Teaching and Learning in Politics Specialist Group

Co-Convenors:
Dr. Clodagh Harris, Department of Government, University College Cork. Email: clodagh.harris[at]ucc.ie

Dr. Brid Quinn, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick. Email: brid.quinn[at]ul.ie

PSAI Teaching and Learning Award 2011
The award aims to recognise those political scientists whose disciplinary teaching incites intellectual curiosity in students, inspires departmental colleagues, integrates research and learning and increases student awareness of the significant relationships between politics as theory and politics as practice. The winner of the award for 2011 is Dr Brendan Flynn, NUI Galway for his contribution to teaching excellence in Politics.

PSAI Teaching and Learning Blog
The teaching and learning specialist group have created a blog to share information on teaching and learning good practice, to showcase innovative approaches and to highlight research in this area. All posts, comments, articles, photos, videos etc are welcome. Please visit http://psaiTeachingLearning.wordpress.com to participate.

The International Political Education Database
IPED is a bibliographic database of journal articles relating to teaching and learning in politics, international relations, public administration and related fields. It aims to raise the profile of teaching and learning publications and encourage further research and scholarly debate.

It includes more than 800 citations and sections covering: Active Learning; Critical thinking; E-learning; Experiential Learning; Films and Novels; Gender; Large Group Teaching; Problem-based Learning; Race and Ethnicity; Research Methods; Service learning, Placement Learning and Internships; Simulations; Small Group Teaching; Surveys of Teaching and Learning Practice. There is also a section covering research published by authors at institutions in the UK and Ireland which includes more than 100 articles.

IPED is hosted on the website of the Political Studies Association Teaching and Learning Group website and can be accessed at:
https://sites.google.com/site/psatlg/Home/resources/journal-articles

Aims
This specialist group will bring together scholars (from post-graduates to established academics) that explore innovations in teaching, learning, assessment and curriculum development, and examine different pedagogical approaches within the discipline. It will act as a forum for networking, debate, publication and grant application and as a locus of communication between scholars of teaching and learning in politics in Ireland and similar groupings in this field internationally.

The specialist group aims to provide a network for colleagues who are interested in exploring pedagogic developments within the discipline to share cutting edge approaches and effective techniques in teaching and learning.

Activities
The Teaching and Learning in Politics specialist group will be an active source of scholarship and collaboration in this ever-developing field. The focus of such collaboration will include dedicated panels at the annual PSAI conference. It is envisaged that this will lead into combined proposals for larger conferences (such as the PSA, the ECPR, APSA, and IPSA), annual workshops, and shared research/publishing initiatives. The group will also be a forum for professional networking between those working in the area and it is envisaged that there will be research collaborations leading to publications and research funding bids.

Members
The Teaching and Learning in Politics specialist group welcomes members. To become a member of the Group you must be a member of the PSAI, which you can join here. You do not have to belong to an Irish university to be a PSAI member or to join the group.