broadening global perspectives - eccssa

Broadening Global Perspectives: Integrating Study Abroad Experiences

Into the Classroom Professor Karl T. Smith

ECCSSA 2014

Models for Redesign in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Karl.Smith@MontgomeryCollege.edu

S.T.E.M. is important, but…

• Chemical Engineering student in U.S.

• Chemical Engineering student in Denmark

Speaks 3 languages

*Classroom learning is a great start, but…

*Ask anyone what they remember most about college

*You have a chance to learn and improve job skills

*Broaden and deepen cultural understanding

*Promote peaceful relations

How do you globalize this?

PS101 American Government Course Description: • PS101: Structure, powers, and processes of the American political system:

executive, legislative, and judicial branches; civil liberties, federalism, democratic patterns and backgrounds, public opinion, pressure group politics, political parties, constitutional mechanisms, and administrative establishment; foreign and domestic policy. Emphasis on national level. Assessment levels: EN101/101A, RD120. Three hours each week.

• PS101 fulfills a General Education Program Behavior Social Science requirement. Montgomery College’s General Education Program is designed to ensure that students have the skills, knowledge and attitudes to carry them successfully through their work and personal lives. This course provides multiple opportunities to develop two or more of the following competencies: written and oral communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, and information literacy. For more information, please see

PS101 American Government

Prof. Karl Smith

Is American democracy our best bet?

(15 participation points) We need some information on political systems before we explore the

American version of democracy. Every single country on the world has had to

adopt some sort of political system. Some have dictatorships, some have some

sort of democracy, some have experimented with communism, and others use

something completely different.

Find someone in the class that has some experience with another country

and interview them about that country’s political system. The experience could

be based on being born there, traveled there or lived and worked there.

1. Interviewee___________________________

2. Country_______________________________

3. What form of government does the country have? Parliamentary democracy? Dictatorship? Absolute

monarchy? Theocracy? If it is a mix, explain why it is a mix.

4. Do you see any benefits from living in that alternative system? For example, if you really don’t care about

politics, you might be better off in a benevolent dictatorship.

5. Does the political system emphasize freedom, order equality or ‘none of the above’?

6. Give examples of how other governments may emphasize freedom, order or equality.

PS101 Critical Thinking Essay

Compare the mainstream media in the U.S. (Washington Post, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News) with the mainstream media in another country that you have lived in or are very familiar with. Your analysis should focus on national based televisions or webpages, not an international media platform that broadcasts to many different countries i.e., CNN, Al-Jazeera, Univision, etc.

Is mainstream media in your other country propaganda or news? Is it privately owned? Can you give an example? Is there any mainstream media that disagree with whoever is in power?

PS101 American Government

• Constitution Checklist http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/

Country:____________________

Age of Constitution: __________

• Are there provisions to maintain order and protect property and lives?

• Give examples of specific articles or page numbers that are relevant to maintaining order.

Are we a shining example of democracy?

• Comparing democracies

If you want to fix it…

From Prof. Karl Smith (with help from Jeff Jacoby and

others):

Increase number of representatives

• US average:1 rep per 600,000 inhabitants

• UK average:1 rep per 85,000 inhabitants

• UK has 659 members for 56 million

• Japan has 500 members for 127 million

• Germany has 656 for 82 million

• U.S. 535 for 310 million

And speaking of the British…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZUMEgHmCY8&feature=related

http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2014/march/prime-ministers-questions-26-march-2014/

Freedom is… Equality of Opportunity The government role is to guarantee “Due process and equal protection” -equal opportunity for employment -equal opportunity for housing -equal rights for voting -equal access to public facilities

Different Perspectives on Freedom & Equality

Different Perspectives on Freedom & Equality

Freedom is…

Equality of outcome

The government role is:

• to provide housing, medical care, education etc., in an effort to equalize wide disparities in wealth and/or mitigate extreme poverty

It’s time to play…

Who’s a socialist??

It’s time to play…Who’s a socialist?

You and your partner(s) must identify correctly all the socialists in the following pictures.

Correctly identify all the socialists and at least one of their socialist policies and you win fabulous prizes!

Your identification should be based on actual policy, not on opposition rhetoric.

It’s time to play…Who’s a socialist?

• Socialism

“Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

Webster’s Collegiate

What’s next?

*Measuring student satisfaction

*Including global perspective questions on

Outcome Assessment

*Continue Support and recruitment for Study

Abroad