Four Conversations We Need To Have About Teaching and Learning in Canadian Political Science

Abstract

AbstractOver the last 20 years of our careers, we have witnessed a significant decline in the respect for the liberal arts and social sciences. This decline forces us to regularly respond to questions about the relevance, value and future of our discipline. We know that political science provides fundamental skills for our students to succeed in the 21st century. Yet we also believe that as teachers and scholars we can do a better job of connecting to the realities of our students, articulating the skills and attitudes that our students will develop, and adapting our teaching methods to include high impact practices (Kuh, 2008) that focus on student learning. Here we argue that there are four important conversations that we need to have that can strengthen the appeal and interest in our discipline: the articulation of learning outcomes, the inclusion of high impact practices, attention to information literacy that recognizes the significant change in the delivery and access of research materials and a deep integration of indigenous ways of knowing in our teaching.