Guest lecturers at such prestigious academic institutions as
Berkeley, Harvard and MIT are a norm for some students.
But these professors never step foot on the UCLA campus.
Utilizing video lectures via the Internet, UCLA Professor Marc
Trachtenberg has created an experimental course.
Political Science 120B, “World Politics and U.S. Foreign
Policy after September 11,” tackles a series of issues
relating to foreign policy and international politics post-Sept.
11, 2001.
“I’m no expert about this topic, so instead of
having a class where it was me giving the lectures, what I wanted
to do was expose students to a whole range of very smart
people,” Trachtenberg said. “You’d be amazed at
how much video is out there for free. This is clearly going to be a
teaching style of the future.”
Trachtenberg’s reason for creating the course was to
satiate students’ curiosity of international and domestic
politics after Sept. 11, 2001. With the recent decrease in
international relations professors and courses available,
Trachtenberg wanted to provide another course for students to
take.
“There is a great excess of student demand over and beyond
what we normally can give, so I created this course for that
reason,” Trachtenberg said.
So far, there are mixed reviews concerning the format of the
class.
“It’s unique, I’ve never had anything like
this before,” said third-year political science student Ian
Larson.
The foundation of the class is based on a similar class taught
by Harry Kreisler, a political science professor at UC
Berkeley.
After realizing the potential of the course, Trachtenberg, along
with undergraduate assistant Nick Koletic, began forming a
syllabus, compiling readings and viewing numerous lectures.
The first hour of the class consists of watching the video
lecture, which is also archived on the course Web site, but in the
second hour students have the option to leave or stay for a
voluntary discussion concerning the topic of that week.
On average 60 students out of the 255 enrolled have stayed to
share their ideological views on topics that range from whether
subnational groups have the capability or capacity to conduct a
nuclear threat against Americans to whether deterrence, measures
taken to prevent hostile action by another state, is a viable
option for the U.S. against rogue states.
“The spirit and the intention of the class is
great,” said third-year political science and communication
studies student Eric Harris. “You have half the class stay
for debate when they don’t even need to.”
More than anything, it’s an open forum for students to
learn from one another.
Third-year political science student Bryan Park said students
get out of the class what they want.
“The ones that stay are the motivated ones that have an
opinion, are knowledgeable, and care,” Park said.
One of the pitfalls, students said, is the lack of interaction
between Trachtenberg and students.
“I don’t know how effective discussions are at the
end because you can’t direct any questions to him. He’s
basically just there,” Larson said. “It’s more
like me responding to another student.”
While Trachtenberg’s aim was to provide an expert voice on
the subject of terrorism after Sept. 11 2001, some students are
hoping to hear the voice of the professor that attends every
class.
“I’d love to hear his opinion and I want to know
what my teacher thinks,” Harris said. “I came to this
institution to hear what my professor has to say.”