From Living and Learning Together 24/7 to Distance Learning....RTWH2020 in the age of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Our Road to the White House 2020 class went from living and learning together 24/7, criss-crossing the state of New Hampshire in 15-passenger vans .... to self-isolation and social distancing.  All USF classes have moved 100% online for the remainder of the semester.

While I have been teaching online for many years -- even recently publishing an article about "Civic Engagement in the Online Classroom" (See http://www.ejournalofpublicaffairs.org/civic-engagement-in-the-online-classroom-increasing-youth-political-engagement-in-an-online-american-government-course/) -- it was still a bit of a shock and a huge undertaking to re-develop all of my face-to-face classes into online classes during our Spring Break week. (At least we had this built-in period to work on this transition.)

(At USF 5,000 classes were moved online virtually overnight -- see https://www.wusf.org/coronavirus-has-tampa-bay-area-schools-universities-preparing-for-online-learning/)

Today, our Road to the White House 2020 class met online for the first time. Using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (through our LMS: Canvas), we were able to meet "live" during our usual class period.  What a treat it was to "see" my students!

I am happy to report that we did not have any technological issues. (I was a bit worried, given that all schools all over the US and, indeed, all around the world, have transitioned all classes online at the same time.) Everything went smoothly, and we had a productive class.

The topic for today was Predicting Presidential Elections, and students presented papers using various forecasting methods (e.g., based on public opinion polls, identifying bellwether states, surveys of the president’s job performance, expert opinion, looking at the nominating process and general election campaigns to assess their forecasting potential, and looking at the national economy as clues to election outcomes, among others) to predict whether the Democrat or the Republican candidate will win the 2020 presidential election (finding evidence to support their hypotheses like polling data, economic indicators, etc.). Students did an outstanding job, and I am looking forward to reading the papers.

I understand that all of us are dealing with a range of difficult issues as a result of this pandemic, some of which may cause severe hardships. Yet, I feel incredibly grateful that we were able to come together as a class today -- discussing our previously scheduled content of forecasting presidential elections while incorporating current events and considering the 2020 presidential campaign in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many things in our lives are turned upside down right now.  But one thing that can remain constant is our commitment to our academics and to each other.

And -- regardless of accommodations and adjustments that may be necessary -- we can still finish this semester as strong as we started.  #GoBulls

And I look forward to "seeing" you on Thursday!

Welcome to our learning community Dottie, Lexi, Happy, Belamy, Murphy, Guiness, Augie, and Kyro!

I am so grateful that we can still "see" each other and continue learning together

WUSF segment "USF Students Find Political Inspiration in Iowa and New Hampshire" #FITN #RTWH2020 #GoBulls

Here is a link to Delaney Brown's WUSF piece about the USF students who traveled to Iowa for GOTV weekend and to New Hampshire for the last 10 days leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary:

https://www.wusf.org/usf-students-find-political-inspiration-in-iowa-and-new-hampshire/

USF Students Find Political Inspiration In Iowa And New Hampshire

Delaney Brown

March 11, 2020 06:00 AM

nearly 30 students from USF St. Petersburg went to New Hampshire to spend the ten days leading up to the primary campaigning for a candidate of their choice Courtesy: Road to the White House

Over the years, college-age voters have been accused by some of being apathetic when it comes to politics. Two groups of University of South Florida students are trying to flip that narrative.
Ahead of the kick-off to the primary season, a team of six student researchers from Tampa flew to Iowa to survey the nation’s earliest voters. At the same time, nearly 30 students from USF St. Petersburg went to New Hampshire to spend the ten days leading up to the first primary campaigning for a candidate of their choice.
Both groups left feeling they knew what they were in for – 20-hour days and frozen boots included – despite the warning from USF Tampa communications professor Josh Scacco:
“Expect the unexpected. You never know what you’re going to see when you get there.”
Iowa
The students who went to Iowa expected to see a robust system of caucusing – something one student called “the Super Bowl of politics.”
Instead, they had a front row seat to witness the chaos of the process when the Iowa Democratic Party’s voting app failed.
Camila Cernawsky, a senior studying political science and mass communication, called the experience both eye-opening and disappointing.
“I was expecting the party to predict and test the software that they used prior to the caucuses,” said Cernasky. “You know, technical problems happen every day, but (they) had four years to work on that.”
The students were part of a research initiative headed by Scacco aimed at measuring the ways in which candidates communicated with voters.
“We’re really trying to engage in a lot of ways the dynamics related to presidential and political communication and understanding how these might be operating in the 2020 campaign,” said Scacco.
Using a series of questionnaires, the students were tasked with talking to locals about how they viewed the likeability and authenticity of the primary candidates.
Scacco said that though the point of the program is to help students gain concrete research skills through hands-on learning experiences, he hoped the trip would also help them gain a greater appreciation for the U.S. political process.
“It’s messy, and parts of it illustrate the promise of what we are as kind of a representative democracy,” said Scacco. “When you’re there in Iowa and you’re seeing these campaign events, it really is inspiring, and I hope that it gives them hope, about the political process and about the promise of what it can be.”
New Hampshire

Jadzia Duarte, right, and Sam Fiore spent ten days in New Hampshire campaigning for Senator Amy Klobuchar. Duarte said that she loved the energy that came from working on a smaller campaign. COURTESY JADZIA DUARTE

Judithanne McLaughlan, a USFSP political science professor, warned the students in her Road to the White House class that the days spent campaigning would be long and cold. She also promised that they would be some of the most exciting.
By the end of the ten-day trip, front runners fell, and new candidates surged. Students met nearly every candidate, spent hours outside polling centers cheering on voters, and one student came back with bruised knuckles from days of door knocking
Most importantly, the students encountered an energy around the election process they hadn’t seen in Florida.
Jadzia Duarte, a senior environmental policy major and USF St. Petersburg Student Body President, found that energy in the team of volunteers she worked with on Amy Klobuchar’s campaign.
“You can see in the community of all of the employees and volunteers that it was just so tight knit,” said Duarte. “And then just in how they advocate for Amy to win the candidacy and the nomination. It was really awesome.”
For Noah Miller, a senior psychology major working on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, knowledge came from going door-to-door and talking to voters.
“I was not expecting it to be this serious, and I wasn’t expecting the events to be as popular as they were – almost everyone is going to see two or three candidates per day talk,” said Miller.
READ MORE about the students’ experiences in New Hampshire
——-
The groups had different purposes, but students from both programs encountered a political environment that they hadn’t expected and brought home a new appreciation for political engagement.

Members of USF St. Petersburg’s Student Government planted flags, one for each student enrolled in school, in front of the bull statue on campus to symbolize the power of individual voices. COURTESY OF JADZIA DUARTE

Some students, like Miller and Duarte, want to bring the lessons learned and some of the energy they encountered back to Florida however they can – canvassing, phone banking, talking to friends, or starting political dialogue on campus.
“I realized how many voters are misinformed and how many voters are easily persuaded by either the media or just listening to one candidate and not all the others,” said Miller.
“So I think my views changed and the fact that I need to stay involved, and I need to spread the message to a bunch of voters and really help them educate themselves on every candidate.”
After seeing how close both contests were, Duarte wants students to know their voices matter.
“We just want to be sure that voters know that they are significant in these situations and that they should get out there and vote,” said Duarte.
Their message: you don’t have to go out and campaign in order to be politically active – all you need to do is pay attention.

Road to the White House 2020 Student Symposium in Poynter Corner....Fulbright Association...#FITN #RTWH2020

On February 25th, we held a Road to the White House 2020 student symposium in the Poynter Corner of our USFSP Library.  What a great turnout!


Special Thanks to the USFSP Center for Civic Engagement and to the Fulbright Association for co-sponsoring this event.

I was so proud of the students who shared their experiences working on the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire.

We had a diverse group of student presenters -- freshmen to seniors, from St. Pete and Tampa Campuses, from a variety of majors (e.g., Finance, Psychology, Political Science) who worked on a variety of campaigns (Yang, Warren, Klobuchar, Trump, Biden, and Buttigieg).

I am sorry we did not record this event so you could hear from the student panel -- their reflections about New Hampshire, about grassroots campaigns, about the presidential nominating process

I should point out, however, that every student has been blogging about their experiences:
 https://www.usfsp.edu/road-to-the-white-house/2020-student-blogs/
 
And we are working on a book and a video about the course. These will be shared here on the blog when ready. (April?)


For more about the Fulbright Association, see https://fulbright.org/

For more about the USFSP Center for Civic Engagement, see https://www.usfsp.edu/center-for-civic-engagement/  and follow the CCE on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/usfspcce/

Amela Malkic -- President of the Mid-Florida Chapter of the Fulbright Association -- kicking off the event

 

 

 

Before our class got underway -- we had The Washington Center representative, who was on campus for the day -- as a special guest -- already one RTWH 2020 student has applied and was accepted into the program

USFSP Bay to Bay Learing Symposium: Road to the White House Student Panel #RTWH2020 #B2B

This year's Bay to Bay Learning Symposium was dedicated to exploring Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum. (14 February 2020)

Keynote Speakers included Dr. George Mehaffey "Are We Still Bowling Alone? Lessons from the American Democracy Project"

(Note: Dr. McLauchlan is the USFSP campus rep for the ADP:  https://www.aascu.org/programs/ADP/  Our activities are coordinated through the USFSP Center for Civic Engagement)


and  Dr. Ashley Finley: "Civic Engagement at Scale: Quality, Equity, and Accountability"

In between, there was a student panel, featuring our Road to the White House 2020 students, and a faculty panel that featured several members of our Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum Faculty Learning Community.

I was delighted that we could include a panel of Road to the White House students and showcase their work and their reflections on democracy and civic engagement as a result of their participation in this extraordinary Citizen Scholar course.


We had been home for less than 36 hours - so - there was not too much time to prepare for this panel.

I was so very proud of the students on this diverse panel:  Jazzy Duarte (Klobuhar), Trevor Martindale (Sanders), Halley Hobbs (Buttigieg), Jacob Terrell (Warren), and Andrea Campos (Sanders).
I wish we had it recorded so that I could share a link with you here. As a substitute, you can learn more from the students about their internship experiences, you can read their blogs:  https://www.usfsp.edu/road-to-the-white-house/2020-student-blogs/


Dr. McLauchlan and Tom Gay are leading a Faculty Learning Community this academic year, "Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum" - and Tom moderated a panel in the afternoon that included several members of our FLC, along with our counterpart in Tampa, Dr. Lilian Wichinsky, who is Director of OCEP (Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships).  Several of our FLC members also presented research posters during the Idea Lab Happy Hour poster session.

A special thanks to Dr. Tim Henkel, Director of CITL, and David Brodosi and the OLITS team for another engaging Bay to Bay Learning Symposium!


Here is a short video about the conference:

https://vimeo.com/389827338


Here is the conference website:

https://www.usfsp.edu/bay-to-bay/

 


 These were the PPT slides that I created to serve as the backdrop for our Road to the White House student panel -- collections of some favorite pictures from the New Hampshire presidential campaign experience/New Hampshire itinerary:

 

 

It was great to have Dr. George Mehaffey at USFSP!