The 2012 Election as a Teachable Moment

Here are some thoughts on how to use social media and other Internet resources to engage students in the 2012 election and American politics more generally.


Uses for class blogs:

• To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
• To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
• To post relevant news items or videos.

Examples from Introductory American Politics (Honors), fall 2011:

• A student comments on Huntsman
• Another student muses on Romney's relative weakness (back in November)
• A promo for a talk on campaign finance.
• A blog post as a platform for lecture and discussion

Congress Class and Congress Simulation 

• Media Coverage -- including a zombie attack
• Simulated tweets from McCaskill
• Bill acronyms as political tools

Presidential Elections

• Cinematic map of electoral college history
• Mapping the electoral college in 2012

Public Opinion and Political Ideology

• Pew Typology
• Polling Report

Campaign Finance

• Fundrace
• Open Secrets

Video and Primary Sources

• Buzzfeed
• The Living Room Candidate
• C-SPAN Video Library
• Using the video library:  the moment that made Gingrich
• Document:  Gingrich to Reagan in 1980