Gerrymandering is a controversial practice in American politics, and one that has generated a significant amount of legal, academic, and political interest. While gerrymandering is an important and timely topic, this issue receives relatively little attention in most introductory courses in American government. This omission is compounded by the…

Research indicates that there are many key things a professor may do to contribute to the success of a college student. Teaching style, instructor enthusiasm for the subject, and knowledge of a professor all have impacts on the kind of experience a student has in the classroom. There is a strong body of research to pull from indicating effort on…

In this article, we present findings from a grant-funded initiative to replace traditional, proprietary textbooks with an open content textbook under a Creative Commons license in the introductory American government course (POLS 1101) at Middle Georgia State University. We find that the use of an open content textbook led to somewhat negative…