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DePaul University Department of Political Science |
Memo
University students in the 21st century face very different challenges as they begin trying to understand the world in which they live, particularly as the world’s information and dialogue continues to be consolidated on the internet for universal access and participation. One particular aspect of my college experience that I regret has been the lack of a comprehensive introduction to the various tools made available to me through the internet. The phenomenon of the blogosphere has inspired a rage among young, ambitious, thought-driven people around the world who are eager to make public their feelings and experiences for the world to access and learn from. Nearly 30,000 new blogs are created daily, and companies such as eBay, Google, Microsoft and many others have been fighting to secure themselves a prosperous future for the new medium. In addition to providing students with an innovative solution to developing their thought process and writing skills, a blog offers a unique opportunity to receive feedback from thousands of otherwise inaccessible critics, who offer both valuable insight and opportunities for building relationships outside of the DePaul academic community.
The aim of this proposal is to gain approval to begin composing technical instructions for students to use as a guide when initiating their blog using blogger.com, Google’s free blog editor, and registering it to publish on their DePaul provided Shell account.
Teaching methodology in the field of political science, though proficient at instilling the fundamentals of political theory and modern paradigms, lacks imagination and fails to maximize the potential of web-based applications to supplement the traditional classroom dialogue. Additionally, it has been my experience that political science professors often fail relate course material to current global political realities, which often leads them to give incomplete or confusing responses when responding to students questions about war, terrorism, economics, and many other relevant topics. It would be difficult to expect professors to find ways to cram up-to-the-minute information in classes that are already often strapped for the time necessary to cover the basic precepts that underlie all political discourse. However, if students were given the opportunity to discuss, debate and reach an understanding of the world in which they live through an internet based medium such as a blog, they are likely to leave DePaul with a far more practical understanding of the real world application of the often confusing knowledge they are forced to memorize and usually soon after forget.
Once begun, the project should take only one quarter to both introduce to students and allow teachers to prepare necessary coursework and requirements. Using a blog to store and manage information will make it easier on students without any basic knowledge of HTML, or SSH, which are necessary skills when using the Shell account. However, students will be able to register their sites under their DePaul provided Shell account, or remotely at blogger.com if they so choose, provided they properly list their web address on the blog index administered by the department. The technical instructions that I am proposing will provide students with a detailed description of how to log-in at blogger.com, choose a title for their blog, and register a remote publishing address if necessary.
Estimated Costs- Blogger.com offers free editing tools, and students are provided free server space, which makes hosting and management of the sites free. I am willing to provide necessary protocol free of charge as well, so the net cost to the department will be nothing.
Staff Responsibilities- Dr. Budde, as department chair, will be charged with assigning responsibility to staff members who are willing to serve as moderators, provide topics and offer comments to students. Subsequent staff meetings will address grading policy, credit conferral and minimum requirements. Staff already has access to Condor sites provided through DePaul, but it is my recommendation that any staff involved in monitoring the content also keep a blog themselves, on which the can post their own research, ideas to stimulate thought among students, and provide assistance to students on matters of routine technical problems. It is also recommended that the department host a blog which indexes all of the student’s sites for access to other students, teachers and the general public.
Student Responsibilities- After the department staff has met to discuss the logistics of the project, students will be assigned to one professor each, based upon a political sub-focus they choose (comparative, American, political theory, etc.), region of the world they are interested in (Far East, Middle East, EU, etc.), or according to a specific focus they will be allowed to propose on any other possible topics. Once students are clear on the theme they are to adhere to, they will follow the technical instructions I have composed to initialize their blog, register it under their DePaul account, name their site and begin submitting thought.
Feasibility Test- In the remaining time before the fall quarter commences, a survey will be prepared and administered to faculty and students through e-mail, which will serve as a mass brainstorming exercise for the programs’ designers as they make decisions regarding the scope of the project, prepare syllabi and make final decisions on criteria for grading the blogs based on content, style and creativity. This survey should be completed, assessed and used to form a list of priorities and projects, which will serve as a guide for professors as they experiment with this new program for the first time, by the end of August.
Blog initiative provides students with a forum for openly debating current events, public policy, and political theory as they perceive them to exist, as opposed to the traditional model of letting the students parse through these difficult subjects in their own head or under the intimidating glare of professors and classmates. This will likely serve to encourage typically shy, soft-spoken students who would otherwise not participate in class discussion a forum for expressing thought free of inhibition, thus providing their professors a more complete view of their thought process that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Students can use this assignment to creatively make a few extra dollars while doing their homework by utilizing Google’s Adwords program, which will post advertisements on the sites that correlates to the content. Also, the blog will provide students with an excellent portfolio of their writing as they apply to law school, graduate school or their first job upon graduation.
Most importantly, this initiative will allow students to form their own political mind, focused on the issues that they care about, free from the fear of being ridiculed by a smart-ass classmate, or arrogant professor. If anything, the political science department fails to provide students with an objective view of the subject matter, due to their largely idealistic and progressive opinions, and students rarely take the time to do the necessary research to form a balanced viewpoint.
I believe this addition to the required curriculum within the political science department will offer students a unique opportunity to explore their own consciences and reach independent conclusions on issues often blurred by partisanship and intimidation. By keeping a log of their thought process during their years studying politics at DePaul, students will be able to reference their past postings as they begin to tackle the important political issues of our times. It has been my experience that college students are often really good at memorizing and re-dictating information they read in a textbook. It is in the critical analysis where most students fail to exert the necessary energy to reach conclusions free of coercion. By articulating one’s personal feelings on a topic of geopolitical concern, that individual has done more to further their understanding of that issue than they ever would have accomplished by sitting through a lecture. Too often college students do not develop their ideas completely because of a general apprehension among non-political science students to partake in political discussions. This essential step in the formation of an individual’s political identity will not be fulfilled unless a program such as this is implemented, which allows for unlimited debate among students who do care about the future of the world, without forcing them to adjust their personal lives to provide such stimulation.
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