Classes

The Texas Politics Project produces online general education courses for students at The University of Texas at Austin, and beginning in the Fall of 2014 will be collaborating on the production of online courses to be offered through University Extension. These courses are part of a decade-long effort to produce a variety of public resources available to instructor, students, and lifelong learners, including interactive data visualizations and graphics based on the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll as well as other public resources and original video of interviews and public events with elected officials and other practitioners with firsthand experience in Texas government, politics, and public affairs.

GOV312L: Politics and Government in Contemporary Texas

Starting in the Fall 2014 semester, in conjunction with University Extension, we have worked to offer a version of GOVT 2302 created especially for extension students seeking to fulfill the second semester requirement in the GOVT2301/2302 sequence. The course features UT faculty as well as current and past practitioners from the world of Texas politics and government providing a practical insiders' view of how politics shapes the institutions of Texas government. This course brings the quality and production of the UT Austin course to anyone interested in enrolling in a UT Extension course, from potential transfer students to returning students to lifelong learners. 

This course, piloted during the summer 2014 session at UT-Austin, provides an in-depth orientation to the actors, processes, and institutions that make up the political system in Texas with a strong emphasis on the development of applied knowledge. Online learning material produced by Dr. James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, focuses on how politics in Texas shapes the operation of Texas political institutions, with particular attention to the interplay between public opinion, political conflict, and the policy environment in the state. A wide range of political figures from Texas politics' past and present provide lessons and examples in how politics actually work in Texas – including elected officials such as Governor Rick Perry, Speaker of the House Joe Straus, former governor Ann Richards, former Speaker and Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, and many other state legislators, as well as many political journalists, consultants, and other political professionals.

The course is delivered completely online, which gives students more flexibility to complete the work, though the class is NOT entirely self-paced. This design allows students to complete the work, including viewing lectures and interactive quizzes and activities, according to their own schedule – as long as the due dates for completion of each unit are met. The course fulfills the second half of the state-mandated instruction in Texas and American constitutional government for UT students.