U.S. Government
 PSCI 2030

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  PSCI 2030 – U.S. Government
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract:  This low--cost textbook is being utilized in a Political Science course for undergraduate students by Thora Giallouri at California State University, San Bernardino. The low-cost textbook provides key sections in what government is and what it does, identification of political offices and people in American Politics, comparison between Americans and the world, as well as a variety of instructor aides for hands-on learning. The main motivation to adopt a low-cost textbook was the quality of the textbook in combination with its affordability. Most students access the textbook in through the institution’s LMS, as the course participates in Inclusive Access.

Course Title/ Number: PSCI 2030 – U.S. Government
Brief Description of course highlights:  Political structure and processes of the American governmental system. This course meets the state code requirements in U.S. Constitution and state and local government. Satisfies GE category D1. https://catalog.csusb.edu/coursesaz/psci/

Student population: The course is a GE requirement for all majors from all colleges. There is a wide variety of majors every semester, no one is more common than others. There are no prerequisites, the course is an introductory course in American Politics. 

Learning or student outcomes:  Instructor’s Learning Objectives - Students will be able to:

1. Outline the principles that shaped the U.S. political system.
2. Explain the intricate design and functions of the main institutions in U.S. governance.
3. Describe what each branch does and how they interact.
4. Demonstrate the applicability of institutional political design on everyday life.
5. Examine how Americans behave politically and how other factors shape political behavior.
6. Appraise the factors that promote or inhibit Americans’ access to political participation.

General Political Science Learning Goals
The course learning objectives below satisfy the Department of Political Science learning objectives in the following ways:

Goal 1: Students will be able to evaluate the institutions of politics.
Goal 2: Students will be able to evaluate the theories of politics.
Goal 3: Students will be able to evaluate the policies of politics.
Goal 4: Students will have experience as active participants in politics and/or academic organizations within the discipline of political science.
Goal 5: Students will obtain effective written communication skills. 

Key challenges faced and how resolved: The course is mandatory for all students, which means a significant portion do not have an interest in Political Science or American Politics. Additionally, because students enrolling are usually freshmen, they have little prior knowledge of political institutions/processes and due to young age, little engagement with news and politics. These challenges are addressed through creating a course that heavily focuses on how political processes and institutions apply to everyday life and affect students, and the importance of political knowledge, while giving them the tools to interpret what they see, hear, and read daily.

Syllabus and/or Sample assignment from the course or the adoption.  Activity Sample: American Presidents.  Please go to p. 361 of your textbook - Who Are America’s Presidents?   Look at the various data presented in the graphics and choose one category: age, race, gender, profession, region, party. PS2030 Syllabus S23.docx
A) Discuss what you think the data shows in that category and why; for example, most presidents had previously been lawyers. Why could that be?
B) Is that trend likely to change in the future?

Instructor Name: Thora Giallouri
California State University, San Bernardino
I am a Political Science professor at the California State University, San Bernardino.

Please provide a link to your university page.  https://www.csusb.edu/profile/thora.giallouri

Please describe the courses you teach.  I am an American Politics and Public Law expert, as well as the pre-Law advisor for my institution. My courses address law and the theory of law, as well as the applied effects of law on society, the politics of the judiciary and its interaction with the elected branches, and the behavior of legal agents. I teach Constitutional Law, Civil Rights and Liberties, Constitutional Criminal Law, Judicial Process, Judicial Behavior, Constitutional Interpretation, The US Supreme Court, Law and Society, Federal Indian Law, Law Politics and Public Policy, and various American Politics courses.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  I believe that being an instructor of political science serves two interconnected purposes. Not only does it help students broaden their knowledge on the subject, but it also prepares them to become engaged citizens and active members of their community by understanding its centrality in everyday life. To accomplish those goals, I structure my courses with two objectives in mind. First, I ensure that students familiarize themselves with crucial political science concepts. Second, I encourage them to develop critical thought, and skills they can apply both inside and outside of the classroom. Students are more likely to be interested in and retain the material when it is relevant to their personal life and professional goals and when it brings together theory and practice. To this effect, all my courses contain a learn-by-doing component, as well as introduction and training in transferable skills, from effective written and oral communication to data analysis and presentation. 

I regularly research topics in court legitimacy and public opinion, judicial behavior, the interaction between the judiciary and the elected branches, access to courts, and the judicialization of politics in the United States.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  My goal was to instantly provide very high-quality, low-cost material to students, which would be charged to student account, so no money on hand would be needed.

I was ready to start the semester with activities/assignments/etc. from day 1 of the semester. Inclusive Access disincentivizes students from not purchasing the textbook in order to save money by offering a low-cost readily available option. Students who do not buy some type of access to textbooks usually end up failing the class or scoring very poorly.

Additionally, this way I can provide access to the most up-to-date material to students, which is very important for an American Politics course, which deals with current and historical events equally.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I have been using this textbook for years, and I am now happy to do it through Inclusive Access to ensure low-cost access.

Sharing Best Practices: CSUSB needs a different textbook adoption platform that streamlines the adoption of low-cost Inclusive Access materials. The Bookstore cannot help with adoption or any problems and it requires some time and effort to coordinate with the publisher in order to make the textbook available to students. Other campuses successfully use such streamlined platforms, which makes the process require less than a minute of the faculty member’s time and ensures a smooth access to students.

Describe any challenges you experienced, and lessons learned. There was serious miscommunication and confusion with the Bookstore, which made the start of the semester problematic. Nobody could answer the question of how the material will be available to students and what happens in case a student has access problems. The publisher’s representatives, however, were communicative and able to address problems easily. It is necessary that the campus switches to Verba Collect like other CSU campuses, which ensures a streamlined adoption process with no issues/problems for students.

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: We The People, 14th Essentials Edition, 2022.

Brief Description:  The textbook provides many valuable aspects and resources. It focuses on how students are connected to government, why students should think critically about government and politics, and how Americans from different backgrounds experience and shape politics. The textbook provides up-to-date coverage of recent political events from elections and protests to activism and voter mobilization, as well as How-To guides about how to tackle unknown but fundamental political processes in the life of a citizen (how to register, how to vote, how to contact a representative, etc.).

The 14th digital edition comes with embedded quizzes in every chapter, so students can check their understanding and knowledge as they read, and poses questions and problems commonly faced that require critical thinking on the part of the student. It is also rich in graphics with statistics and data about common questions about Americans and their political behavior.

The textbook was embedded in the LMS (Canvas) chapter by chapter which gave access to the quizzes and scores from the quizzes were automatically imputed in the Grades section of the Canvas course. An initial log in to the publisher’s platform was required, but post log-in, students had immediate access to the digital textbook and quizzes (Norton lllumine Ebook).

Please provide a link to the resource https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324034797

Authors:  Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir, Tolbert, Campbell, Ming Francis, and Spitzer.

Student access:  Through the course’s Canvas page, the ebook was embedded chapter by chapter. Students who opted out of Inclusive Access could rent or purchase their own copy from the Bookstore or some other platform.

Supplemental resources:
- Norton Illumine Ebook with quizzes embedded in chapters
- “Who Are Americans?” and “Who Participates? Animations” for students embedded on LMS.
- The publisher also provides a Test Bank, Powerpoint presentations, and a rich list of activities that ask students to apply their learning by doing which significantly add to achieving the learning objectives.

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  The cost of renting the textbook through Inclusive Access was $41.90.

• 185 students enrolled in class x $41.90 = $7,751.5 
• Down from approx. 11,701.25 - 14,587.25 for the same number of students if non-Inclusive Access materials had been used ⇢ 50% less than cheapest rental textbook.

License: Norton Publishing Co. holds the license