GMA 215- Comparative Politics

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  GMA 215- Comparative Politics
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a International Strategy and Security course for undergraduate or graduate students by Amy Skoll at California State University Maritime Academy. The open textbook provides students with the opportunity to read a variety of literary sources and connect their course content to current events. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to cut student costs and to engage students in more interactive and engaging course material conducive to class discussions. Most student access the open textbook in on Canvas and all materials are free of charge. 

Course: GMA 215- Comparative Politics 
Brief Description of course highlights:  The course provides an introduction to important themes of comparative political analysis, in order to identify and explain differences in political systems and political life across different states and regions of the world. The course focuses on the development of the fundamental elements of modern political systems: state, nation, market, civil society, democracy, and authoritarianism. Throughout, close attention will be paid to interactions between these elements - for example, between states and markets, or between civil society and authoritarian regimes. The course also focuses on the role of institutions, such as political parties and constitutional structures, in shaping these interactions.

Class Hours: 3, Units: 3
General Education: Area D Social Science - lower division
Prerequisite(s): None

Student population: This is a major required course for second year International Strategy and Security majors. There are no pre-requisites for the course and is designed to be an introduction to the field of Comparative Politics.

Learning or student outcomes:
- Identify and compare major political theories, regimes, issues and ideas;
- Analyze and synthesize facts and concepts in the context of current political issues and data;
- Critique and evaluate information and information sources;
- Evaluate the complexity of political issues, and the fact that they occur in a cross cultural and globalized context;
- Communicate clear and comprehensive written, visual, and oral arguments through in-class discussions, papers, and exams.

Syllabus from the course or the adoption:  Amy Skoll_2024_Syllabus and Schedule for Comparative Politics.docx

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. Save students money as well as provide a more engaging reading material that could serve as a basis for in-class discussions.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? Recommended by our campus librarians

Sharing Best Practices: I really found that assigning a variety of different materials made my class more interactive and engaging and allowed me to expose students to a variety of different points of views and enabled me to connect course concepts to current events. 

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. Students were very receptive to the assigned course readings and having a low-cost option for this class. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost: 

Brief Description:  For this course I used the following open textbook option: Bozonelos, D., Wendt, J., & Lee, C. (2022). Introduction to comparative government and politics (1st ed.). Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.

I also assigned a variety of different readings and multi-media materials. Reading materials were from sources such as The Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Affairs, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, etc. See Course Readings and Assigned Materials provided above for list of readings and assigned course materials. 

Please provide a link to the resource
https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/1435

Authors:  Bozonelos, D., Wendt, J., & Lee, C. (2022). Introduction to comparative government and politics (1st ed.). Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.

Student access: Learning Management System (Canvas)

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  $80.00

License:  Attribution-NonCommercial, CC BY-NC

Instructor Name - Amy Skoll
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Strategy and Security at California State University Maritime Academy. 

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.csum.edu/global-studies/faculty/index.html

Please describe the courses you teach.  I teach Intro to International Relations, Intro to Security Studies, Comparative Politics, International Migration, Civil Conflict, Globalization, and International Political Economy.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  Teaching Philosophy: In 2016, Oxford Dictionary declared “post-truth” to be the international word of the year after a 2000% increase in its usage from the previous year. Although “post-truth” is commonly associated with fake news and the 2016 Presidential election, living in a post-truth era has broader implications than just politics, especially as it relates to education. Students today are not only facing a world in which it is difficult to decipher between what is true and what is false, but are also often ill-equipped to utilize truth to make decisions about the world and their role in it. With information so easily available, literally at one’s fingertips, it would be easy for educators to become obsolete if their primary role was simply to relay information. Students can look up definitions of concepts online; they can watch lectures on YouTube. They however cannot learn soft skills such as critical thinking, empathy, global citizenship, and problem-solving from a computer. These skills have to be developed over time and require opportunities to practice. 

As a professor, particularly in the social sciences, I therefore believe that it is our duty to send students out into the world with the skills necessary to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Unfortunately, the reality is, if we had the right answer to all of the world’s problems, we would have fixed them by now. Instead, the world is full of complexity and tradeoffs and the decisions that need to be made are rarely easy. One cannot Google the solution to world hunger, racism, or economic inequality. If as educators, we only give our students knowledge, without also teaching them wisdom for how to use and evaluate that knowledge, we are setting them up to fail. 

As a result, students need the opportunity to puzzle, wonder, and reflect in an environment that fosters their curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Therefore, as a professor, I am committed to several key values that I believe to be vital for student learning and engagement. 

Empathy: For starters, I believe that it is crucial to expose students to various worldviews without trying to indoctrinate them to a specific point of view. My students have even commented on how difficult it is for them to decipher my political beliefs, which I think is an important quality in a faculty member in an increasingly polarized world. I believe that it is my job to challenge students to identify their own assumptions and biases, to offer up different perspectives and ideas, and to sometimes play devil’s advocate when needed. Especially in an extremely tense political climate, I believe that it is my responsibility to teach students how to discuss without arguing, how to disagree without being demeaning, and how to listen and learn from another’s point of view. One of the best ways to accomplish this task is to provide students with opportunities to engage with individuals who are different from themselves and to ask poignant questions that make students reflect on different worldviews.
Critical Thinking: At the same time however, it is important to teach students how to evaluate different perspectives, understanding that they may vary in their validity and normativity. The goal is to push back on post-truth thinking that tells students that there is no objective standard of right and wrong and that students can cherry-pick what they want to believe. Instead, I hope to teach students critical thinking skills and how to evaluate information, while still having empathy for other perspectives and beliefs. I do this by frequently asking students in their paper prompts and reflection journals to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an argument as well as reflect upon the implications and limitations of a line of reasoning. I also intentionally emphasize throughout my classes that it is my job to teach students what we do know about the world, but also (and sometimes more importantly) what we do not know about the world. I strongly believe that it is important for students to develop humility in their quest for knowledge and understanding, embracing the philosophy that the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. I think that this produces student graduates who can go out into the world and not just parrot a bunch of ideas that they have heard their professors say, but to think for themselves and critically analyze new puzzles through a fresh and creative lens.
Diversity: Recognizing that my students come from all different backgrounds and belief systems, I also believe that it is extremely important for myself, as the educator, to have empathy for my students and to understand that not all students have been given the same privileges in life. College is supposed to be the “Great Unleveler”; however, my many years in student affairs has made it clear to me that is not always the case. Under-represented students that make it onto campus still have an uphill battle as they try to navigate the university system that has been historically set up for more privileged students. I have found that underrepresented students often do not have knowledge of, or access to the same experiences and resources as their peers; therefore, I am committed to being an advocate for these students, helping them find, and take advantage of these opportunities.
Student Learning and Engagement: I also understand that in addition to diversity of experiences, my students will also have diverse learning styles and needs. As a result, I strive to implement various teaching strategies that are conducive to all student learning. For example, although I believe that engaging in-class discussions are a crucial part of a college classroom environment, they also favor more extraverted students and students who have grown up speaking English as their primary language. Therefore, in addition to large in-class discussions, it is also important to incentivize student engagement through other mediums such as experiential learning activities, simulations, small group/ partner discussions, written reflection assignments, trivia games, office hours, etc.
Growth Mindset: Finally, I believe that it is important to foster a growth mindset among my students. Students will face many academic, career, and personal challenges throughout their lifetime and I believe that the students who are committed to their own growth and development will be the ones most likely to succeed. As a result, I believe that it is important to reward growth and improvement in the classroom and in life.  I not only believe that it is important to provide students with constructive feedback on their assignments so they know how to make improvements in the future, but also, I believe in creating assignments that have built-in opportunities for growth throughout the process to teach students how to evaluate themselves and identify areas of improvement. 

With these values in mind, it is my goal to create an educational experience for my students that goes beyond just relaying information, but instead, teaches students skills that will last a lifetime. In doing so, I hope to prepare my students to be global citizens who are equipped to address the biggest challenges of our time.