Karthika Sasikumar

Course:

POLS 4

Course Material:

• Extracts from books/articles owned by the university
• News articles
• Online media resources

Cost of Material: Free

Ebooks are available free of cost to students through the library’s ebook collections. Articles are always available to students at no cost through the library’s online databases.

Comments:
The readings I assign (making sure to respect copyright) fall into two categories: extracts from books/articles owned by the university and news articles. Occasionally I also include streaming online media resources.

I have three reasons for doing so.

• First, it's a priority for me to reduce the cost of attending college. I know that my students struggle to make ends meet.
• Second, I believe that students today are used to reading content on screens, so they avoid printing out the readings. Using e-readings saves paper.
• Third, in the fast-changing field of world politics, I have more flexibility without a textbook. I reserve at least one week in each class for subjects that students themselves suggest and vote on. I occasionally change my syllabus to consider current events (for example, the current stand-off with Iran will feature in my POLS4 class).