whether or not, and in what manner students not on the home campus might participate in the course.
Findings
Of the 41 courses where an assessment could be made, 19 were classified at stage 2 or 3 - involving more than an incremental extension of a traditional course offering. Most instances of courses rated either stage 2 or 3 involved the use of either interactive student conferencing or some form of a case study simulation.
# of courses |
|
| Cyberclass stage: | |
| 1 | 22 |
| 2 | 16 |
| 3 | 3 |
| na | 6 |
| Interactive discussion: | 15 |
| within class | 9 |
| bi-\multi-class | 4 |
| open forum | 2 |
| Simulations\case studies | 11 |
| International relations | 4 |
| Kennedy School | 3 |
| Budget simulation | 2 |
| Iowa Stock Market | 2 |
| Courtroom Challenge | 1 |
Interactive discussion: Is there non-interactive discussion? Fifteen of the courses featured student conferencing on the Internet. Four of these were bi-national student conferences between classes: two courses linked students at Texas with Cairo, others involving US and Canada and Japan and Germany. Two other classes involved students interacting with individuals in an open Internet discussion.
Projects and simulations: Eleven courses (and some of these courses represent more than one course offered at different locations) use or have links to some sort of simulation, role-playing game or simulation. Four of these are International Relations (or Law) decision-making simulations and two others employed Kennedy School case studies of domestic public policy issues, with a third also offered through the Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School. Two courses offered links to the Iowa Political Stock Market and two others, to the CCER US budget simulation. Arthur Miller's "Courtroom Challenge," used in Michael Martinez's American Government course, is an excellent example of the use of the Internet technology. Students are given background information for a choice of seven landmark Supreme Court cases, and are asked to select a set of legal arguments supporting one side in the case. Their arguments are evaluated and scored with explanations provided for each of the arguments.
The Kennedy School Case Study Program provides two of its (1500 or so) case studies on web pages: "North Carolina and the Battle for Business" and "Campaign '96: Third Party Time?" Both were prepared by David Eddy Spicer at Harvard and include a very comprehensive set of materials, nicely organized.
A few courses did specify that the term paper, extra credit or other assignments would involve the use of web resources and several courses provided links to information on how to cite web pages for research papers.
Syllabi, course materials and reference links: Instructors included a variety of reading materials on their web sites, primarily historical documents or sets of case materials. I noticed no apparent violations of the copyright law. There was considerable variation -- ranging from the eclectically haphazard to the carefully prepared and well organized - in the quality of the compendia of both reading materials and reference links. Some instructors seem to have just fallen on a few electronic texts, search engines and interesting sites of sometimes tenuous relevance to the actual content of their courses.
Some instructors provided a hypertext syllabus on their web pages, structuring their course web page as a syllabus and using hyperlinks to various reading assignments and other materials. In a few cases, these syllabus were unnecessarily fragmented onto separate web pages and only a small portion of the syllabus could be viewed on the screen at any one time. Most of the pages were viewed with the Microsoft Word Internet Assistant browsing function, which does not display background images, sounds are alternative text colors and the extent to which such features were used could not be observed. Thankfully, very few of the pages displayed the common web-page-newbie mistake of over-using graphics. As a general matter, it is not uncommon for professors to insist that their students fully cite materials in their term papers while providing only sketchy citation information for the readings in their own syllabi.
Special Commendations:
Two "CyberProfs" stand out among all the others for their innovative use of the Internet to create challenging and sophisticated courses.
Clement M. Henry, University of Texas at Austin, teaches four of the courses surveyed here, more than another other instructor. Each of the courses features innovative interactive web pages for student conferencing, a technical advance over the use of discussion lists and newsgroups (although access to these pages is restricted with password protection). For two of the courses, Texas students engage in bi-national conferencing with student in Cairo - a particularly appropriate use of the Internet in the case of his "Politics of International Oil" course, which also employs a carefully prepared "International Oil Game," decision-making simulation. The course web pages include an extensive and well-organized compendium of Middle East and North Africa reference links.
Lev Gonick's (Arizona State University) Virtual Seminar in Global Political Economy offers plenty of reassurance to those who fear that virtual courses will be merely Internet versions of mail-order extension classes. The upper division undergraduate\graduate course features a team of fifty instructors and tutors (approximately equal numbers of each). Students either take the class individually (under sponsorship of a faculty member at the home institution), or as members of one of six "real time" seminars at six university locations. Students work small multinational teams on assigned course topics, preparing collaborative research papers. Two other cyberclasses Gonick taught at Northern Arizona University were unfortunately not accessible at the time of this survey.
David Eddy Spicer merits best-supporting-cyberprof award for his development of the two Kennedy School case study web pages. The case studies can be used by instructors at other universities.
The Lowi and Ginsberg "Web Companion" maybe the first of many web-site supplements to American Government texts (or supplement to the package of stuff that comes along with the text). The site features a discussion list for instructors using the text (perhaps the authors participate), an organized and comprehensive set of reference links, supplementary readings, and interactive tutorials. Some system of student conferencing on individual course topics is promised.
David Garson provided the prettiest course web page. A picture of the instructor is super-imposed on an image of a computer monitor and an audio welcome from the instructor plays the song "America" in the background. Had this not been a course on computer applications, these features and the extensive use of images might be deemed to go too far.
In the Future…
There was a time, I am told, when computers were used to crunch numbers. Surprisingly, only David Garson's "Computer Applications in Public Affairs - PA 573" course incorporated data analysis into the web pages, and there seem to be no other applications of statistical analysis in any courses other than the research methods courses. After more than a week of web-browsing course sites, I did not come across any links to an SPSS or spreadsheet file. At best there were a few links to tabular presentations of polling data or government statistical sources.
An example of what can be done with Excel spreadsheet files Mark Walbert's Principles of Microeconomics class at Illinois State University. Here, students can "launch" Excel template files from the course web page that display interactive supply and demand charts.
It ought to be possible to provide students access to a variety of large data bases, to permit them to select variables and cases, and to display statistical and graphical summaries of the data - interactively. Java applets and ActiveX (which permits the manipulation of Excel spreadsheet data within web pages) are two recent software developments that might further the use of interactive statistical analysis on course web pages.
As instructors learn the technology and as the technology becomes easier to use we can expect a proliferation of cyberclasses and the development of new instructional innovations. While cyberclassing and distance education raise many problems and professional concerns (see, for example, the PSRT-L discussion of "The Virtual University"), my own general assessment is that there is little to fear and much to hope for with the development Internet instructional applications. Most of the courses surveyed here offer students only a bit more than they are likely to encounter in any other course, primarily access to digitized reading materials and reference sites that might not be otherwise available. Those courses that do depend on the Internet for some portion of the course instruction appear to be at least as challenging and rigorous as those that do not. These courses offer students the opportunity to engage collaborative research and discussion with students at other universities and in other countries. The students' work is placed on public display and evaluated by scholars in addition to their instructors.
Where students participate in virtual seminars and distance education, they do under the sponsorship of a real professor on their home campus or as a component of a seminar that meets on their home campus. These virtual seminars have a scheduled time frame and a class of students who interact with one another and their instructors.
This differs significantly from the independent learning structure of the virtual courses that will likely be offered at the new Western Governors University and that are now offered at Independent and Distance Learning University College at the University of Minnesota. The virtual courses at the University of Minnesota come with a standardized web page for each course (consisting of about two pages of single spaced text). Each course consists of six to 12 lessons, each lesson a set of readings (usually a textbook chapter or two) and a required student writing assignment. Students do take proctored exams, presumably at established learning centers (although at least one course, described as "ideal for any individual who 'doesn't have enough time,'" requires only ten written assignments). Many of the courses seem to offer little or no interactive communication with their instructors, students merely read the material prepared by the instructor - who is listed as the "course author," not the "course instructor." For each course, a single paragraph provides a description of the course author, and there are no "mailto:" links to the authors' email addresses. Many of the course authors appear to be graduate students. It is not even clear who grades the examinations. The courses generally do not contain the reference links, course materials, or simulations that characterize the cyberclasses surveyed here. The syllabi are sketchy outlines. At best, some of the courses offer an interesting set of readings.
A virtual university modeled on the University of Minnesota example would certainly have some redeeming qualities. No department meetings, no tenure and promotion decisions, no football team. Just administrators.
In the end, the most interesting and innovative courses that I have surveyed here are not necessarily those that are the most technically sophisticated, but those where instructors at two or more campus have gotten together to coordinate their courses. The idea of using a discussion list to, for example, link students taking an American politics course at a Canadian University with American students taking a Politics in Canada strikes me as brilliant. We often work with colleagues at other universities on our research projects, but collaboration has rare in our instructional endeavors. Faculty and students will benefit as the Internet makes this more common.
NOTES
Political Science Cyberclasses
Poly-Cy Guide to Internet
Resources for Political Science - Teaching Resources
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (and General Politics and Policy)
American Federal Government by Michael D. Martinez, University of Florida
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: contains a great many links to historical documents and apparently option reading assignments to supplement the text.
Reference links: an very complete compilation of sites relevant to American Government
Interactive discussion: student can submit their work via e-mail
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: links to Professor Arthur Miller's Courtroom Challenge (from the Court TV website) and CCER National Budget Simulation
Study aids: several
Archives: no
Distance learning: for the most part this is a conventional course augmented by
Internet resources.
American Government by Dr. Daniel J. O'Shea, Hillsborough Community College.
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: various government sites
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
American National Politics by Joe Cammarano, Syracuse University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext of syllabus (for a large course)
Course materials: short lecture outline summaries
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:Connect to the Iowa Political Stock Market
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
American National Government (Self Paced) By David H. Davis, University of Toledo.
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: links to media and government resources
Interactive discussion: maybe
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: six Internet laboratory assignments
Study aids: no
Archives: model papers
Distance learning: no
American Politics By Steven M. Schneider, State University of New York Institute of Technology.
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: a hypertext syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: several with each "web assignment"
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: students select two of 8 "web assignments", students may design a web site as part of a semester project.
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Introduction to American Politics by Paul Raetsch, Rutgers, Camden
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials: Lowi & Ginsberg Web Companion v.3 (LGWC)- a very complete web site supplementing their American Government text. (Oddly the statement aim of the course is " better understanding of the impact of the "Challenge of Democracy" -- the title of a competing textbook.)
Reference links: a number of American Politics links, in addition to those in LGWC
Interactive discussion: the LGWC promises such in the future, and also provides a discussion list for instructors using the text.
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: the LWGC
Testing: LWGC electronic answer sheet.
Archives: no
Distance learning: no,
Introduction to Government and Politics by Marco A. Navarro-Genie, Mount Royal College.
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: to Canadian and American politics sites
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: a reference to "tutorials" (not active)
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Parties and Political Reform in American Politics By Tim Fackler, University of Texas.
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: The "Wizard of OZ" and four other documents
Reference links: links to news media\political party sites
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
The Politics of Race, Ethnicity and Inequality by Gary Klass, Illinois State University
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: syllabus and discussion list instructions
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: Students submit book reviews and comments on reviews to the POS302-L discussion list, an open public forum for discussion books on race and ethnicity.
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: none
Study aids: no
Archives: contains archives of current and past-semester book reviews submitted by students and non-students participants on the discussion list.
Distance learning: Students and faculty at other campuses may participate
Urban Politics by Janice K. Tulloss, UNC-Greensboro
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Course Instructions: yes
Course materials: yes, excerpts from the Kerner Report and Black Wallstreet
Reference Links: few
Interactive discussion: required course discussion list
Internet Projects and simulations: students create a set of web pages profiling Greensboro
Study aids: "How to Cite Internet sources"
Archives: no
Distance Learning: no
Electoral and Advocacy Politics by David King, Harvard University
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Course Instructions: no
Course materials: no
Reference Links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Projects and simulations: Campaign '96: Third-Party Time? by David King and David Eddy Spicer, Harvard University: A Kennedy School case study\simulation
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance Learning: Instructors at other campuses are invited to use the simulation.
Politics and Communication by Robin P. Datta, UC Santa Barbara
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus, weekly lecture summaries, examination questions
Course materials: supplemental readings
Reference links: links to media resources
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
The American Chief Executive by
Joe Cammarano, Syracuse University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: The Iowa Political Stock Markets (an extra credit assignment)
Study aids: no
Archives: student PowerPoint presentations
Distance learning: no
Presidential Nominating Process by Steven M. Schneider, State University of New York Institute of Technology.
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
The United States and the Middle East by Clement M. Henry, University of Texas at Austin.
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus and instructions
Course materials: maybe, but password-protected
Reference links: many links
Interactive discussion: computer conferencing (25% of the grade)
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no, but use of Internet sources encouraged for paper assignments.
Study aids: no
Archives: conferencing archives are password-protected
Distance learning: no
North Carolina and the Battle for Business by David Eddy Spicer, Harvard University
Cyberclass Stage: 3
Syllabus\course instructions: no
Course materials: case study materials
Reference links: links to Minnesota Public Radio's, The Economic War Among the States
Interactive discussion: yes
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: This is a Kennedy School case study prepared by David Eddy Spicer. The courses were taught by Jack Donahue at Harvard and Lee Munnich at the University of Minnesota
Study aids: no
Archives: copies of student memos and analyses
Distance learning: other classes may be able to use these simulations
Information Technology, Business Strategy, and Public Policy by Lewis Branscomb, et al., Harvard University
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: no
Reference links: a course "Internet Library" of relevant links
Interactive discussion: yes
Data analysis, projects and simulations: This course appears to be taught be a team of Kennedy School and Harvard Business school instructors. Teams of students do individual case study projects.
Study aids: no
Archives: student projects, apparently in HTML format.
Distance learning: no
Science, Technology and Public Policy by Frank von Hippel, Princeton University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus and a hypertext elaboration of the syllabus
Course materials: hypertexted lecture notes
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Introduction to Public Policy by Janice K. Tulloss, UNC-Greensboro
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus and study guides
Course materials: no
Reference links: The Wizard of Oz as a Populist Tale
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids: How to cite Internet Sources
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Politics and Public Policy by Gary Klass, Illinois State University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: PowerPoint lecture notes
Reference links: Congress, Supreme Court, White House, others
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: link to the CCER National Budget Simulation
Study aids:
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Technology, Politics & Change by Roger D. Theodos, DePaul University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: an elaborate hypertext syllabus
Course materials: lecture outlines
Reference links: collection of useful links
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: archive of student papers
Distance learning: no
Analytic Methods for Decision Making by Pat Wong, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus and course description
Course materials: no
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: mailing list for lecture notes
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Human Resources Management (Public Sector) by Linda deLeon, University of Colorado at Denver.
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus, learning contracts
Course materials: yes, several papers
Reference links: yes
Interactive discussion: student papers and memos posted to discussion list (instructor uses andragogical teaching methods)
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: student papers, advice to future students taking this course
Distance learning: no
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Introduction to International Relations by Lev Gonick, Northern Arizona University.
Cyberclass Stage:
Syllabus\course instructions: (link was down, Gonick has moved to Arizona State)
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning: yes
International Relations I by Richard W. Chadwick, University of Hawaii
Cyberclass Stage: 2/3
Syllabus\course instructions: yes
Course materials: (note second best instructor picture)
Reference links: under construction
Interactive discussion: email conferencing; two "international associates"
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: International relations simulation, including computer-assisted decision-making software.
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: yes, see: International Relations I: Invitation - Chadwick
Arab-Israeli Conflict Dr. Raymond Tanter and Dr. Edgar Taylor, University of Michigan
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: several syllabi
Course materials: yes, a great many
Reference links: extensive compilation of links
Interactive discussion: yes, as part of the simulation
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: a computer assisted role-playing simulation
Study aids: citation links
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Virtual Seminar in Global Political Economy coordinated by Lev Gonick, Arizona State University.
Cyberclass Stage: 3
Syllabus\course instructions: nicely hypertext
Course materials: most or all of the seminar reading assignments (some links are down as the course is not in session)
Reference links: yes
Interactive discussion: yes, required for participation
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: (some links are down)
Archives: of student papers, drafts and final, archives of discussions
Distance learning: This course involves fifty faculty and tutors at sites around the world students may enroll as individuals (with home institutions faculty sponsorship) or as members of seminars at six university locations.
The Politics Of International Oil by Clement M. Henry, University of Texas, Austin
Cyberclass Stage: 3
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus, bibliographies
Course materials: yes
Reference links: a great many links
Interactive discussion: extensive e-mail conferencing
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: "International Oil Game"
Study aids: yes
Archives: yes, password-protected
Distance learning: the oil game simulation involves e-mail conferencing with students on other campuses, including Cairo, Egypt.
Introduction to International Law by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, Stanford University
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus, class notes
Course materials: moot court case materials
Reference links: extenisve links to Int. law sites and case study materials
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: a variety of International Law case study topics are used, each with a web page including case materials for a "Chemical Catastrophe" moot court simulation.
Study aids: sample quizzes
Archives: copy of last year's final exam
Distance learning: no
COMPARATIVE POLITICS
African Politics by Lev Gonick, Northern Arizona University
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: (only the student paper archive could be found for this site, Gonick has moved to Arizona State)
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives: archives of student papers are contained here
Distance learning:
Canadian Politics By Dr. Jonathan Rose, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Cyberclass Stage: (link down on 7/17 and 7/20)
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
Politics in Canada by Michael D. Martinez, University of Florida
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: extensive of Canadian media and government links
Interactive discussion: Discussion list participation with students in a U.S. Politics class at the University of Calgary
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: bi-national discussion list
DJ50 - "International Joint Seminar between Germany(Deutschland) and Japan By using Internet; Comparative Research of Political Economy of Both Countries for 50 Years since 1945." by Yoichi Tsutsui, Toyama University, Japan
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: collections of "bookmarks"
Interactive discussion: a course discussion list, plus a reference to students using CU-SeeMe video conferencing
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: archives of discussion list
Distance learning: bi-national discussion
Politics
of the Middle East and North Africa by Clement M. Henry, University of Texas at Austin
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus
Course materials: comprehensive bibliographies
Reference links: nicely organized: Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
Interactive discussion: email discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Virtual Seminar on European
Union by Antero Aunesluoma, University of Helsinki
Cyberclass Stage: (site being revised for next semester's offering)
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives: of previous semester's papers
Distance learning:
Comparative Legislative Institutions by Thomas F. Remington, Emory University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: no syllabus
Course materials: Congressional Rules Changes
Reference links: many reference links
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives:
Distance learning: no
Comparative Politics Reference Links by Thomas F. Remington, Emory University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus and extra credit instructions
Course materials: no
Reference links: many reference links
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no, but an extra credit assignment requiring web-browsing
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Western European Politics by John Books, University of North Texas
Cyberclass Stage: 1(2)
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: many media and government links
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: term paper may use Internet sources only
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Comparative Politics Resources by Bob Goehlert, Indiana University
Cyberclass Stage: (just links, not a course offering)
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links: many
Interactive discussion:
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
Introduction to Comparative Politics by Margaret Martín, Carleton College
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus, instructions
Course materials: several of the course reading assignments, including essays by Robert Putnam.
Reference links: links to country and media sources
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: students construct country web pages, and several interesting web exercises.
Study aids: study questions for reading assignments.
Archives: course grades and statistics
Distance learning: no
Civil Society and Citizenship by Clement M. Henry, University of Texas, Austin
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus
Course materials: some links to course readings
Reference links: link to UT-MENIC (a comprehensive reference site for Middle East and North Africa resources)
Interactive discussion: with students at the University of Cairo and the American University in Cairo, papers are posted to an interactive web site.
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: no
Archives: yes, but password-protected
Distance learning: bi-national discussion
POLITICAL THEORY
Political Theory and International Relations by Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, Stanford University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus,
Course materials: on-line editions of classic texts in political philosophy
Reference links: to classic texts
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: no
Study aids: discussion questions for reading assignments
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Nonlinear Politics by Thad A. Brown, University of Missouri, Columbia
Cyberclass Stage: (this is a link to several course sites, includes course descriptions)
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Distance learning:
/Classical Political Theory by Charles Helm, Western Illinois University
Cyberclass Stage: this course was found too late to be included in the survey
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
Modern Political Theory by Charles Helm, Western Illinois University
Cyberclass Stage: this course was found too late to be included in the survey
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
POLITICAL METHODOLOGY
pols2000: Computer Applications in Political Science by Yuhang Shi, Eastern Carolina University
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: hypertext syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: no
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: exercises with word perfect, Excel, SPSS and the World Wide Web
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Quantitative Methods in Political Science by Thomas Hartley, University of Connecticut
Cyberclass Stage: (link not active, no course links on personal home page))
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
Intermediate Statistics for
Political Science by Thad A. Brown, University of Missouri, Columbia
Cyberclass Stage: 1
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus
Course materials: no
Reference links: no
Interactive discussion: link to student discussion group not active
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids: no
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Computer Applications in Public Affairs - PA 573 by G. David Garson, North Carolina State University.
Cyberclass Stage: 2
Syllabus\course instructions: syllabus, audio welcome file (plays "America"), exams and study guides (and best picture of prof)
Course materials: mostly computer instructions
Reference links: links to data sources, software downloads
Interactive discussion: discussion list
Data Analysis, projects and simulations: data retrieved from the Internet
Study aids: several
Archives: no
Distance learning: no
Scope and Methods by Charles Helm, Western Illinois University
Cyberclass Stage: this course was found too late to be included in the survey
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
PS 501: Political Science and the Internet by Charles Helm, Western Illinois University
Cyberclass Stage: this course was found too late to be included in the survey
Syllabus\course instructions:
Course materials:
Reference links:
Interactive discussion
Data Analysis, projects and simulations:
Study aids:
Archives:
Distance learning:
Gary Klass
gmklass@ilstu.edu
Department of Political Science
Illinois State University
Prepared for delivery at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the American
Political Science Association, August 30, 1996
Note: This is a printed copy of an HTML document available at: http://www.ilstu.edu/depts/polisci/apsa96/roundtab.htm