Teaching Candidate Literacy through Voter Guides

• In Event: TLC at APSA: Utilizing Technology to Enhance Participation

Abstract

In a strong and healthy democracy, citizens should utilize information-literacy skills to interrogate political information ranging from the platforms of particular candidates to the issues embedded within their communities. As these skills change and evolve in the new social media climate, political science professors should also innovate methods of teaching. This paper describes the results of scaffolded course assignments where students in a lower and upper level political science course engaged an information literacy assignment related to state and local elections. Moving beyond the traditional information literacy of scholarly sources, faculty and the university’s subject-area librarian introduced students to relevant new media sources of information in evaluating candidates running for office as well as the state and local election process. Building upon this knowledge, students in an upper level course created nonpartisan candidate guides for candidates running in state, county, and congressional elections. In doing so, students identified key issues, researched candidate stances on issues and documented their research. Students in a lower level class then “fact checked” these guides, specifically identifying appropriate and problematic sources of information. Using this feedback and critique, the upper level students revised their candidate guides and distributed the final product to the local community. This paper describes the results of the assignment as well as how faculty, with the guidance of a subject-area librarian, supported students in developing the ability to identify appropriate resources, critically evaluate source material, and effectively analyze and synthesize multiple forms of information in our digital media landscape. Drawing upon class reflections and surveys, this paper also describes student’s interpretation of perceived learning experience, the challenges of finding information on down-ballot candidates, as well as student’s prediction as to whether or not they will be politically engaged in the future.

Authors

• Adam H. Hoffman, Salisbury University

• Sarah Surak, Salisbury University