Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.
Title of course:
Campaigns and Elections, in Theory and Practice
What prompted the idea for the course?
I noticed many of my students, including those interested in political science, had never actually engaged in politics beyond voting. I also saw that many of the clubs and activities that helped me make friends when I was a college student seemed to have withered during the COVID-19 pandemic. I wanted students to have an opportunity to get to know each other, see how politics works in practice and get something useful on their resumes.
What does the course explore?
Every student participates in an election in some way. They can help register people to vote, volunteer for a campaign, be nonpartisan election workers or serve as poll watchers. They can volunteer for any kind of campaign, from the presidential election all the way down to local races, where students might be interacting directly with candidates. We’ll spend most of the class processing what is happening on the campaign trail: the good, the bad, the ugly and the absurd.
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