Prof. KFV
1 Comment
Prof. KFVStudent podcasts for the California State and Local Politics and the Politics, Immigration, and Citizenship courses are officially in, check out our channel on Spotify and on iTunes. The podcasts and the accompanying transcripts will be posted over the following days. Updates to the podcasts will be posted here.
Round two of the podcasts will be posted in approximately four weeks. In the meantime we will post the results of our non-random California Public Opinion survey. This public opinion survey was developed by the students in the California State and Local Politics course along with the students from the Politics, Immigration, and Citizenship course. Prof. KFVPodcast #1 proposals for Immigration course Student in the Politics, Immigration, and Citizenship course have also been working on their first podcast proposals. The proposals include a wide variety of immigrant groups, immigration policies, and time periods. There are several podcast proposals examining the impact of DACA (social, economic), the possible outcomes if DACA is rescinded, and the possibility of Congress passing a DREAM Act. Several podcasts will focus on the impact of deportations under the current administration, specifically the use of private prisons and detention centers, increased interior enforcement, the impact on mixed-status families, and the role/impact of ICE in local communities.
Many students are interested in explaining/exploring how refugees are treated once they reach the US, what types of accommodations are provided, and how refugees from different areas are treated differently (Cuban versus Central American). Another group of podcasts focuses on immigrants, and the children of immigrants, entry into the polity-how or when do these groups engage in politics? A few students will be examining the differences between the processes of integration, assimilation, and multiculturalism within immigrant families. Students are also taking on projects looking at the impact of the REAL ID Act on immigrant communities and how immigrant workers are treated within particular industries, like the meatpacking industry in the US. The first podcasts will be finished in approximately three weeks, stay tuned! Prof. KFVComments on the podcasting project for California State and Local Politics Students have turned in their proposals for their podcasts and the topics cover a broad range of issues of importance to California politics and policy. There will be several podcasts covering immigration in California including the impact of DACA, more restrictive immigration policies at the federal level, and the impact of immigrants on the local economy. There will also be several podcasts on higher education, including access to higher education and increasing levels of student debt.
There are podcasts that will examine environmental issues, including wildfires, water use and management, and alternative forms of energy. Another set of podcasts look at economic issues in California, including raising the minimum wage, wage gaps between racial/ethnic groups, and availability and affordability of housing. Students are also interested in a variety of health and social issues, including homelessness, maternal health, access to mental health, access to disabled services, vaping regulations, and vaccinations. Lastly, there are podcasts grouped around broad criminal justice related themes. Podcasts cover prison reform in California, enforcement of existing gun laws, reform of gun laws, and prison infrastructure. Students will be practicing recording a small section of their podcast in class, by interviewing one another. Podcast #1 will be posted in approximately three weeks! By, The Professor KFVFall 2019 teaching Politics, Immigration, and Citizenship and California State and Local Politics This fall semester my students will creating their own podcasts! One class will tackle immigration issues, and the other class will be podcasting on issues of importance in California state and local politics.
Why podcasting? One of the things I try to stress in the classes I teach is that we have to be able to publicly communicate our research to others in a medium that the average voter/citizen/resident/policymaker can understand. In previous semesters students have created voter guides and election post-mortem analyses aimed at educating the average potential voter. This semester my students will tackle a relatively newer medium, podcasting, to help disseminate their research. Students will create two podcasts throughout the semester, the podcasts will be made available to the general public on streaming services. Students will also produce the accompanying transcripts and Twitter posts advertising their podcasts. Prof. KFVBaseball season is here. This past week the students took a break from blogging about politics and designed their own public opinion surveys; one survey from the CA politics course and one survey from the American Governments course. Students determined the broad topics and then met in groups to determine their policy question(s) and their demographic questions.
We ran both surveys on Amazon Mechanical Turk (chance to discuss how it differs from national demographics), we are creating cross-tabs and analyzing results in class this week. Students came up with creative and thoughtful ways to ask questions about policy issues that are important to them! Topics included: water and energy consumption, funding for K-12 education, cost of living, illegal and legal drug use for medical purposes, immigration, abortion, trade policy, healthcare, climate change, financial aid in college, civil liberties, net neutrality, and felon disenfranchisement. We will post some of our results here next week! The first round of student blogs are ready! Students focused their first blog posts on a clear description of the issue and the impact on their issue from the most recent election.
Students were allowed to write under a pseudonym or their real name. They were instructed to use clear language that would be accessible for any voter. The second round of blogs will focus on the individuals/groups impacted by their issue and the political institutions related to their issue. As students continue to work on their projects they have been composing short descriptions that we post on our Twitter page for the class. Why Twitter through? A couple of reasons :
1. Twitter, for better or worse, is a medium that many people in the political realm tend to use-so potentially a great place for my students to try and get their ideas heard and directly connect to those working on their issue. 2. The character limitations on Twitter force the students to be succinct and to the point when describing their projects-great for narrowing down broad research ideas. 3. Even the act of composing a short tweet every few class periods helps to keep students thinking about, and working on their projects. The first set of blogs will be out shortly, students just completed their second in-class peer review of each others projects. Once they receive their feedback they will finish their blogs and post them here, under a pseudonym or their real name. Tomorrow students will turn in their proposals for their Election Post-Mortem projects. Getting started this early in the semester can be a challenge, and students may need to adjust their projects as the semester moves along.
Students will have a chance in class to peer review each others project proposals so they have feedback right from the start. Additionally, reading and evaluating the work of other students helps with research and writing ideas. During the Fall 2018 semester students in the American Government course created voter guides for the 2018 election. Voter guides were issue specific and aimed at connecting individuals with the institutional structures for participation. The design and format of the voter guide was open to the student. Students created websites, Instagram accounts, brochures, handouts, slide decks, and wrote traditional policy papers.
Students covered a range of topics including: Legalizing Prostitution, Rent Control, Net Neutrality, Wildfires, Solitary Confinement, Plastic Waste in Oceans, Childhood Poverty, Legalization of Marijuana, Opioid Addiction and Overdose, Bee Populations, Healthcare, Reproductive Access, Wildlife Conservation, Stand Your Ground Laws, Property Tax, DACA, Physician Assisted Suicide, Body Cameras on Police, Trap and Neuter Program for Cats, School Bus Safety, Education, San Diego Convention Center Remodel, Gun Control. Students were encouraged to research a topic where they had existing expertise or interest in the topic. The projects went through three rounds of peer review in class, where students had the opportunity to provide constructive feedback to each other. Students also generated visuals to accompany their projects: infographics, tables, figures, and timelines. In the section of the project focused on audience engagement students created a variety of resources for their target population, including sample letters to members of Congress, sample petitions, maps to polling locations, lists of elected officials, how to guides for registering to vote and run for elected office. With student approval, I will post some portions of student projects in the near future! |
AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
Categories
All
|