Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, December 17, 2007

Variety in the presentation of the basics

It's always good to have some quality variety when it comes to presenting basic information. Lectures and textbooks only go so far. Well, how about student-produced material?

James Harrison is a young man who is now a fresher at uni in Glasgow. He grew up in London and Scotland. Harrison has posted over 140 videos on YouTube, a few of them about British politics. The self-avowed Liberal Democrat is a political junkie and quite knowledgeable.

If you'd like a short, illustrated lecture titled (British politics basics) about the main political parties in the UK, he posted one last April that might be a good introduction for your students. It comes directly from James Harrison's bedroom.

He featured Gordon Brown in a 7-minute video update after Blair's resignation. He also did an update in October when Campbell resigned as LibDem party leader.

His 3-minute video, What the hell is the UK? is aimed directly at Americans who don't know the difference between England, Britain, Great Britain, the UK, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. From my experience, most American students could benefit from this little lecture.

If you like Harrison's work on British politics, last September he did a 7-minute lecture on American politics, presumably aimed at a British audience. An American responded, "I wish more American kids knew as much as you do about American politics. Nice job!."

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