Deadline: January 15, 2019
The APSA Centennial Center Teaching & Learning Symposium 2019 is open for applications. The American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals for teacher-scholars interested in participating in a three-day teaching and learning symposium from March 14-16 at APSA’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
APSA’s teaching symposia provide a unique opportunity for faculty and graduate students with similar teaching interests to present on timely substantive issues in the field, share best practices, and develop new teaching resources. Led by Mitchell Brown (Auburn University) and Biko Koenig (Franklin & Marshall College), the theme of this symposium is teaching research methods for undergraduates.
About
Approximately 15 teacher-scholars will be invited to take part in the symposium, which will focus on sharing and developing teaching resources for research methods courses for undergraduates. The program will include a series of roundtable presentations from each participant. One group of participants will present on specific teaching resources or techniques they use in their own courses. (Approaches vetted through systematic study—SoTL—are encouraged but not required.) Another group will present “state of the discipline” type talks about emerging or updated issues and areas in research methods today, which might include:
- Community-engaged research
- The ethics of field experiments
- Making social science accessible to the public
- Adopting methods from other disciplines
- Evaluating methods & data in a “fake news” era
- Research methods across the curriculum
- Big data
- A new qualitative method (e.g. comparative ethnography)
- Multi-method research
- Any other emerging topic or issue related to research methods
Symposium participants will spend the remaining time in groups, developing teaching resources. While one can find teaching resources related to research methods in places like the Journal of Political Science Education and the Qualitative and Multi-Method Newsletter, this symposium will encourage participants to create new teaching resources—e.g. in-class exercises, simulations and games, social media projects—focused on emerging areas, topics, and/or skills related to research methods.
Following the symposium, the resultant teaching resources will be disseminated through APSA’s teaching and learning program. In addition, participants who present on substantive issues related to research methods will be invited to publish a “state of the discipline” summary in the Journal of Political Science Education. Symposium participants will come away from the event with new insights into teaching and research in their area, with concrete teaching resources that they can use in their own courses, and with a new network of colleagues equally dedicated to teaching research methods to undergraduates.
Funding
The registration fee is $85. Participants are expected to pay their own travel and accommodation costs. Many of the meals are provided at no cost to participants.
Some small need-based travel grants are available, which participants can request when applying. APSA encourages participants to seek funding from their home institutions and other sources, when possible.
Eligibility
- Applicants should have experience teaching research methods to undergraduates.
- They encourage applications from faculty and advanced graduate students at a range of institutions, including universities and two- and four-year colleges.
Application
Proposals should be submitted online here and include:
- Recent CV, including detailed information on teaching experience
- An indication of whether you prefer to present on a specific teaching resource or an emerging or updated issue related to research methods (or either)
- 250-word abstract summarizing the resource or topic you plan to present at the symposium
- 250-word description of your motivation and goals for participating in the symposium
- Brief description of your institution and how research methods fits into your department’s curriculum.
Successful applicants will be notified by the beginning of February. For more details, contact [email protected].
For more information, visit APSA Centennial Center.
