Mastery of knowledge and skills taught in introductory research methods courses is increasingly important for undergraduate political science majors, yet many students struggle in these courses. Online Supplemental Instruction (OSI) may offer a time- and cost-efficient means of supporting these students. However, we know little about the efficacy of these resources in general, or specifically in political methods education. This paper introduces an original OSI resource, “Foundations of Quantitative Research in Political Science,” which includes content on key concepts and application of statistical methods to political problems. Utilizing a pre-registered within-subject experimental design, we find that access to this resource significantly improves student learning. To our knowledge, this study is the first to estimate the causal effects of OSI in political science, and specifically in a political methods course. Moreover, the research design is easily replicated, fair, controls for student-specific characteristics, and generates a large number of observations.
The Integrating Technology in the Classroom track provided valuable insights into both the benefits of incorporating technology into undergraduate political science classrooms and the concerns these interventions can generate. The benefits discussed by the track's 24 participants were numerous and varied, ranging from enhancing participation in very large lecture classes to increasing students' “political Internet literacy” and public trust in government and to making learning more participatory and active through technological simulations. Concerns fell into three main categories: (1) legal concerns regarding student information posted publicly online and the necessity (and challenges) of obtaining institutional review board (IRB) clearance for classroom research; (2) the time required to adopt new technological techniques; and (3) the need for stronger research designs and evaluative measures to effectively assess learning outcomes of different technology interventions. Despite these concerns, there was broad consensus among track participants that technological interventions have the potential to enhance and ultimately transform undergraduate political science education. Here we highlight the central benefits, challenges, and concerns addressed by the track's five papers, and the discussions they generated.
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