Political Science

Tamra Ortgies-Young, Political Science Professor at Perimeter College at Georgia State University, discusses how she’s helped transform at-risk students from day one to keep them on track with MindTap. Challenge Many students must wait until several weeks into the semester to purchase the textbook when financial assistance is processed. From there, they must play catch up with the material, which presents a time management issue. Solution MindTap for Political Science Result MindTap’s grace period and multimedia functionality make sure students start on the right foot and have all they need to succeed. Read more on how Tamra Ortgies-Young has built a positive Read More…

MindTap makes a world of difference for reading-averse students in an online global issues course.

Course Understanding and Grades Lift with MindTap

“My students don’t read!” Sound familiar? Professor Crystal Garrett faced this common but vexing challenge in her online global issues course at Perimeter College at Georgia State University. Students who didn’t read couldn’t understand and think critically about the subject matter—contemporary global problems with no easy solutions. Fortunately, Garrett found a teaching and learning solution in MindTap interactive activities. “MindTap forces students to read, and brings in real world information in a way that compels them to synthesize Read More…

Victoria Costner, a Freshman at East Carolina University, used MindTap for Political Science for her class and credits the platform with helping her learn how to study.

Student Success Story

Challenge: Victoria, a Political Science student has trouble focusing on lectures in class, and sometimes misses key points

Solution: MindTap for Political Science

Result: MindTap provides “perfect study utensils”: highlighted key points from the instructor, StudyHub for creating study guides to prep for tests and a mobile app for reviewing on the go.

Read Victoria’s story

Last month, we told you Dr. Gregory Dixon—Professor of International Relations and Cengage Faculty Partner—planned to share his tips for facilitating personal connections between students and their world. It can feel like a challenge getting students to grasp how global and political events impact their lives, or how common items like iPhones represent globalization—but there are ways to get through. Dr. Dixon’s two-part webinar series explored best practices and strategies for engaging students in world politics and globalization through pop culture, world events and everyday objects. Here are just some of the ways you can illustrate these concepts Read More…

Today’s community college student is often faced with a difficult decision when deciding how to allocate their time and resources while focusing on work and family or school. Few understand this as well as Danielle Bachan, an instructor at Houston Community College, who teaches busy students about Texas politics and government. Bachan is tasked with inspiring students to learn about issues, agencies, and processes they otherwise might not explore or learn about on their own. Bachan finds her students also have heightened expectations when it comes to technology and how it’s used in the classroom. Increasingly, they expect to Read More…

New MindTap Feature Helps Instructors Curate Reference Content for History and Political Science Courses A separate ereader can be costly for college students, yet they are an essential part of many courses. A new feature for MindTap can help with just that. CourseReader for MindTap, is now available through the Instructor’s Resource Center. This new feature provides access to Gale’s authoritative library reference content to aid in the development of important supplemental readers for history and political science courses. Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, has been providing research and education resources for libraries for more than 60 years. Read More…

Joshua “Josh” Dyck has taught American Government at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UMass Lowell) since 2012. When he arrived at the institution after teaching at the University at Buffalo SUNY, he used a traditional textbook with no online component. His involvement in an advisory group that reviewed MindTap® led him to try the digital learning experience.

Students adapted easily to the MindTap environment, and so did Josh. He immediately saw a number of benefits. He noticed that students came to class prepared after completing readings and auto-graded assignments… allowing him to use lectures to go “beyond the book.” Students were also empowered to take control of their learning: they can work at their own pace, review learning resources as much as they wish, and take quizzes more than once to improve their grade.
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By Gregory C. Dixon, Department of Political Science and Planning, Thomas B. Murphy Center for Public Service, University of West Georgia.

Prepared for presentation at the American Political Science Association, Teaching and Learning Conference, Washington D.C., January, 2015.

K-12 no longer prepares students for success at the university. This is most clearly seen at the first midterm when significant numbers of students fail. But what if we could find these students in the first two weeks of the course, before they fail that first exam? What if we could refer them to tutoring or other support services? Will this reduce the rates at which students receive a grade of D or F or Withdraw (DFW) in our introductory courses?
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What goals do you have for your American Government course? If you’d like to see improved participation and improved outcomes, consider assigning digital. When MindTap counts for 20% of students’ grade in American Government courses, they’re spending more time on their homework and earning better grades.

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Looking for a way to boost student outcomes in your Texas government course? Consider assigning digital. Our studies show that students spend 50% more time working in MindTap if it counts for at least 20% of their grade.

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