Course Description and Objectives

Although state and local governments have always been important in the formulation and implementation of public policies in the United States, their role has increased considerably during the past fifteen years.  Some have called this a "resurgence in the states," with state and local governments becoming entrepreneurial actors in realms as diverse as education, corrections, economic development, health care, job training, environmental protection, and welfare reform.  As state and local governments have taken on more programmatic responsibilities, they have also taken over much of the fiscal responsibility for their innovations.  This course examines the general and the unique traits of the politics, institutions, and policy processes of state and local governments, focusing specifically on the state of Texas.

In analyzing the governments of the American states and localities, we will look for more than just a simple description of the formal and legal aspects of the governing process.  More important, we will search for the answers to some fundamental questions:

• Why do people behave as they do in political settings?
• Why do political and governmental institutions work the way they do?
• What are the policy consequences of these patterns of behavior?
• What is the influence of federalism, and the changing nature of federalism, on policies enacted by the state of Texas?

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Textbook

The textbook for this course is:

    Maxwell and Crain, et al. Texas Politics Today, 9th ed. Wadsworth, 2000.

Make sure you have the 9th edition.  Other editions will have outdated information.

The publisher has provided a companion website for the textbook.  If you are interested in taking at look at that site (I have), click on the book above.  Most links (not all!) will open in new windows.  To get back to the page from which you linked, just close the new window.

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Participation

You are expected to come to chat room discussions prepared to participate fully.  You must read the material prior to the discussion and prepare questions and reactions to the readings.  I will provide some questions on the "Interaction" page to help guide the discussion in the chat rooms.  To assign points, I record the number of chat room sessions in which you participate.

Participation will take place in the Chat Room and the Bulletin Board.

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Examinations and Grading

The grade you earn in this course will depend on a number of factors.  There will be two exams, each worth 50 points.  The first exam has been scheduled for October 9 - 16.  The second exam will take during finals week (December 7 - 12).  The exams will consist primarily of multiple-choice questions.  Any improvement in the quality of a student's work over the course of the semester is taken into account in determining semester grades.

In addition to the exams, your participation score will be worth 100 points.  The 12 unit assignments will each be worth 30 points.  The semester project will be worth 100 points.

Semester grades in the course will be determined as follows:
 

Exam #1	50 points
Exam #2	50 points
12 Assignments (30 points each)	360 points
Semester Project	100 points
Participation	100 points

Since you are taking this course at your convenience, there should be no problems taking exams.  The time period for taking each exam online will be announced.  You are expected to meet all of the time deadlines indicated in the assignments for each unit.  If you are late submitting required materials; it is as if you did not complete the assignment.  The only reasonable policy is to be absolutely strict about required submission times.  If any assignments are submitted on time, I can only assume they could all have been submitted on time and late assignments will not be accepted!  I have the ability to restrict your access to units and I will turn off the unit on the day and time that the assignment is due.  I am not responsible for the stability of the network system at WTAMU and you may address any issues on this topic to high authorities such as Dean Nelson, Vice President Killebrew or President Long.

If you send items to me as attachments to email messages please send them as Rich Text Format (RTF).  I may not be able to translate the attachments if you send them to me in an unusual format.  If the attachment is not in RTF, I will return the email message to you.  It is possible that you could fail to receive points for a set of assignments because you did not send the assignments as RTF.  Most units will include submission forms for each assignment so you do not have to worry about sending them as email attachments.

You must be aware that this is a course which relies heavily on written communication.  If you think you do not write well, you may want to consider taking this course in another format.  You will lose points if the assignments you submit are poorly written.

I usually do not curve semester grades.  With the large number of points available in this course, "curving" the semester grades will not be necessary.  In addition, several "extra credit" points are included on the exams.

If you do not complete all of the assignments for the course, you may receive a failing grade for the semester.  Therefore, it is in your best interest to communicate with me directly if you are felled by a life-threatening illness, get drafted, etc., and have to miss a number of class sessions.

Please note that the last day to drop or withdraw with an automatic "X" grade is Friday, October 13, 2000.

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The assignments are outlined in the "Assignments" section of each unit.  You will complete the assignments by the due date and submit them to me via the submission forms provided in each assignment.  If an assignment requires you to send me something as an email attachment, remember to send it in RTF format.

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Semester Project

During the semester, each students is responsible for completing a project that results in an 4-8 page paper (typed, double-spaced).  The project involves attendance at a public meeting of an official state or local governmental body (i.e., city council, committee, commission, political party meeting, etc.).  You will gather additional information by interviewing one of the participants in the meeting.  If you have difficulty locating a meeting, please click here.  Student government meetings do not meet the requirements for this project; however, you are welcome to attend a meeting of the Boards of Regents of local community colleges or universities.

The following questions about the meeting and interview, some of which require your own judgments, are illustrative of the issues that your paper should address:

Governmental/Political Meeting

• What is the name, powers, authority, and responsibility of the group?  How large is it?  What were the major issues, problems, and difficulties discussed?  How long did the meeting last?  If the meeting was lengthy, why?  If the meeting was short, why?
• What decisions were made?  Who will benefit or gain from the decisions?  Who will lose?  How much debate and difference of opinion was there?
• Who seemed to exercise the most influence in the decisions?  Could you tell or estimate the basis or source of influence?
• What "outside" influences were evident in the meeting (citizens or interest groups, state/national government)?  How many persons were present?
• How would you evaluate the performance of this group?  Is it doing a good job?

• Name, background, and experience of interviewee.  How did s/he arrive at the current position?
• What does s/he do?  Describe the nature of the position.
• What chief issues, tasks, or problems are dealt with by the interviewee?  Give examples of recent actions or decisions.
• What priorities, points of view, or preferences does this person favor or promote?
• What does the person enjoy most about the position?  What is least enjoyable?
• How qualified and how well is this person performing his/her duties?

1. clarity, or the precision with which you present the material;
2. coherence, or overall organization, focus, and flow of your presentation;
3. course-connectedness, or the manner in which you link ideas from the course readings and discussion to the content(s) of your paper;
4. the conclusions that you develop and support with the information, ideas, and interpretations from your meeting observations or interview.

The paper will be emailed to me as a RTF attachment by Friday, December 1.  If you have difficulty working with attachments, let me know and we can make other arrangements (i.e., US mail or drop off in my "real world" mailbox).

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The objective of the Chat Room is to allow students to interact and discuss topics relating to state and local government.  The discussion should center on issues related to the class and students should take this time to ask questions of each other as well as the instructor.  In an effort to keep the course asynchronous, Chat Room sessions will not be mandatory; however, you will receive 10 points for each chat session attended up to a total of 100 points (10 sessions X 10 points).  The topics for the chat sessions will be identified in each unit's "Interaction" page.

The Bulletin Board is an important part of the course.  I will post information regarding the structure and format of the course on the Bulletin Board.  I also may post a discussion question or two on the Bulletin Board.  You should check the Bulletin Board several times a week (actually once a day would not be a bad strategy).  Of course, anything I post on the Bulletin Board will be considered part of this syllabus.  Since participation is graded, it is to your benefit to add your "two cents" to Chat Room sessions.

The times for the Chat Room sessions will be determined near the beginning of the semester.

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I enforce the policies on Academic Dishonesty listed in the student handbook.

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West Texas A&M University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified persons with disabilities.  This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal educational opportunity.  It is the student's responsibility to register with Disability Support Services and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations.

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I want students to succeed in this course, but I do not "hold hands."  All students at a post-secondary educational institution are considered to be adults.  You must recognize when you are having problems and contact me for possible solutions.  To successfully complete an online course like this one, your level of motivation must be higher than in regular classes.

The student who does well in this course using the online format will keep track of Texas government and politics through sources other than just the textbook.  You should read newspapers and newsmagazines.

Amarillo Globe-News - my local newspaper (opens in new window; close window to return to syllabus)
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal - a newspaper from the South Plains (compare to the Amarillo paper)
Austin American-Statesman - the daily paper from the capital city of Texas (bookmark!)
(Austin) Capitol Times - weekly paper from Austin, Texas
Dallas Morning News - a national newspaper; includes news from other states in our region (bookmark!)
Texas Monthly - monthly magazine focusing on life (including politics) in Texas (bookmark!)

I recommend that you also bookmark your local paper in addition to those indicated above.

The best way to contact me is by email. Whenever you email me regarding this course, please start the subject line with POSC102 and don't forget that attachments must be in RTF. You must remember to check your email regularly.  You can change you email address easily by clicking on the tools button on the navigation frame to the left.  Thank you!!

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