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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93734/overview
|
Student Evaluation: Small Group Member Roles
Overview
This evaluation should be completed by students AFTER they have completed a group project. This will help them remember the various roles people play in groups, and it will help them learn to think critically as they must justify their answers.
After students have completed a group project, have them fill out the form about the roles they played and the roles their group members played during the project. This will help them not only remember the roles, but also use critical thinking to justify their answers!
Evaluation of Roles
Name: ______________________
Consider the types of roles you played in the last project, AND roles your team members played.
Task Roles:
a. Initiator-Contributor: offers lots of ideas and suggestions; proposes solutions & new directions
b. Information Seeker: requests clarification, solicits evidence, asks for suggestions
c. Information Giver: provides information based on research, expertise, or personal information
d. Opinion-Seeker: requests viewpoints from others; looks for agreement or disagreement
e. Clarifier-Elaborator: Explains, expands, and extends the ideas of others
f. Coordinator: Draws together ideas of others; organizes and schedules meetings, promotes teamwork and cooperation
g. Secretary-Recorder: Takes minutes of meetings, keeps group’s records and history.
h. Facilitator: Keeps group on track; guides discussion; reminds group of goal; regulates group activities.
i. Devil’s Advocate: Gently challenges prevailing point of view for the sake of argument to test and critically evaluate the strength of ideas, solutions, or decisions.
YOU:
Choose 2 task roles you played and explain or describe what you did that justifies these roles.
1.
2.
TEAM MEMBER (Name):__________________________________
Choose 1 task role a team member played and explain or describe what they did that justifies this role.
1.
Maintenance Roles:
a. Supporter-Encourager: bolsters the spirits and goodwill of the group; provides warmth, praise, and acceptance of others; includes reticent members in discussion.
b. Harmonizer-Tension Reliever: Reduces the tension through humor and by reconciling differences.
c. Gatekeeper-Expediter: Controls channels of communication and flow of information; encourages evenness of participation; promotes open discussion.
YOU:
Choose 2 maintenance roles you played and explain or describe what you did that justifies these roles.
1.
2.
TEAM MEMBER (Name):__________________________________
Choose 1 task role a team member played and explain or describe what they did that justifies this role.
1.
Disruptive Roles:
a. Stagehog: Monopolizes conversation; prevents others from expression their opinions.
b. Isolate: Withdraws from participation; acts indifferent, aloof, uninvolved.
c. Clown: Engages in horseplay; diverts members’ attention from serious discussion of ideas and issues.
d. Blocker: Opposes much of what group attempts to accomplish; incessantly reintroduces dead issues; makes negative remarks to members.
e. Fighter-Controller: Tries to dominate group; competes with members; abuses those who disagree.
f. Zealot: Tries to convert members to a pet cause or idea; exhibits fanaticism.
g. Cynic: Displays sour outlook; engages in faultfinding; focuses on negatives; predicts failure.
YOU:
Choose 1 disruptive role you played and explain or describe what you did that justifies this role.
1.
TEAM MEMBER (Name):__________________________________
Choose 1 disruptive role a team member played and explain or describe what they did that justifies this role.
1.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.508198
|
06/14/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93734/overview",
"title": "Student Evaluation: Small Group Member Roles",
"author": "Colleen Mestayer"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89983/overview
|
Micrograph Trypanosoma cruzi in blood smear giemsa 400x p000032
Overview
This micrograph was taken at 400X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is giemsa-stained Trypanosoma cruzi in a blood smear.
Image credit: Emily Fox
Micrograph
Light background with purple S-shaped trypanosome cells and pink, round red blood cells.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.525586
|
Diagram/Illustration
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89983/overview",
"title": "Micrograph Trypanosoma cruzi in blood smear giemsa 400x p000032",
"author": "Health, Medicine and Nursing"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93746/overview
|
Tips for Successful Small Group Work in the Classroom
Overview
Here are some tips to ensure successful small group work in your classroom!
Having students work in groups is the best way to teach group work; however, every step of the way from group formation to individual evaluations will affect the outcome of the groups.
Tips to making group work successful in your classroom:
1. Use a system to create your groups (if students choose, they limit diversity; if you choose, they will complain). My system helps to diversify the students a bit and puts the higher achievers with the lower achievers a bit!
- I have students complete a quiz, get a score, and line them up according to their score (highest to lowest).
- I then have them count off 1, 2, 3. 4 (depending on how large I want my groups to be)
- All the 1’s get in a group
- All the 2’s get in a group
- All the 3’s get in a group
- All the 4’s get in a group
Here is the “quiz” I give them:
Give yourself the correct amount of points for each statement below, and then add together for your total.
If the statement is TRUE, give yourself 3 points
If the statement is UNTRUE, give yourself 1 point
1. I work at least 10 hours each week: __________
2. I am a senior: __________
3. I am the oldest(or only) child in my family: __________
4. I have worked with a group or team before: __________
5. I have maintained a 3.5 G.P.A. in high school: __________
6. I am a member of an organization at school __________
7. I have volunteered for a nonprofit before: __________ Total:_____________
2. As soon as they are in their groups, I have them share contact information and set up a google.doc and add me, so I can check their progress throughout the project.
3. I get them started on something fun (and not necessarily serious) to get them comfortable with their group members. Here are some examples of introductory activities:
- Have them find 5 things they all have in common and 5 things they all have different.
- Have them make the tallest JENGA towers (or Legos, etc.) if you have access to several games
- Have them decide on a name, color, or an animal to represent them (and hold them together as a group)
4. I have them complete the restaurant activity (see opening activity resource)
5. One the real project starts, check the google doc often (once or twice a week) to make sure everyone is working on the project. You can find the history (who has added what content) by going to file and choosing version history.
6. Make sure you meet with each group to check progress, re-explain directions, answer questions, etc.
7. Have students fill out evaluation forms after they have completed the project (this is a reflective exercise that forces them to use critical thinking skills to justify their answers).
8. Finally, I have groups evaluate other groups during presentations – this forces them to pay attention and gives much needed feedback to the groups.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.541356
|
06/14/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93746/overview",
"title": "Tips for Successful Small Group Work in the Classroom",
"author": "Colleen Mestayer"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/94028/overview
|
English 110 OFAR Syllabus
English 110: Composition and Reading: Open for Antiracism (OFAR)
Overview
This course focuses on reading, analyzing, and writing college-level essays with emphasis on argument, analysis, and research. Students study writing as a process, explore different writing strategies, summarizing, editing, and critiquing. The course seeks to improve the student’s ability to understand serious and complex prose and to improve the student’s ability to write an exposition that is thoughtful and clear, including the production of a well-documented research paper.
Action Plan
OER and open pedagogy help English courses to be anti-racist by providing free OER resources and by modifying curriculum to be more inclusive and diverse.
Currently, in my English 110 courses, my course theme is “Resistance Movements from the 1960s to Today.”
I was first introduced to connecting course materials and assignments to a theme at a California Accelerated Project conference in Sacramento. Scholars have articulated the rationale for using a theme based approach as a “meaningful” way to personally engage students in the learning process (Handal & Bobis, 2004; Lipson, et al., 1993); connect to students’ life experiences, interests, and existing knowledge bases (Handal & Bobis, 2004; Lipson, et al., 1993; Mangan, 2014); create a focus for learners that reveals connections among knowledge areas (Lipson, et al., 1993); promote positive attitudes in learners (Lipson, et al., 1993); and improve student success/achievement (Handal & Bobis, 2004; Mangan, 2014). Mangan (2014) reports increased student performance in theme-based classes, citing an 87% pass rate in “fear and horror” themed introductory English classes at a community college, compared to a 78% pass rate in traditional versions of these classes across the Texas community college system.
The specific resistance movements I focus on are:
- The Civil Rights Movement
- The Anti-Vietnam War Movement
- The Pro-Vietnam War Movement
- The Youth Movement
- The Native American Movement
- The Women's Movement
- The Environmental Movement
- The Farm Worker's Movement
- The Hippie Movement
- The LGBTQ+ Movement
When I focus on the Women’s Movement, I discuss how black women felt their issues were not covered by either the Civil Rights Movement or the Women’s Movement. I introduce the class to black feminists. When I discuss the Environmental Movement, I explain how citizens of color are often negatively impacted by environmental policies. Race was also an issue in the Vietnam War where minority men were drafted and killed at a higher rate than white males. The Hippie Movement covers income inequality which also negatively impacts minorities, especially black women, more than whites.
Goal: My goal for this project is to introduce students to information regarding race and resistance movements. I want to introduce students to diverse leaders who helped fight racial injustice in the past and those who are advocating for social justice today. As an instructor, I want to research and adopt instructional strategies and create student interactive assignments that engage students in the discussion of race in the classroom.
Course Description
English 110: Composition and Reading
The standard course in freshman English. The course seeks to improve the student’s ability to understand serious and complex prose and to improve the student’s ability to write an exposition that is thoughtful and clear, including the production of a well-documented research paper. (CSU, UC)
Upon course completion, the successful student will have acquired new skills, knowledge, and or attitudes as demonstrated by being able to:
- Compose college-level essays that contain clear thesis statements, effective support, and unified organization. (ILO1, ILO2, ILO4)
- Synthesize information from multiple sources to produce a research paper that is formatted and documented according to MLA guidelines. (ILO1, ILO2, ILO4, ILO5)
- Demonstrate an ability to comprehend and interpret a variety of college-level texts, including complex arguments and at least one full-length novel, play, or non-fiction book, without relying on outside sources for assistance. (ILO1, ILO2, ILO3, ILO4)
Anti-Racist Assignment
One course objective for English 110 is for students to demonstrate the ability to comprehend and interpret complex arguments. Focusing on literary devices, throughout the semester students listen to and discuss arguments made in music related to the resistance movements discussed in class. At the end of the semester students select a song for their analysis essay focusing on music as a form of argument.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.570898
|
Cynthia Spence
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/94028/overview",
"title": "English 110: Composition and Reading: Open for Antiracism (OFAR)",
"author": "Syllabus"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/62130/overview
|
Peer Review for Argumentative Research Essay
Overview
This is a peer review checklist for the first full draft of a 3500 word Argumentative Research Essay.
After reading a memoir or novel, the students choose a topic from the book and conduct research. The students brainstorm about how the topic from the book relates to something that is going on in their own community, city, state, or country. At this point, the students come up with a preliminary thesis statement that contains their argument. The requirements for this essay are 3500 word count and 6 substantive sources (2 books, 3 scholarly journal articles, and a source of their choice).
C. Duclo
English 101
MJC
First Draft Requirements
In order to insure everyone is on the right track for the Research Argumentative Essay, here is a checklist that can guide you through the writing process.
Include a Works Cited page of the sources used in the essay so far.
Underline the Thesis Statement
Color code each source, paraphrasing and direct quotes, in the essay. You may use different color highlighters or choose different font colors and print it in color.
Have all parts of the essay (even if they’re still a work in progress): introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion.
Include examples (direct quotes or paraphrasing with citations) of your chosen topic in the memoir or novel we read in class.
Circle the topic sentences for each paragraph. (Note: a topic sentence contains the main idea of that specific paragraph, and it should also support the thesis statement.)
Print out three (3) copies of your first draft to use for peer review in class.
https://flic.kr/p/nKPbtE
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.586033
|
02/01/2020
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/62130/overview",
"title": "Peer Review for Argumentative Research Essay",
"author": "Cynthia Duclo"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112833/overview
|
Effects of Current
Overview
This is on lecture notes to undergraduate student in physics in Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University. A few basic term in electricals have been explain with hand-drawn diagram. This may be useful for students at any level of education.
Effects of Current
This pdf useful for all learners and also the main basic concept of cuurent
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.602284
|
02/15/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112833/overview",
"title": "Effects of Current",
"author": "Dr.U.Vijaya Ushasree"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112170/overview
|
MAC-121_Intro_to_CNC_with_disclaimer_g4j33Kd-1
MAC-121 Mid Term
MAC-121 Questions and Answers
MAC-121, Intro to CNC
Overview
MAC-121, Intro to CNC is a course meant to teach students the basics of CNC machining. Concepts covered include safety, measurement, measuring tools including micrometers, machine materials, CNC machine operations, CNC programing and coordinate systems, among others.
MAC-121, Intro to CNC
MAC-121, Intro to CNC is a course meant to teach students the basics of CNC machining. Concepts covered include safety, measurement, measuring tools including micrometers, machine materials, CNC machine operations, CNC programing and coordinate systems, among others. Odigia was the platform used to create the course.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.620930
|
Module
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112170/overview",
"title": "MAC-121, Intro to CNC",
"author": "Lecture"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112219/overview
|
Ethnic Studies Community Project for a Social Problem
Overview
This outline serves as an Ethnic Studies Community Project assignment and could be implemented throughout the course. As this project will be carried out in the community, addressing a contemporary social problem within the discipline, it could be supplemented with the content of the course. Each section below takes about 1-2 weeks to complete. At the end of the semester, students should be able to present their group project describing their findings, conclusions, and experiences. This could also be used as a written assignment and/or presentation.
How to Create a Community Project for an Ethnic Studies Course
How to Create a Community Project for an Ethnic Studies Course
Community Project Outline
Summary: This outline serves as an Ethnic Studies Community Project assignment and could be implemented throughout the course. As this project will be carried out in the community, addressing a contemporary social problem within the discipline, it could be supplemented with the content of the course. Each section below takes about 1-2 weeks to complete. At the end of the semester, students should be able to present their group project describing their findings, conclusions, and experiences. This could also be used as a written assignment and/or presentation.
- Introduction (Week 1-2)
- Background
- What is the main idea of your project?
- Why is the issue relevant or essential, or why should we care about this issue?
- Literature Review (Week 3-4)
- Present research, facts, statistics, etc., associated with the issue.
- What have experts written on the topic?
- Methods (Week 5-6)
- Design of Project
- What did you do?
- How did you do it?
- Were changes made along the way? Yes or no. Please explain.
- Why did you choose this design?
- Demographics
- Design of Project
- Findings/Outcomes (Week 7-8)
- List 4-5 Findings (depending on group size)
- Be specific (each person must list one finding). List observations.
- What did you see or learn?
- What did you observe in the environment?
- Be specific (each person must list one finding). List observations.
- List 4-5 Findings (depending on group size)
- Discussion/Analysis (Week 9-10)
- Explain the significance of your findings.
- How do your findings connect to the literature?
- What is missing in the literature?
- How does this project represent an Ethnic Studies approach to social change?
- How has this class helped you implement this project?
- How has this class helped you further understand the importance of the issue?
- Explain the significance of your findings.
- Conclusion (Week 11-12)
- Final Thoughts/Suggestions or Recommendations
- What was the takeaway from your project?
- If you were to do this project again, what would you do differently?
- Final Thoughts/Suggestions or Recommendations
Additional instructions:
- Do not forget to cite all your resources. 3-5 sources minimum.
- The Community Project must be 6-10 pages (not including references).
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.642917
|
02/04/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/112219/overview",
"title": "Ethnic Studies Community Project for a Social Problem",
"author": "Juvenal Caporale"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124239/overview
|
Big Five Personality & Career Activity
Overview
PSY101 Big Five Personality & Career Activity
PSY101 OpenStax Module 13
Directions:
- Complete the Big Five Personality Test: https://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/Links to an external site. and review your results from the 16 Personalities Test: https://www.16personalities.com/Links to an external site. you completed in Module 11
- After both tests have been completed, take a screenshot of the Big Five Personality test results and answer all of the questions in the attached assignment.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.659003
|
01/29/2025
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124239/overview",
"title": "Big Five Personality & Career Activity",
"author": "Sierra Stewart"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124240/overview
|
Research Paper Rough Draft
Overview
PSY101 Research Paper Rough Draft
PSY101
Research Paper Rough Draft Instructions
Rough Draft: For this part of the assignment, students will find two research articles on the same psychological topic, one utilizing a qualitative methodology and the other a quantitative methodology. Students will locate each article using the college library or Google Scholar. The articles you select must be within the field of psychology. For each section below, list the information in bulleted points.
Students will outline key aspects of each article, including:
1. Topic, Qualitative Study and Quantitative Study APA References:
o State the psychological topic researched for both articles and identify the research
design (qualitative or quantitative-you need to have 1 of each identified for your
topic)
o List both the quantitative and qualitative articles selected formatted in APA
2. Variables:
o For the qualitative study: Identify the central phenomena or themes explored.
o For the quantitative study: Identify the independent and dependent variables and
any control variables if applicable.
3. Participants:
o Describe the sample size, demographics (e.g., age, gender, cultural background etc.), and how participants were selected for each study.
4. Measurement Instruments:
o For the qualitative study: List the methods such as interviews, focus groups, or observational tools used.
o For the quantitative study: List the tools, scales, or tests used for data collection.
5. Results:
o For the qualitative study: List the results/findings of the study o For the quantitative study: List the results/findings of the study
Rough Draft Requirements:
o You may not write in the first person, rather you should make statements to support the information from each study.
o Use the provided template to help organize your research paper outline.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.676922
|
01/29/2025
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124240/overview",
"title": "Research Paper Rough Draft",
"author": "Sierra Stewart"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114577/overview
|
AFRS 4010/6610: African Diaspora Theory/Diaspora & Transnational Theories 2020
Overview
This course aims to familiarize students with major concepts and theories related to the study of the African Diaspora primarily, though not exclusively, in the Americas (North, South, and Central). This course links, compares, and contextualizes the historical experiences of African descendants in the U.S., the Caribbean, South America, and Africa within global processes of enslavement, colonialism, and systematic oppression. The course treats the African Diaspora as 1) historical phenomenon 2) a current condition of social, economic, and political life and 3) a way of imagining the future. We will explore theories of slavery, race, and capitalism; black resistance; post-emancipation economies and current-day neoliberalism; theories of gender; environmental justice in the African Diaspora; and theories of the black digital sphere.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a sample syllabus for a course on African Diaspora Theory.
About This Resource
The sample syllabus included here was submitted by a participant in a one-day virtual workshop entitled, "Teaching the Global African Diaspora" for world history teachers hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History. This was a draft document that may subsequently have been revised in light of feedback and discussion during the event.
This resource was contributed by Dr. Crystal N. Eddins, Department of Africana Studies, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.695483
|
Alliance for Learning in World History
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114577/overview",
"title": "AFRS 4010/6610: African Diaspora Theory/Diaspora & Transnational Theories 2020",
"author": "Syllabus"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114574/overview
|
HIST 138: The African Diaspora 2020
Overview
This course explores the collective historical and contemporary experiences of the African Diaspora. It examines the social, cultural and political relationships between Black communities, knowledge, and movements across the Diaspora. It examines the interwoven concepts of memory, culture and resistance, and span themes such as consciousness of Africa; the Haitian Revolution and resistance to slavery; African cultural transformation in the Americas; maroonage; Garvey and the UNIA; pan-African movements and global liberation struggles; women and resistance; Black Power, and issues of identity and race.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a sample syllabus for a course on the African Diaspora.
About This Resource
The sample syllabus included here was submitted by a participant in a one-day virtual workshop entitled, "Teaching the Global African Diaspora" for world history teachers hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History. This was a draft document that may subsequently have been revised in light of feedback and discussion during the event.
This resource was contributed by Dr. Kimberly Monroe, Trinity Washington University.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.713667
|
Syllabus
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114574/overview",
"title": "HIST 138: The African Diaspora 2020",
"author": "World History"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114572/overview
|
African Diaspora Group Discussion Questions
Overview
These questions are intended to be discussed in small groups in the classroom. They consider the definition and impact of the African Diaspora as well as its similarities and differences in relation to other diasporas.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a set of sample group discussion questions about the African diaspora.
About This Resource
The resource included here was submitted by a participant in a one-day virtual workshop entitled, "Teaching the Global African Diaspora" for world history teachers hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History. This was a draft document that may subsequently have been revised in light of feedback and discussion during the event.
This resource was contributed by David Gray, History Instructor, Central Lakes College.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.731230
|
Alliance for Learning in World History
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114572/overview",
"title": "African Diaspora Group Discussion Questions",
"author": "Activity/Lab"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114878/overview
|
Using Open Educational Resources to Support Online Dual Enrollment Chemistry Course
Overview
Archived session from the 2024 Arizona Regional OER Conference.
Session Title: Using Open Educational Resources to Support Online Dual Enrollment Chemistry Course.
This resource includes the session abstract, presenter(s), resources, and recording.
Session Abstract, Presenters, Resources, and Recording
Session Abstract
This presentation will focus on the development and utilization of openly licensed materials (OER) to support a dual enrollment online chemistry lecture-lab combination course developed as part of the Interactive OER for Dual Enrollment project funded via the Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.
Presenter(s)
- Esperanza Zenon, River Parishes Community College
Resources
Recording
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.749601
|
04/02/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114878/overview",
"title": "Using Open Educational Resources to Support Online Dual Enrollment Chemistry Course",
"author": "OERizona Conference"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/115918/overview
|
HIST 0700: World History - Dr. Warsh 2018
Overview
This course is an introductory survey of world history. It will offer a historical overview of major processes and interactions in the development of human society since the emergence in Africa of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, some 200,000 years ago. The course should enable students to treat world history as an approach to the past that addresses large-scale patterns as well as local narratives, and though which they can pursue their interest in various types of knowledge.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a sample syllabus for a world history course taught in 2018.
About This Resource
This resource was contributed by Dr. Molly Warsh, Associate Professor, Department of History, Associate Director of the World History Center and Head of Educational Outreach, the University of Pittsburgh.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.767256
|
Alliance for Learning in World History
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/115918/overview",
"title": "HIST 0700: World History - Dr. Warsh 2018",
"author": "Syllabus"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/101685/overview
|
BHCC's Inaugrual OER Podcast
Overview
This is Podcast number 1 for Open Educational Recourses at BHCC (Bunker Hill Community College). In this podcast Ceit De Vitto, Senior Special Programs Coordinator for Academic Innovation and Distance Education, and Dr. John Brittingham Associate Director Teaching, Learning, & Instructional Design talk with Dr. Melissa Colón, who is an Assistant Professor, Sociology. They talk about OER how Dr. Colón uses it in her own courses, why it is important, and its challenges. For all three it is not just about the cost savings, it is about the students.
OER Podcast Episode 1
This is Podcast number 1 for Open Educational Recourses at BHCC (Bunker Hill Community College). In this podcast Ceit De Vitto, Senior Special Programs Coordinator for Academic Innovation and Distance Education, and Dr. John Brittingham Associate Director Teaching, Learning, & Instructional Design talk with Dr. Melissa Colón, who is an Assistant Professor, Sociology. They talk about OER how Dr. Colón uses it in her own courses, why it is important, and its challenges. For all three it is not just about the cost savings, it is about the students.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.779749
|
03/09/2023
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/101685/overview",
"title": "BHCC's Inaugrual OER Podcast",
"author": "Ceit De Vitto"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/120544/overview
|
What Does It Mean To Be An American - Website Guidance
Overview
Developed by the Mineta Legacy Project in partnership with SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education), this free educational curriculum offers six lessons for educators, high school students, and college students to examine what it means to be American - Immigration, Civil Liberties & Equity, Civic Engagement, Justice & Reconciliation, Leadership, and U.S.-Japan Relations. Each of the six thematic modules blends readings, primary source material, images, videos, activities, and assignments.
Purpose of Website
These lessons foster critical thinking through discussions, close readings, and interactive activities, enhanced by videos, imagery, and engagement components. The six thematic modules can be easily shared via an LMS, Google Classroom, or as PDFs.
The six standards-aligned lessons provide for powerful learning that connects to students’ lives and showcase a diverse range of American voices—from young adults to former U.S. Presidents.
Site Navigation Strategy
Visit the Getting Started section to see video tutorials for each lesson that provide tips to get the most out of the materials.
On the Overview page of each lesson, you will find
- Lesson Introduction - lesson, related objectives, and organizing questions.
- Connections to Standards - history, social studies, civics and government, and Common Core
- Materials and Teacher Preparation - equipment, materials, and instructions you’ll need for the different components of that lesson. Also note that you can use this page to print handouts as either a PDF or Google Doc
- Snapshot - scope and sequence of the activities in the lesson
Tips for Effective Implementation or Differentiation
Each of the lessons are stand-alone so that teachers may choose to use as many or few as they like.
The lessons can be easily shared to an LMS, Google Classroom, or downloaded as PDF.
Comments
Each lesson has separate Teacher and Student versions. The Teacher version, which includes additional notes and instructions, can only be accessed with a login. Students do not need to log in to access the Student version. The materials are free to use but do not carry an open license.
Attribution and License
Attribution
- Cover Image and "six lessons" screenshot copyright Media Bridges, Inc. & SPICE | used pursuant to fair use
License
Except where otherwise noted, this website guidance document by Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This resource contain links to websites operated by third parties. These links are provided for your convenience only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement or monitoring by OSPI. Please confirm the license status of any third-party resources and understand their terms before use.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.804477
|
Lesson Plan
|
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"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/120544/overview",
"title": "What Does It Mean To Be An American - Website Guidance",
"author": "Lesson"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114854/overview
|
Group Reflections & Recommended Approaches to AI
Overview
Archived session from the 2024 Arizona Regional OER Conference.
Session Title: Group Reflections & Recommended Approaches to AI.
This resource includes the session abstract, presenter(s), and recording.
Session Abstract, Presenters, and Recording
Session Abstract
This session invites participants to actively reflect on how we might approach the promises and challenges of AI in education and our daily lives. Jennryn will pose prompts for discussion that loosely build on her keynote points, but aims to invite more curiosity than answers.
Presenter(s)
- Jennryn Wetzler, Creative Commons
Recording
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.817789
|
04/02/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114854/overview",
"title": "Group Reflections & Recommended Approaches to AI",
"author": "OERizona Conference"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/61052/overview
|
Plate Tectonics: The Effects of Movement of the Earth on its Continental Plates
Overview
Students preparing for the ACT, GED or other college prep equivalency exams or college entrance need to know the basics of science. Geology is one area that is included on most of these types of exams. The study of continental drift forces involved and effect of the movement combine several science disciplines that will help students on those exams. In this unit, learners will illustrate, describe and demonstrate a basic knowledge of plate tectonics and the effect of shifts on seismic activity. This unit follows the WIPPEA model for lesson planning, and implements open-classroom strategies, where students will not only use OER but also modify and republish their content.
Basic Unit Information
Brief Description
Students preparing for the ACT, GED or other college prep equivalency exams or college entrance need to know the basics of science. Geology is one area that is included on most of these types of exams. The study of continental drift forces involved and effect of the movement combine several science disciplines that will help students on these exams.
Essential Question
What is tectonic plate movement and how does it effect the earth, its people, and its geography?
Developed By
Mr. Donald Edward Dutton, Senior Educational Consultant, New Mexico Distance Education and Learning Technologies: https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/module/30680/overview
Remixed by Leecy Wise, Educational Consultant, Teacher Trainer (12/27/019)
Number of Sessions: 1 or 2
Estimated Time Required
300 minutes plus some thinking and collaborating outside of class.
Setting: Classroom and Computer Lab
Instruction Level: Intermediate
Objectives
Lesson Goal
Learners will demonstrate a basic knowledge of plate tectonics and the effect of shifts on seismic activity.
Learning Objectives
- Learners will identify earth's continental plates and discuss one example of the effects of plate movement.
- Learners will accurately predict the effects of specific movement of specific plates.
- Learners will remix an open resource to tell their own story of the earth's plate movements and effects of that movement.
Instructional Strategies
Through the use of 3 OER (and other resources), students will gain an overall understanding of the topic. They will be able to identify the different types of movement and how each effects the earth. They will also observe open educational resources (OER), with the goal of replicating the process, evaluating a resource, setting goals for making it better, and manipulating an OER for that purpose.
Resources
Internet-enabled devices for all students. Students should have physical note pads or electronic pages in order to save ideas, edit ideas, contact info with collaborators and more.
How Resources Are Use
Electronic devices will be used to search for resources that answer the essential question.
Notepads keep track of iterations of the progress made toward the full answers.
Unit Plan
This unit plan follows the WIPPEA model. "The WIPPEA Model, and acronym that stands for WarmUp, Introduction, Presentation, Practice, Evaluation, Application, is a lesson plan model that represents a continuous teaching cycle in which each learning concept builds on the previous one, serving as an instructional roadmap for instructors. The WIPPEA lesson plan model is adapted from the work of Hunter (Hunter, 1982). This six-step cyclical lesson planning approach has learners demonstrate mastery of concepts and content at each step before the instructor proceeds to the next step. In the following list, TEAL Center suggestions for incorporating each of these elements are included in italics." (TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 8: Effective Lesson Planning, https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/teal/guide/lessonplanning)
Warm-Up
Activity
With the following 10 words displayed in the classroom, give students a few minutes to talk about what they know of them: (NO DEVICES or BOOKS)
Terms: oceanic plate, destructive margins, continental plate, magma, seismic activity, conservative margins, volcanoes, plate tectonics, fault lines, earthquakes
Duration
10-15 minutes minutes
Introduction
Activity
Students prepare 3 questions of their own and to ask about the video and consider all the following questions:
- What one thing did you learn about plate tectonics?
- Where is this action evident?
- Who does plate movement effect?
- When does movement occur?
- Why does movement occur?
- How are the 3 ways continental plates move against each other?
Notes
Students watch the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_UBLFUpYQ
Duration
20 to 30 mins minutes
Presentation
Skill to be Presented
Students go the first OER. https://www.oercommons.org/courses/plate-tectonics-10
In this OER, students find answers to their questions and the ones posed above.
For further study, they experiment with another OER: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/uncovering-plate-tectonics
Steps for Presenting Skill
The presentation consists of teacher and students working together to identify an OER that suits their needs. The goal here is to show how to evaluate an OER. Find the OER, decide what is good and what can be changed, decide on how it can be changed and make the changes. After the process is complete and the modeling has been done, we can move onto the principal lesson.
Duration
90 minutes
Practice
Activities
Discussion
Reading
Problem Solving
Research
Role-Play
Critical Thinking
Groupings: Small Group
Duration: 2 hours minutes
Description
Students open the third OER planned for this lesson with the intent of manipulating it for their own use: https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/361-is-california-leaving-a-lesson-on-plate-tectonics
With this OER, or with another suitable OER, students present their answer to the essential question and the "wh" questions above. They prepare an OER of their own that tells the story of earth's plate movements and the effects of that movement.
DISCUSSION: Students will discuss in small groups the essential question and all the questions they have.
READING: Students will read what they need from the first OER suggested. They will find additional resources if necessary and read whatever they need to find answers to what, why, how and etc.
PROBLEM SOLVING: In groups, 2 questions will be discussed and solutions will be offered orally. NOTE: Use your imagination, but keep the ideas somewhat based on what you have learned.
- Question 1: What can people do to be safe on this planet with so much seismic activity?
- Question 2: How can humans control or effect earth's movements? Is it possible? If so, how?
RESEARCH: Students will research the 3 OER suggested for this unit and document the use of others if needed. Also, it is expected sources should be accurate and information from them should conform to the information in the majority of sources.
ROLE-PLAY: Students will role play a simple discussion between a person in any country who does not know much about science or plate tectonics but has experienced the effects of earth movement and wants to know why that happens.
CRITICAL THINKING: All the activities in this unit require critical thinking skills.
Evaluation
Duration
30 minutes
Objectives
Students will have:
- accurately and completely answered the essential question by show and tell.
- collaborated with each other during the formative stages of the lesson plan
- applied critical thinking in order to present the final product to meet quality performance standards
Assessments will include oral presentation, evidence that work or discussion was done collaboratively (everyone in the group contributes to oral presentations) and a well-thought out final response.
Assessments
- Oral Quiz
- Role Play
- Demonstration
- Project
- Observation
- Description
- Student Reflection
Application
Activities
Away from class and at a future time, students will tell the class about a place, time, experience, story or news report that illustrates the effects of earth's movement in the life of an individual. This will be a short oral presentation.
Location
Outside Classroom
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.861589
|
Data Set
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/61052/overview",
"title": "Plate Tectonics: The Effects of Movement of the Earth on its Continental Plates",
"author": "Assessment"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/115991/overview
|
Resources for Teaching World History
Overview
This is a list of teaching materials and resources for teaching world history. It contains links to resources for pre-secondary, secondary, and post-secondary classrooms as well as world history syllabi.
Attachments
The attachment for this resource is a list of world history resources for educators available on other digital platforms.
About This Resource
This list was created by Jacob Pomerantz, University of Pittsburgh.
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oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.879442
|
Alliance for Learning in World History
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/115991/overview",
"title": "Resources for Teaching World History",
"author": "Teaching/Learning Strategy"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/103401/overview
|
ENG 230- Introduction to Literature
Overview
This course is designed to give you a broad overview of the field of literary studies. We will read texts from different time periods, different parts of the world, and different genres. We will learn the tools to put in our toolbox to help us analyze literature like a professional.
ENG 230- Introduction to Literature
This course is designed to give you a broad overview of the field of literary studies. We will read texts from different time periods, different parts of the world, and different genres. We will learn the tools to put in our toolbox to help us analyze literature like a professional.
Canvas Commons Course Link
Course download: Common Cartridge
Download and use this file to load the course in an LMS other than Canvas.
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oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.899802
|
Micah Weedman
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/103401/overview",
"title": "ENG 230- Introduction to Literature",
"author": "Full Course"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/74309/overview
|
Instructional Guide: The Food Chain Case
Overview
Instructional guide for educators and program leaders to support lesson and activity planning during the State of Innovation Challenge
Instructional Guide: The Food Chain Case
State of Innovation: The Food Chain
How to Use
This guide is intended to support you in adapting the State of Innovation’s “Food Chain” Challenge case into a lesson plan to implement with youth. It includes background information on the case, problem solving questions for youth to work on, and suggested activities to use with youth. It also explains how you can get support during the Challenge, including helping youth connect with industry leaders throughout the Challenge.
Challenge Case
COVID-19 has changed the way we purchase, distribute, and consume food in Washington.
Your challenge is to help the state ensure that every Washingtonian can have access to healthy, affordable, and environmentally sustainable food during the pandemic.
Watch the Food Chain Challenge case video for a brief overview of the topics and themes covered by this Challenge case.
Career Paths
- Agriculture Sciences
- Business & Marketing
- Environmental Conservation
- Family and Consumer Sciences
Learning Objectives
Youth will be able to…
- Solve real problems around the food chain currently facing Washington State
- Analyze social issues impacting the health of their local communities and economies
- Evaluate emerging solutions to solving food crises driven by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Develop new proposals and prototypes to improve Washington’s food systems
Implementation
The resources presented in this guide are designed to be used flexibly based on the needs of youth and your classroom. You are invited to develop lesson plans of your own in alignment with your course, leveraging one or more of the problem solving questions below or weaving the food chain theme into your own curriculum. You are also encouraged to use or build on lesson plans shared by other Washington State educators - see the “Support” section of the guide for information on how to access the State of Innovation Lesson Bank on OER Commons.
Structure and Timing
Participation in the State of Innovation Challenge has no strict time expectations or requirements. Youth can meaningfully engage with this Challenge with as little as one hour, or as much as several months. Youth are invited to work on this challenge individually or in teams of any size.
If you have one class period, you could:
- kick off the Challenge case with the Food Chain Challenge video
- present one of the problem solving questions to youth with a brief class discussion
- break youth into small groups to each read one of the provided background information resources
- have youth summarize their findings to the class, highlighting any ideas they have to build on the existing solution
- Suggested end product: A quick poster, slide deck or FlipGrid video
If you have one week of classes, you could:
- kick off the Challenge case with the Food Chain Challenge video
- present an overview of each problem solving question and allow small groups of youth to each choose one question to focus on
- have each group explore the background information resources provided for their question
- ask each group to develop a novel solution to their problem in the form of a lightweight design proposal, building on the successes and shortcomings of existing solutions in that space
- provide a space for groups to each present their solutions to the class with ample time for discussion and peer feedback
- Suggested end product: A design proposal document or poster
If you have one month of classes, you could:
- kick off the Challenge case with the Food Chain Challenge video
- present an overview of each problem solving question and allow small groups of youth to each choose one question to focus on
- have each group explore the background information resources provided for their question, and additionally find several research sources of their own
- ask each group to develop a novel solution to their problem in the form of a robust prototype, model or sales pitch
- run weekly design reviews with ample time for discussion and peer feedback
- connect youth with relevant industry leaders for authentic feedback
- help youth connect with relevant end users for user-oriented collaborative design opportunities
- Suggested end product: A functional prototype or business plan
Project Submissions
Youth can submit projects in a wide range of formats to the Challenge. Once you’ve selected the project format below that works best for you/your group, please review the submission guidelines in the Appendix and submit your project through the submission portal at www.innovationwa.org.
Problem Solving Questions
Below are some suggested questions for youth to tackle in this Challenge case. You can choose to use one or more of these questions, or you can create a problem of your own choosing that is related to the Challenge case.
| Theme | Problem Solving Prompts |
| School Meals and Healthy Foods | Design a plan for school meals containing food that is grown locally in Washington, and provides healthy, good tasting food to students. |
| Food Waste and Climate Science | How could we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing food waste in your community, even as people are buying more food than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic? |
| Food Production and Distribution | How can we help food banks connect with surplus food from farmers, restaurants, or homes? |
| Consumer Science | What are some ways that shopping for and eating food have changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in your community? |
| Restaurants and Hospitality | If you were a restaurant owner today, how would you change your business to respond better to COVID-19? |
You can find more information on each problem solving question below, including additional context and links to background information in the form of articles, videos 🎥 and data presentations 📊.
School Meals and Healthy Foods
Many young people rely on school meals as their main meals of the day, but school districts often source the food for student meals from large national food distributors. With COVID-19 continuing to harm the economy and more people out of work, meals provided by schools are going to become very important for many youth in Washington State, even if they are not going to school in-person every day.
Design a plan for school meals (lunch, breakfast, or both) containing food that is grown locally in Washington, and provides healthy, good tasting food to students.
- Where should the food come from?
- Could families or schools be involved in growing some of the food themselves?
- Could local farmers be involved in distributing food from farms to schools?
- Where should the meal be served - in a school building, a community location?
- What types of food should be included and how should that be decided?
Background Information
- After backlash, USDA agrees to extend free-meal program for children - Washington Post
- Eligible families encouraged to apply for free and reduced-price meal programs - OSPI
- Find meals for kids when schools are closed - USDA
- Free and reduced priced meals in King County - Communities Count 📊
- Hungry with children: 1 in 3 U.S. families with kids don't have enough food - CBS News
- Meal plans organized for Washington students amid coronavirus school closures - King 5 News
- Northwest Harvest COVID-19 response - Northwest Harvest
- USDA approves program to feed kids in Washington - USDA
Food Waste and Climate Science
Reversing the impacts of climate change is one of the top priorities for Washington State. Food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn drive up the negative impacts of climate change.
How could we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing food waste in your community, even as people are buying more food than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Note: Pacific Education Institute offers a Middle School curriculum and High School curriculum tied to this topic and is available for additional support and questions
Background Information
- COVID-19 is making our food waste problem even worse - Food & Wine
- Fight climate change by preventing food waste - World Wildlife Foundation
- Food goes to waste amid coronavirus crisis - Politico
- How cutting your food waste can help the climate - BBC
- How the USDA’s food box initiative overpaid and underdelivered - KUOW
- How to reduce food waste during the coronavirus - CBS News
- Inside America’s food supply chain under COVID-19 - Forbes 🎥
- Smashing eggs, dumping milk: Farmers waste more food than ever - Bloomberg
- Why Americans lead the world in food waste - The Atlantic
- Why coronavirus is causing a massive amount of food waste - CNBC 🎥
Food Production and Food Distribution
Food banks are in need of additional food to serve people who are not working.
How can we help food banks connect with surplus food from farmers, restaurants, or homes?
Background Information
- Coronavirus pandemic: Purchase and distribution of food eligible for public assistance - FEMA
- Drive-thru food distribution paired with COVID-19 testing - KUOW
- Food banks expecting a surge in new customers during COVID-19 - KUOW
- Food insecurity data in King County - King County 📊
- Food insecurity data in King County - Communities Count 📊
- Food insecurity data in the US - USDA 📊
- Food insecurity rates in King County nearly double ahttps://www.kuow.org/stories/food-insecurity-in-king-county-doubless pandemic continues - KUOW
- Feeding America CEO: Unprecedented levels of food insecurity - Bloomberg 🎥
- Potato giveaway draws huge crowd to Tacoma Dome - The News Tribune 🎥
Consumer Science
We all have to eat, but food serves more purposes than just providing nutrition and keeping us alive, especially during challenging times like a pandemic. It can be a way people stay connected to their family heritage, or recognize special occasions even if they cannot be with loved ones because of social distancing. Favorite foods can provide a sense of normalcy, or it can be a way to support small restaurants or local farms that are struggling because of the economic downturn.
What are some ways that shopping for and eating food have changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in your community?
- How do you know that these changes have occured?
- Create a meal plan and a budget for and individual's weekly food consumption that shows some of these changes
Background Information
- At least isolation is teaching people a better way to cook - Slate
- Health crises have a long-term impact on consumer demand - Food Navigator
- Making health and nutrition a priority during the coronavirus pandemic - American Society for Nutrition
- Our diets are changing because of the coronavirus pandemic. Is it for the better? - TIME
- The rise of ‘dark stores’: Grocery shopping in COVID-19 - Forbes
- With COVID-19, CSAs are trending as a way to shop - Eater
Restaurants and Hospitality
Restaurants and hospitality industry businesses have had to adapt to a new way of working due to COVID-19.
If you were a restaurant owner today, how would you change your business to respond better to COVID-19?
- What would your business plan be?
- What support would you want from your City or state?
- Would you go mobile - shift to a food truck or pop up?
- Would you try to renovate your existing space?
- Would you offer different services like food in grocery stores or other retail?
Background Information
- 21 ways restaurants could change forever, according to chefs - Food and Wine
- A majority of survey respondents say they’re not ready to eat inside Seattle’s restaurants yet - Eater
- Economic recovery dashboard - WA State Department of Commerce 📊
- How coronavirus decimated the restaurant industry overnight - CNBC 🎥
- The Paycheck Protection Program is complicated for restaurants - Bon Appetit
- What Seattle chefs and owners think about reopening restaurants at 50% capacity - Eater
- Why I can’t afford to close my restaurant during the pandemic - Eater
Support
Industry Leader Engagement
Your class will have multiple opportunities to engage with relevant industry leaders during the Challenge period. These interactions will take the form of pre-scheduled meetings with members of the food industry to build on themes related to the Challenge case, learn about career pathways within the industry, and to get feedback on youth work.
The schedule for these sessions will be available on the State of Innovation website. Be sure you are signed up for the State of Innovation Outreach list to receive updates as new sessions are added. All sessions will be recorded and posted on the State of Innovation website.
Office Hours
During the Challenge period, you may request one on one support from a member of the State of Innovation team. To schedule office hours, please visit this link to find a time that works well for you. You can get help with lesson planning, using any of the provided resources, or technical assistance with OERCommons or the youth response forum.
OER Commons
A wealth of complete lesson plans developed for this Challenge case are available in the State of Innovation group at oercommons.org, a platform for open educational resources. On this website, you will find remote-friendly lessons tailored to middle school classrooms, high school classrooms and Open Doors classrooms.
Are you willing to share a lesson plan you’ve developed for this Challenge case with other local educators? Please upload your resources using the button on the State of Innovation OERCommons page.
In addition to helping to build a robust lesson bank, the most creative lesson ideas uploaded to OERCommons will be recognized at a celebratory statewide event at the conclusion of the Challenge.
Standards
Due to the flexible nature of the Challenge, there are a great number of standards that may apply to your specific implementation. If you are looking for standards with which to align your implementation, you may find the following sources from OSPI helpful.
CTE Standards
- 21st Century Leadership Skills
- Program of Study, Career Clusters, and Career Pathways
- Program Standards
Subject Area Standards
- Arts Learning Standards
- English Language Arts Standards
- Environmental and Sustainability Learning Standards
- Mathematics Learning Standards
- Science Learning Standards
- Social Studies Learning Standards
Appendix: Submission Guidelines
Disclaimer: Participating youth and their teachers or adult advisors are responsible for securing all necessary parental permissions and/or waivers prior to submitting a Challenge solution.
Nano Project
- Up to 2 minute video on Flipgrid using one of the followings submission links:
- If you don’t have access to Flipgrid, you can also upload a video to Vimeo or Youtube and email a short written solution.
Flipgrid Privacy Notice
Flipgrid submissions are publicly accessible. Once approved by the project team, your Flipgrid video can be viewed by anyone with a link to the Flipgrid community page. Do not share personal identifiable information such as your last name, name of your school, address, etc. in your Flipgrid video.
Flipgrid videos will be reviewed for approval by the project team prior to posting on the community page. Videos containing personal identifiable information, as well as videos containing discriminatory, racist, offensive, obscene, inflammatory, unlawful or otherwise objectionable statements, language or content will be rejected.
Video Guidance
- In your video, give your first name only -- this will protect your privacy
- Say which case you’re working on
- The Food Chain
- Our Communities During COVID-19
- Our Communities After COVID-19
- State the problem you’re trying to solve
- Give your answer - in your own words, what do you think the solution should be? Your answer should:
- Reference the case video or at least one of the research links provided for the problem
- Explain what this solution would look like if it was used in your community. Who would it help and why?
Micro Project
Upload through the Submission Portal in one of the following formats:
- Submit a video of up to 5 minutes that demonstrates your solution -- this includes a music video -- you can upload your video to Youtube or Vimeo and submit a link through the project website.
- Submit a short essay narrating your solution of up to 2 pages (middle school) or up to 4 pages (high school).
- Write an editorial explaining your solution and arguing why the state should support your solution -- if possible, submit your editorial to a local or school newspaper for publication.
- Submit a drawing or comic that describes your solution.
- Create a short research project around the problem-solving prompt. Create a hypothesis, write a research plan for how you will collect data (example: 2-3 questions you will ask community members about the issue), go out and collect the data, and submit a 1-2 page report or a slide deck with your research plan and an analysis of your findings.
- Create an elevator pitch for a business or nonprofit entity that implements your solution. For your pitch you can:
- Create a slide deck (Powerpoint, Google Slides, Keynote, etc.) or short narrative (maximum 2 pages) explaining what your proposed business is, what problem it solves, and how.
- Record yourself giving the pitch, as if you were talking to the state government or other potential investors about supporting your solution -- upload your pitch to Youtube or Vimeo and include a link in your slide deck.
Macro Project
Upload to the Submission Portal in one of the following formats:
Creative Project
- Write and record a podcast episode, song, or play about your solution. Record and submit your performance or podcast episode.
- Submit a link to your video or podcast through the project website.
Create a model
- Build a physical model of your solution. Submit a 1-3 page description with photographs of your project.
Research Project
- Create a research project around the problem-solving prompt. Create a hypothesis, write a research plan for how you will collect data, go out and collect the data, and submit a 3-5 page report or a slide deck with your research plan, an analysis of your findings, and a recommendation for next steps the state could take based on your research.
Computer Program or App
- Create an app or computer program for your solution. Submit at 1-3 page report about your app/program including:
- What it does, and who it helps
- How you developed it and why
- Any links demonstrating your app or program
Service Project
- Create a service project around your solution. Submit a 1-3 page report of your project, describing:
- What the project was and who you were helping
- Did you partner with any other community organizations for your project? If so, describe what they do in the community
- The length of the service project -- including how long it took you to prepare for and complete the project
- Why you chose this project and what you learned from the process
- What you think the state should do about the issue you focused on in your project going forward
Business Plan
- Create a business plan for a business that implements your solution. This can be an imaginary business or based on a real business in your community, but you must create the business plan yourself. Your business plan should include:
- 1-3 page description of your business plan
- Staff and customer safety plan for operating safely during COVID-19, including compliance with all state and local public health rules
- Projected budget for your business
- Sample menu for food, service, or merchandise offering
- Optional -- Actually create the food item, service, or merchandise for your business. Photograph and describe the final product
- Drawings of the physical space of your business (if physical)
- Marketing plan for your business
Challenge Submission Criteria
We will recognize some of the most creative solutions submitted to the Challenge at our closing event in spring 2021. We’ll be looking for solutions that meet most of the following criteria.
| We are looking for solutions that are… | That means the solution shows us... |
| Creative | Original ideas or your personal spin on existing ideas. |
| Future focused | What isn’t happening yet but that you think should be happening. |
| User focused | Who will use this solution? What do you know about them and how do you know they would benefit from your solution? |
| Implementable | How we can use the tools we have in real life to implement this solution -- unfortunately the Avengers are busy, we checked. Think about how you could use state and city budgets, support from business or philanthropy, donations or volunteer support from communities, etc. to accomplish your goals. |
| Reflective of you | How does your personal identity and your experiences shape the way you see the problem? |
| Reflective of your community | How are the people around you -- your family, friends, teachers, bosses, teammates, coworkers -- impacted by the problem? How will the solution you propose impact them? |
| Equitable | You’ve thought about how this problem impacts people of different races or ethnicities, genders, abilities, or income in different ways. How does your solution help address those different impacts? |
| Accessible | Is this a solution that could be used by a person with disabilities? Someone who speaks a language other than English? A person living in a rural area? In an urban area? An elderly person? A person with kids? What about a person who doesn’t have access to the internet or a computer? |
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.954334
|
Ecology
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/74309/overview",
"title": "Instructional Guide: The Food Chain Case",
"author": "Culinary Arts"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92493/overview
|
SURVEY ONLINE CLASS
Overview
online survey
Survey for online class
FREN 103
SURVEY ON Book0-ONLINE COMPONENT
1-5 (One is Low /or NO_ + FIVE is HIGH./or YES)
I. Did you like the text?
1 2 3 4 5
If not, what did you not like? Or would like to see changed?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Did you like the DUE DATES with open end(not locking) ?
1 2 3 4 5
3, Would you have liked to have had more meetings with professor?
1 2 3 4 5
4. Did you like the speaking and listening activities?
1 2 3 4 5
5. Did you have any problem with audio or visual in quizzes?
1 2 3 4 5 WHERE?_______________________________________
6. Did you have any problem with text spacing or margins? (Like parts of page were cut off?) Where?____________________
1 2 3 4 5
7. Would you have preferred more speaking activities for yourself?
1 2 3 4 5
8. Would you have preferred more listening activities with comprehension questions?
1 2 3 4 5
9. Would you have preferred more videos with comprehension questions>
1 2 3 4 5
10. Do you think the chapters were too long?
1 2 3 4 5
11. Did you find the pace of the course worked well for you?
1 2 3 4 5 If not, how could it be improved?____________________________________________
12. Would you have been willing to work with 1 partner throughout the semester as a speaking buddy or did you prefer the Speaking and listening activities as they were- with a pre-recorded voice that you could do asynchronously?
1 2 3 4 5
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.969640
|
05/05/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92493/overview",
"title": "SURVEY ONLINE CLASS",
"author": "Sandra Reynolds-Villalobos"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116072/overview
|
Cover Letter Workshop Slides
Overview
Slides that can be used to teach about cover letters in a workshop style.
SLides
Please see attached PPT.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:21.986080
|
Aujalee Moore
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116072/overview",
"title": "Cover Letter Workshop Slides",
"author": "Lesson"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116073/overview
|
Lesson Plan: How to Write a Cover Letter
Overview
Includes three activities, samples, and examples.
How to Write a Cover Letter
Type of activity:
Interactive Discussion
Attending:
- Instructor(s)
- Job Developer
- Students
Group Size:
10-20 students
Session Outline:
- Have students sign in upon entering session.
- Have students introduce themselves and declare their program of study.
- Give announcements: All upcoming grant opportunities and TAACCCT pathway initiatives.
- Serve food during the session (optional)
- Take any questions from the students so all can hear the concerns of others.
Lesson Objective:
Upon successful completion, students will be able to create an effective cover letter outlining their interest in applying for a position/college/internship/scholarship utilizing proper business letter format.
Supplies You Will Need:
- Copies of Cover Letter Tips and Suggestions | PowerPoint
- Copies of Cover Letter Guide
- Copies of Sample Cover Letter #1, 2 & 3
Content Outline:
- Instructor will discuss the importance of the cover letter. It is usually the first piece of an application that is read.
- Hand out copies of the power point presentation. Walk students through the important parts of a cover letter including heading, inside address, salutations, and the complimentary closing.
- Hand out copies of the Cover Letter Guide. Highlight the important items mentioned. Many students believe that “minor” errors can’t hurt them when it comes to applying for a job. Give students a few minutes to read and critique the sample letter. Ask them to suggest how it could be improved.
- Stress the punctuation and grammar are vital components of a letter. An employer may only need to see nothing more than one misspelled word to decide that the applicant is not worth a second look.
- Use a career planning process that includes self-assessment, personal development, and a career portfolio as a way to gain initial entry into the workplace.
- Demonstrate job seeking skills.
- Assist students in determining where to “send” their letter. They should make the letter as real as possible by picking a business of interest.
Activities
Activity Number | Activity Name and Description | Instructor comments |
Activity 1 | 6 Secrets to writing a Great Cover letter Define for students the purpose of a cover letter. Explain to them that it is a letter that accompanies an application form or resume, serves as an introduction to the resume, and provides an opportunity to highlight the applicants’ special skills and experiences.
|
Prompt students with the following questions:
|
Activity Number | Activity Name and Description | Instructor comments |
Activity 2 | Parts of a Cover Letter Explain to students that the cover letter becomes easier to write was they gain work and educational experience, but it is still important to learn how to write such letters now when they must rely on descriptions of informal experiences and personal qualities supporting evidence. | Explain the parts of a cover letter. List at least the 5 parts on the board to help students visualize. Return address, letter address, salutation, body and complimentary close.
|
Activity Number | Activity Name and Description | Instructor comments |
Activity 3 | Individual Activity Give students the first (before corrections) example of a cover letter to read. Provide time for students to record their impressions of what might be wrong in the cover letter. As the students view the examples, displayed on white board and have students discuss their findings. Give the students the second (after corrections) example of a cover letter. Display the letter on whiteboard and go over some of the details as to why the letter is better than the first version. | Point out main details of the cover letter. Prompt students with leading questions. |
Sample
Parts of a Cover Letter | Sample Letter |
Heading
| Your Mailing Address City, State Zip Code Today’s Date
[4 “Return’s or “Enter’s on Keyboard] |
Inside Address
| Employer’s Name Job Title Business Name Business Address City, State Zip Code |
Salutation
| Dear (Mr./Mrs./Ms.) use the name of the person that will read the letter |
Introductory Paragraph
| In response to the February 24th advertisement in the Star Ledger, I have enclosed my resume for the Certified Nursing Assistant position. |
1st Main Paragraph Describe your qualifications Sell your skills and knowledge. Tell why you are interested in the company or college. Point out any related experience you have.
2nd Main Paragraph Continue to describe qualifications. Highlight relevant training or classes to the job or major for which you are applying.
| As part of my training, I acquired extensive clinical and academic education focused on patient care. With some exposure to medical environments during the course of my training, I learnt the importance of the principles that affect the medical profession and I deem myself capable of handling this pressure by providing both clinical and administrative support. Using knowledge of carrying out laboratory procedures, patient care and doctors’ office management, I am ready to get on board.
|
Closing Paragraph Close by thanking the reader and requesting an interview.
| I would appreciate a chance to speak with you in person so I can elaborate on my skills and candidacy as a medical assistant. I will call your office in a week’s time to ask for a convenient meeting time. Alternately, I can be reached at (111) 111-1111. |
Complimentary Close
| Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely yours, |
Signature
| Eva Baker |
Name
| Eva Baker |
Enclosure This indicates that you have enclosed other items (resume, transcripts, etc.) for the reader to see.
| Enc. Resume
|
You can find more samples online: http://coverlettersandresume.com/medical-assistant/medical-assistant-cover-letter-no-experience/
Example
Renee Simmons
15 Elm St. | Sometown, NY | 555-555-5555 | renee@somedomain.com
June 16, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
I am submitting my resume for your review for the retail manager position. I have a long successful career with XYZ Company and I’m looking for a new career challenge.
My experience and training in management techniques is enhanced by my strong work ethic and ability to learn new concepts quickly. I am an excellent communicator, a results-oriented performer and get great satisfaction from making a difference. I thoroughly enjoy working with people and have done so throughout my career. I bring top results in managing a retail operation.
I have a wide array of skills that will increase productivity and effectively contribute to an already successful company such as yours. I am a professional who is detail-oriented, flexible and able to meet deadlines, both independently and in a team environment.
Given the challenge the current market presents, my ability to quickly assess and provide solutions would be valuable. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my qualifications and learn more about the open position. Thank you for your time and consideration of the enclosed resume, and I hope to hear from you in the near future.
Respectfully,
Renee Simmons
Sample Source: http://media.monster.com/mm/usen/content/resume/doc/cover-letter-sample-before.html?WT.mc_n=CovLetBef
Citations
"Cover Letter for Entry Level Medical Assistant (No Experience)." Cover Letter For Entry Level Medical Assistant (No Experience). Cover letters and Resume Samples, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016. Retrieved from http://coverlettersandresume.com/medical-assistant/cover-letter-for-entry-level-medical-assistant-no-experience/ (2016, March)
"Phlebotomist Cover Letter with No Experience." Phlebotomist Cover Letter With No Experience. Cover Letters and Resume Samples, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016. Retrieved from http://coverlettersandresume.com/laboratory/phlebotomist-cover-letter-with-no-experience/ (2016, March)
"Entry Level CNA Cover Letter No Experience." Entry Level CNA Cover Letter. Cover Letters and Resumes, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2016. http://coverlettersandresume.com/cna/entry-level-cna-cover-letter-no-experience/ (2016, March)
"6 Secrets To Writing A Great Cover Letter." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. http://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2012/08/29/6-secrets-to-writing-a-great-cover-letter/#429fa59d28e4 (2016, March)
Issacs, Kim. "Cover Letter Makeover: Before Cover Letter Sample | Monster Career Advice." Cover Letter Makeover: Before Cover Letter Sample | Monster Career Advice. Monster, 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. http://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/cover-letter-sample-makeover (2016, M uarch)
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.051593
|
05/15/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116073/overview",
"title": "Lesson Plan: How to Write a Cover Letter",
"author": "Aujalee Moore"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114658/overview
|
OER Storytelling Why
Overview
In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, empowering faculty is crucial for fostering innovation and student engagement. Historically, insitutions of higher learning thrived on a model where professors were not just educators but also creators of their own course materials. They wrote their own texts, designed their own curriculum, and taught with a deep sense of ownership and expertise. However, with the rise of publishers and standardized content, this autonomy was gradually eroded. Open Educational Resources (OER) offer a return to this empowering model by providing faculty with the tools and resources to develop their own high-quality, customizable course materials. By embracing OER, we empower faculty to reclaim their role as content experts and facilitators of meaningful learning experiences, ultimately benefiting both educators and students alike.
My OER Story of Impact
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.064384
|
03/27/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/114658/overview",
"title": "OER Storytelling Why",
"author": "Eric Osborn"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89819/overview
|
Micrograph Escherichia coli methylene blue 400x p000002
Overview
This micrograph was taken at 400X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Escherichia coli cells grown in broth culture overnight at 37 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and stained for 1 minute with methylene blue stain prior to visualization.
Image credit: Emily Fox
Micrograph
White background with about 1000 small, blue, rod-shaped Escherichia coli cells scattered across.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.081771
|
Diagram/Illustration
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89819/overview",
"title": "Micrograph Escherichia coli methylene blue 400x p000002",
"author": "Health, Medicine and Nursing"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93037/overview
|
Micrograph Bacillus cereus 48 h endospore 1000X p000061
Overview
This micrograph was taken at 1000X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Bacillus cereus cells were grown in broth culture for 48 hours at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and stained with malachite green (endospores) and safranin red (vegetative cells) prior to visualization.
Image credit: Emily Fox
Micrograph
Light background with about 50 rod-shaped pink cells with green oval endospores inside
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.098892
|
Diagram/Illustration
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93037/overview",
"title": "Micrograph Bacillus cereus 48 h endospore 1000X p000061",
"author": "Health, Medicine and Nursing"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84257/overview
|
Sample Assignment PT 1
Sample Assignment PT 2
History 18: History of California
Overview
This course examines the social, economic, and political development of California from its pre-European past to its post-industrial present. In addition, we will exlpore the historical uniqueness of Calfornia's environment, population, institutions, and economy. Emphasis is placed on the influence of American political thought and institutions in the historical evolution of California's state and local governments. Partially satisfies the requirements in U.S. Constitution, American history and institutions. Recommended: Writing and Reading-1 level prior to transfer. Hours: 54 lect. CCS: Liberal Arts and Sciences. Transferable: UC, CSU and private colleges. BC GE D.2, D.3, CSU GE C.2, D.6; IGETC 3B, 4.
Syllabus and Sample Assignment
This course examines the social, economic, and political development of California from its pre-European past to its post-industrial present. In addition, we will exlpore the historical uniqueness of Calfornia's environment, population, institutions, and economy. Emphasis is placed on the influence of American political thought and institutions in the historical evolution of California's state and local governments. Partially satisfies the requirements in U.S. Constitution, American history and institutions. Recommended: Writing and Reading-1 level prior to transfer. Hours: 54 lect. CCS: Liberal Arts and Sciences. Transferable: UC, CSU and private colleges. BC GE D.2, D.3, CSU GE C.2, D.6; IGETC 3B, 4.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.116876
|
Open for Antiracism Program (OFAR)
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84257/overview",
"title": "History 18: History of California",
"author": "Syllabus"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/78830/overview
|
Okanagan College OER Adoptions
Overview
Open textbooks and OER adoptions for Okanagan College from 2013-2021 (spreadsheet).
Open Textbooks and OER Adoptions
Open textbooks and OER adoptions for Okanagan College from 2013-2021 (spreadsheet).
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.132788
|
03/31/2021
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/78830/overview",
"title": "Okanagan College OER Adoptions",
"author": "Darcye Lovsin"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84531/overview
|
Education Standards
Uses Tools and Processes of Precision Agriculture for OER
Uses Tools and Processes Worksheet
Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 2
Overview
Lesson Two: Uses, Tools and Processes of Precision Agriculture
Overview:
Students will be introduced to spatial data that is used in making management decisions in agriculture.
Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 2
Teacher Resources:
- Powerpoint has notes
- PDF of Powerpoint, with notes
- Student Worksheet
- Example of typical Guidance System
- http://www.rlhtechs.com/Trimble%20Ag/EZ%20500.htm
- “Climate/Fieldview Drive”
- Software Company Websites
- Intelligent Devices
- https://agriculture.trimble.com/product/greenseeker-system/
- https://agriculture.trimble.com/product/weedseeker-spot-spray-system/
- https://www.precisionplanting.com/products/product/smartfirmer
- https://www.digitalmatter.com/Solutions/IoT-Agriculture-Sensors
- https://www.scrdairy.com/herd-intelligence/hc24-solution.html
- https://all3dp.com/beaniot-internet-of-things-agriculture/
Precision Agriculture
Lesson Two: Uses, Tools and Processes of Precision Agriculture
Overview:
Students will be introduced to spatial data that is used in making management decisions in agriculture.
Objectives:
The student will be able to:
-Explain the Uses of Precision Agriculture
-Describe the Tools used in Precision Agriculture
-List the Processes used in Precision Agriculture
Materials Needed:
Access to the internet
Activity:
- Teacher will go through the powerpoint presentation
- While reviewing the powerpoint, students will complete the worksheet.
Optional Activities:
- Worksheet includes optional activities.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.165554
|
Carmel Miller
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84531/overview",
"title": "Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 2",
"author": "Lecture Notes"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/77186/overview
|
Blood Smear Video v000001
Overview
This video shows scanning a Wright's stained blood smear slide with pauses to view leukocytes. The video was taken at 630X under a brightfield microscope. This video is compatible with a laboratory lesson in which students observe, categorize, and count leukocytes. More than 100 leukocytes are viewed in this video. Note, this video does not have narration.
Video credit: Emily Fox
Blood Smear Video hosted on OER commons
This video is hosted on OER commons.
Blood Smear Video YouTube Link
This video is hosted on YouTube.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.184054
|
Diagram/Illustration
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/77186/overview",
"title": "Blood Smear Video v000001",
"author": "Health, Medicine and Nursing"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/81708/overview
|
English 1010: Open Essays
English 1010: Open Essays
Overview
This is a compilation of open essays to supplement an argument and rhetoric class.
English 1010: Open Essays
This is a compilation of essays to compliment English 1010: Composition 1.
This is a supplemental resource for open essays to compliment English Composition 1.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:22.203383
|
Emilie Ganter
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/81708/overview",
"title": "English 1010: Open Essays",
"author": "Colleen McCready"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/79229/overview
|
Readings
Overview
As we dig into the conversation about academic success, research shows that information literacy is essential to the ongoing learning process and students' success.
Introduction
As we dig into the conversation about academic success, research shows that information literacy is essential to the ongoing learning process and students' success. In this chapter, we will skim the surface of information literacy, leaving deeper conversations to courses you will take later in your academic career, while clarifying the nature of information and what it means to be “information literate”. By the end of the chapter, you should be able to recognize the responsibilities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected, information-rich world, how to strategically decipher and integrate information into your knowledge base and value system while enriching your learning and understanding that being information literate equips you to identify, find, evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Using a strengths-based approach, the narrative throughout the chapter will capitalize on your prior experience with information.
Learning Objectives
The learner will...
- use information literacy to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning
- understand that information literacy is a set of abilities that allows an individual to identify, find, evaluate, and use information effectively
- develop and employ strategies for understanding and using information to incorporate selected information into their knowledge base and value system
- recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical
Defining Information Literacy
Throughout most of your life, you’ve heard “literacy” used as a reading term. Even Merriam-Webster says a person is “literate” when they can read and write. But we also tend to associate literacy with a person’s education or knowledge of a subject.
For instance, we expect the auto mechanic to be knowledgeable in car repair. Before the mechanic became competent in their field, they first learned to use, interpret, evaluate, and communicate relevant information – they had to become “literate” in that area. Similarly, when it comes to information, we each make a similar journey toward becoming literate so we can be competent consumers, collaborators, and creators of information.
| A person is information literacy when they can identify an information need, where and how to locate the information they need, and knows how to evaluate, consume, communication, and recreate it in an ethical manner (ACRL, 2015). |
Let’s return to the example of learning to read. Did you learn to read instantaneously? Did you immediately understand the printed word the first time you opened a book? It took time. As you practiced, your vocabulary grew, deciphering and decoding skills improved, and fluency increased. Even in adulthood your reading skills are still developing as the material is becoming increasingly complex, specialized, and delivered in new formats. (See Chapter 7 for more.)
Information literacy is like the continuum of learning to read. In essence, you never really “arrive” – it is a lifelong process. Not only that, but it involves a blend of literacies. The information we encounter is presented in a variety of formats; some familiar, some new.
Types of Literacy
Reflect on how you receive information. It probably isn’t isolated to one format – textual or linguistic, visual, audio or sonic, gestural or spatial, or data or statistical – but a blend of formats in multiple contexts – cultural, social, academic, or professional (Kalantzis, 2002). To effectively consume the information, you have had to develop multiple literacies.
Multiliteracy is exactly what it sounds like: a potentially endless number of different literacies tied to different areas of life and knowledge in a diverse information landscape (Talja, 2010). Let’s break down what might be included.
Visual Literacy is the ability to understand, produce, and use images, objects, and visible actions appropriately to fit the context. It includes works of art, photography, sculpture, textiles, video, and visual depictions of culture, data, processes, and information (Givens, 2020). If you have taken an art or video production class, your instructor may have talked about the elements of design (color and tone, perspective, framing, pacing, and sound) and how they can convey emphasis to the viewer. As a consumer, your ability to interpret the nuances and use it to meet an information need demonstrates your visual literacy.
Audio or Sonic Literacy. Many of us prefer to listen to lectures, podcasts, and audio books – even a Netflix series when we’re on road trips. As listeners, we pick up on the nuances of voice, sound effects, music, even silence (Givens, 2020), which are intentionally included to convey information. Almost seamlessly, many of us have applied our audio literacy skills to streamed and recorded media, whether for entertainment, education, or as content creators.
Gestural or Spatial Literacy is often discussed in Speech class as a communication queue. Think of the information you can glean from watching someone’s expressions and gestures during a speech or lecture, in a conversation, even their movement through or stillness in a space. Some gestures hint to the person’s cultural norms, others aid to bridging language barriers, and most can promote understanding by filling the gaps in and around words – all while conveying information. Your ability to “read” the person(s) in a situation is a form of literacy.
Data or Statistical Literacy is the ability to access, assess, manipulate, summarize, present, and ethically use data (Schield, 2004; Prado & Marzal, 2013) in a contextual, multi-cultural, and collaborative environment. Don’t let the numbers scare you. Data and statistics are just words in a different form and being data literate enables you to deduce the underlying story.
Components of Information Literacy
Now that we’ve explored the definition of information literacy and its various interwoven forms, let’s break down its components. In each information search – whether for a class or personal information seeking – we follow basically the same process to find our answer.
- Know that you have an information need. How in depth does the answer need to be? Does it need to be in a specific format or from a specific source?
- Find and retrieve the information. This includes knowing where to go to find the information - or at least starting with an idea of where to begin. Can you Google it or does the source need to be more authoritative? You could find medical information through Google, but your health care provider might be a more reliable source.
- Evaluate the trustworthiness or credibility of the information. It if came from Google, maybe not – but it could be credible. Even your health care provider may not be an expert in the sub-specialty you asked about and they may need to refer you to a specialist. Maybe you did find an answer, but it isn’t quite what you needed – maybe it’s not quite what you’re looking for, outdated, or biased.
- Use the information to meet your need. Maybe you were able to find more information than you needed or some of the sources disagreed with others. Select the most appropriate source(s) for your need and apply it to your information task.
- Ethically use the information by acknowledging your source(s). Always give credit where credit is due and attribute it accurately.
- Create a new information product by blending your newfound and pre-existing knowledge and participate in the continued conversation on the topic. The product could be a research project for class, content creation for streaming social media, or simply a contribution to a conversation with a group of friends.
Information Literacy Skills | by USCUpstate Library, 2017, at https://youtu.be/69oCdkWfjvk
Reference
ACRL. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf
Givens, M., Holdsworth, L., Mi, X., Rascoe, F., Valk, A., & Viars, K.E. (2020). Multimodal information literacy in higher education: Critical thinking, technology, and technical skill. In Handbook of Research on Integrating Digital Technology with Literacy Pedagogies. IGI Global.
Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., & Fehring, H. (2002). Multiliteracies: Teaching and learning in the new communications environment. In PEN, 133, 1-8. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED465170
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Literate. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literate
Prado, J.C. & Marzal, M.A. (2013). Incorporating data literacy into information literacy programs: Core competencies and contents. Libri, 63, 2, 123-134. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288499712.pdf
Schield, M. (2004). Information literacy, statistical literacy and data literacy. IASSIST Quarterly Summer/Fall. http://www.statlit.org/pdf/2004-Schield-IASSIST.pdf
Talja, S. & Lloyd, A. (2010). Integrating theories of learning, literacies, and information practices. In A. Lloyd and S. Talja (Eds.), Practicing Information Literacy (pp. ix-xviii). Chandos Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-876938-79-6.50019-4
Encountering Information
Before we can examine how we encounter information, we must first understand what information is. In a biological sense, information is gathered from environmental and internal stimuli through the five senses and communicated to the brain to be processed and communicated to the body and other beings.
What we understand to be information in the digital age goes beyond the biological. We define information as the knowledge and/or skills that are communicated visually, sonically, or through media. In this section we will focus on information communicated through media. Media is the platform or method through which we communicate information.
How do we encounter information?
We typically encounter information through two types of media - static and dynamic – each identified by their ability to change once published and made available to others. Static media does not move or change – it remains ‘static’ – and is simply accessed and retrieved. Dynamic media can be easily updated and is often interactive (Mackey, 2014).
Static Media. Static media comes in many forms – some you might be familiar with. Think about a book. It’s gone through a formal review, editorial, and publication process. Once it is printed it can’t be changed – unless there is a new edition, which requires a repeat of the publication process.
What about e-books? Just because a book exists in electronic form does not mean it can be easily changed once published. Typically, any changes to an e-book are also subject to a formal review and publishing process to produce the first, and every other, edition. The same applies to scholarly journal articles, printed periodicals and newspapers, and printed brochures, pamphlets, or flyers. Recent innovations in electronic publication – OER, fan fiction, or self-publication, to name a few – have transitioned e-books from their traditionally static construction to a more dynamic platform, the characteristics of which we will discuss more in the next section.
A form of static media you’ll encounter in college is a synchronous online class or presentation or its recording. If the instructor presents the same material to another section, it will vary slightly in content, tempo, and interaction, making each instance of the presentation its own edition. Other examples include laws and legislation, film photography, maps, podcasts, and computer program code.
Dynamic Media. Dynamic media moves or changes and is often produced, manipulated, and shared through computer and web-based technologies. Websites and social media might be examples that come to mind first. Organizational websites may be subject to a more formalized publication process with regular scheduled updates, making them more static than dynamic. However, with the increased availability of free tools to make a professional looking website, publication of and edits to personal or crowd-sourced sites is easy and fluid.
In a social media platform, you can write a post and publish it instantaneously. Did you make a grammar or spelling error? Forget to add an image or meme? No problem, just revise the initial post. Though some platforms have an edit trail, it can be difficult to find the original version of the post once it has been ‘polished’. Digital videos, voice recordings, photographs, and graphic design images are also dynamic media.
Consider a meme. Each one starts as a digital image which is layered with new content, usually text, then shared. The same image can continue to be manipulated to express a variety of feelings and beliefs. The digital image at the base of the meme is also dynamic. Apps allow us to add filters, animations, stickers, and text, removing backgrounds, flaws, or people to change the photo. Other examples could include emails, chats, or discussion boards.
Dynamic media doesn’t have to be web based. Consider the scoreboard at a sporting event. It constantly changes to communicate the number of points, time outs, fouls, and other stats for each team as it happens on the field or court. The scoreboard can be digital, analog, or human-powered and still be dynamic media.
Does Packaging Matter?
Consider your most recent trip to the grocery store. As you browsed the aisles, did the packaging influence your choices? Of course, it did. But it wasn’t just the outside of the container that drew you in – the contents matter, as did the size of the container. Was it the flavor of Cheerios® you like? Will the box fit in the cupboard in your dorm? Are individual servings in a cup more appropriate than a family size box? Packaging matters.
It matters when we’re considering information consumption, too. Learning which packaging fits different scenarios is part of becoming information literate.
Are you working on a research project for class? Depending on the project requirements you might look for scholarly journal articles, though you might not if the topic is a current event (journal articles can take a year or longer to be published).
Are you compiling resources for a class discussion over a current event? News media, in print, streamed, or recorded broadcasts, magazines, and blogs might be the most appropriate packages. If the assignment requires you to gather statistics, your best bet may be newspapers, government reports, or scholarly articles.
Many professors will require students to use scholarly or peer reviewed sources in academic assignments. What’s the big deal? Along with scholarly sources comes a level of authority and credibility that usually cannot be matched by other sources – or packages – and they can add a quality to your research. Scholarly and peer reviewed sources are unique because they require authors to document their sources, explore alternative viewpoints, and contribute to the ongoing scholarly communication and exploration of a topic.
Much of this depends on the subject area – different disciplines approach information packages and information needs differently – though all expect you to do your part in evaluating the information before including it in your work. Table 1 examines package types you may encounter during your information seeking.
Table 1. Select the best information package for the task.
Packaging | Best for | Intended Audience | Things to Consider |
Environmental Media | Quick information, advertisements, or directions | General public | May be biased; |
Websites | News; | General public | Limited citations; |
Newspapers or Newscasts | Daily local, national, or international news, | General public | Authors usually not experts; |
Popular Magazines | Current information; | General public or those with recreational interest | Authors usually not experts; |
Professional / Trade Publications | Current Information; | Professionals, Practitioners, Scholars with similar interests | Article length varies; |
Scholarly / Academic Journals | In-depth research or review; | Scholars, Researchers, Professionals, Students | Technical jargon; |
Non-Fiction Books | Background and historical content; | General public to Scholars and Students | Dated information; |
Monographs | Scholarly research; | Scholars and Students | Dated information; |
Textbooks | Content organized to promote learning; | Students | Dated information |
A packaging commonly called “grey literature” doesn’t fit well in the table. It includes a wide variety of documents that are not published in the traditional sense. This difference alone, however, does not make them any less credible as an information source. A few examples you may have encountered are conference papers, academic courseware or lecture notes, company annual reports, reports by government agencies, unpublished letters or manuscripts, or patents.
Where do videos fall in this list? Video is certainly a package type – but let’s think of it more as a medium or platform. Like the box of Cheerios®, we’d have to consider the package contents. Is it an episode of Pup Academy or The Office? Perhaps it is a documentary produced by a scholar or an instructional video. The content is very different, but the package is essential the same.
Not to complicate things further, but any of the traditional “print” packages – newspaper, magazine, journal, book, etc. – may also be available on an alternate platform. A book re-presented as an audio or e-book does not change its place in the table, just its medium.
No matter the packaging, its platform, or how credible its creator may seem, it is always a good practice as an information consumer to run through the 5 Ws before adopting the information as truth. We’ll dig into the 5 Ws in the next section.
References
Mackey, T.P. & Jacobson, T.E. (2014). Metaliterary: Reinventing information literacy to empower learners. American Library Association.
Managing Information
Open the Flood Gates
Even in the short time you’ve spent reading this chapter, you’ve probably been bombarded with information. This could be any combination class content, roommate conversations, learning the campus community, managing social media connections or content creators you follow, questions from family, advice from student services, current events, and more.
How do you make sense of it all, keep it balanced, and not become overwhelmed? That's the trick. Interestingly, this is not just a digital-age phenomenon. Concern over the abundance of information has existed for as long as there has been recorded information (Bawden, 2020) – yet we still struggle with sifting through the mountain of information to find the golden nuggets.
How tall is the mountain? In the 1970s, researchers estimated that it would take seven hundred years to read one year’s research in chemistry. Imagine! 1970 – before the digital age. Fifty years later, the roughly 4.6 billion people that make up the global Internet community spent an average of 6 hours 43 minutes a day online consuming and generating information across dozens of platforms (Kemp, 2020). TikTok, which launched in 2016, has grown to over 1 billion users in 150 countries who view 649,000 videos every minute (Doyle, 2021; Heitman, 2021).
Effect of Overload
In a heavy downpour, water chooses the path of least resistance. The runoff can stress retaining walls and ditches designed to contain it, becoming saturated, fatigued, and eventually failing.
Think of the information in similar terms. Our own internal systems that should be equipped to manage the influx of information become overloaded, resulting in information fatigue. Like physical fatigue, information fatigue can cause exhaustion, lack of motivation, decreased attention to detail, and difficulty concentrating.
It has been proposed that information fatigue is contributing to the spread of misinformation (Bawden, 2020). Now, of course, we aren’t intentionally feeding the misinformation monster. Just like we don’t intentionally put off completing an assignment, doing our laundry, or paying a bill, we don’t intend to share misinformation. We’re just tired and our content filters are overwhelmed . . . so we click “share”. Oops.
Managing the Deluge
So, how do you keep from becoming overwhelmed by information? The easiest answer is to turn off the faucet. But is that realistic? Some people are successful at taking device-free breaks for a day or two and report that it is refreshing. Though it sounds great, is it feasible, especially as a college student with so much going on?
The Information Ecosystem: Whey we're overwhelmed | Rahaf Harfoush | The Lavin 2019 | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/s-1rSDJvo2U.
Think about balancing information consumption as you would balance a healthy food diet. In the chapter on Health & Wellness, you watched a video about how the food you eat affects your brain along with ten tips for maintaining adequate nutrition. Your information diet could follow the same premise. Set aside the tasty junk food or sweet tidbits and choose nutritious alternatives. We’re picky about where we will and won’t eat – perhaps we should replicate this habit in our information consumption.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
So, how do you decide what to let through the filter and onto your plate? Remember the 5 Ws from grade school: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? We can – and should – apply the same decision-making process to the information we encounter (University Libraries, 2020).
- Who wrote / created it?
Are they an authority on the subject? An expert on the topic? Do others reference their work and consider them a credible source? - What was their purpose?
Is the information accurate and constructed or written well? Can the information be verified against other sources? Is the information biased or does it have an agenda? - When was it created / published?
Is the information current or outdated? If you’re looking for a historical perspective or at a primary source from a historical event, an older date is probably okay. But if you’re researching a STEM topic, the newer the better. - Where was the information posted or published and is that source stable?
The platform the information is on may be just as important as the information itself. Is it a respected, unbiased platform or one with an agenda? Is the platform stable and what organization sponsors the platform or channel? After all that, is the platform and its information relevant to your information search - Why does this information or its hosted platform exist?
In the ‘where’ we focus on the platform - what about the information itself. What is its purpose and is it biased? - How is it all tied together?
Does is the information - and the rest of the information you’ve encountered on the topic - make sense? Do the sources agree with one another? If not, be prepared to explain the differences - this is helpful when you are assigned a pro/con paper in a class.
If something doesn’t look or feel right, check it out. If it tugged at your emotions, it is okay to be skeptical of the creator’s purpose. Check it out. You are part of your community’s information filter system. Sift through the information you find before bring it inside your circle or promote it to the wider information community.
Neil deGrasse Tyson: How Science Literacy Can Save Us from the Internet | Big Think | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/7fMDR1nMlmE.
References
Bawden, D. & Robinson, L. (2020). Information overload: An overview. In D. P. Redlawsk (Ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Political Decision Making. Oxford University Press. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/286715468.pdf
Doyle, B. (2021, June 14). TikTok statistics – Updated June 2021. Wallaroo. https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/
Heitman, S. (2021, May 21). What happens in an internet minute in 2021: 88 fascinating online stats. LOCALiQ. https://localiq.com/blog/what-happens-in-an-internet-minute-2021/
Kemp, S. (2020, Jan 30). Digital 2020: Global digital overview. We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media
University Libraries. (2020). Ask the 5 W questions: Savvy info consumers. In Research Guides: University of Washington. https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/evaluate/5ws
The Information Ecosystem
In previous Science classes, you likely learned about ecosystems. To jog your memory, ecosystems are communities of organisms living together in a physical environment that interact with and depend on one another. They can vary in size and generally the more biodiverse and energy-rich the ecosystem the more stable and resilient it is in the face of diversity (Khan Academy, 2021). National Geographic (2011) sums up ecosystems as “geographic area[s] where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life.” Let’s use the same construct from science and apply it to information.
The information ecosystem includes information communities of varying size and type, creating information bubbles where the actions of those in the community impact the health, resilience, and stability of the system. Staying within and protecting the bubble protects the members of the community.
| Consider this... Who is in your information ecosystem? What are its boundaries? Does it have defining characteristics? Who are your fellow inhabitants? |
Inside the Bubble
The information bubble you commonly find yourself in is your “personal information network” or PIN. You trust the people in your PIN, interact with them regularly, and rely on them as a resource for mutual development, growth, and support. They may be people you know personally, such as friends and family, or channels or influencers you follow - and you may belong to more than one PIN. The interesting thing about PINs is that they tend to filter the flow of information into or out of the bubble.
The struggle is PINs may filter too much, preventing access to information from a variety of sources or perspectives and echoing beliefs from within the bubble. Common terms associated with these phenomena are echo chamber, filter bubble, and confirmation bias. Though they have meaning as stand-alone terms, they contribute to and support one another. Co-inhabitants in your PIN echo or repeat perspectives and opinions (GCF Global), confirming your bias and tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that supports your prior beliefs or values (Wikipedia, 2021).
PINs naturally create a bubble, but the skin of the bubble is reinforced by app-based algorithms that filter content based on your online behavior. Think of the For You Page (fyp) on TikTok. The content is driven by an algorithm that tracks what you watch, building the next fyp list based on prior behavior. Netflix, Apple TV, and Spotify have similar algorithms, as does much of what you experience on the Internet – even the ads that appear in the sidebars on news sites.
Using the illustration below [Figure 2.1], think of the circle at the middle as your PIN. You and your community members are inside, safe and secure. On the perimeter are platforms you visit, each simultaneously tracking your online browsing trends and, in attempt to personalize your experience on their platforms, filter the content that you see – Netflix, TikTok, Amazon, etc. Outside the bubble are diverse sources and perspectives that may not be making it into your bubble.
On one hand, living in the security of the bubble may be good. It can serve as a force field or firewall that protects you (and your co-inhabitants) from attacks such as malware or viruses, hackers, stalkers, bullies, and trolls. When it comes to being a responsible information consumer, the bubble can also get in the way. It limits your ability to decipher between misinformation, satire, or propaganda and credible, documented sources. This evaluation process is what aids you in becoming an informed information consumer, conversationalist, and creator – to being information literate.
| Consider this... What is your filter bubble? Do you see trends in what appears in your “fyp” or watch list? How can you break the algorithm to see a wider range of perspectives? |
Bursting the Bubble
The first step to bursting the filter bubble is to intentionally search for and interact with content from perspectives that don’t match yours.
Second, consider where your information has been coming from and carefully evaluate and cross-reference the source content. If it is questionable, don’t boost its impact by sharing or liking it.
Finally, refer back to and practice the 5 Ws mentioned in the previous section - who, what, when, where, why, and how. Sometimes this means discarding information from within the bubble and bringing in new information.
How can you burst your filter bubble? | BBC Trending (2017) | on YouTube at https://youtu.be/mh1dLvGe06Y.
Did you hear something on the news and you’re not quite sure it is true? It’s okay to check it out! Try these websites to verify if it is shareworthy: |
References
GCF Global. (n.d.). Digital media literacy: What is an echo chamber? https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/
Khan Academy. (2021). What is an ecosystem? Science. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-ecosystems/a/what-is-an-ecosystem
National Geographic Society. (2011). Ecosystem. Resource library. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ecosystem/
Wikipedia contributors. (2021). Confirmation bias. In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
Building on Information Literacy
We’ve defined information literacy, listed the ways we experience information, explored the information ecosystem, and discussed managing the deluge. How do we use these concepts to build information literacy skills?
As mentioned in the first section, literacy builds over time and continues throughout life. Literacy is also a blend of other literacies and proficiency in one area helps develop another. They layer over time, equipping us to find the golden nuggets buried in the mountain of information. As the complexity of the mountain terrain changes, our ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use literacy skills to meet the challenge confirms that we are information literate.
No matter the situation we seek information in the same sequence: recognize the need for information, determine how (and where) to find the information, select and evaluate the information using the 5 Ws, process and use the information in a way that best fits the original need, sometimes resulting in a new information product.
Literacy in Context
Along with the types of literacy listed at the beginning of the chapter, literacy is also contextual. Is that confusing? Your skill set contains multiple literacies - but we apply those skills differently in different scenarios.
Foundational Literacy. We’ve covered this already - it is our traditional understanding of literacy: reading, writing, and our foundation for meaning-making. Educators don’t associate literacy solely with reading and writing, even though that seems to be the emphasis. They consider literacy as a constellation of skills, adding mathematics, speech, speech comprehension and many other forms to the mix (Kirsch, 2001a).
Media Literacy. Considered to be 21st century skills, media literacy is marked by the ability to access, evaluate, share, create, and participate in media in a variety of forms (CML). Media is likely your primary source of information, formal and informal, static and dynamic, to find out what is going on in the world around you and answer daily what-ifs. Viewers are also information creators through sharing, commenting on or liking posts and influencing the story and its spread (Lombard, 2010)
Health Literacy. As a patient, you are an information seeker. Sometimes this leads us to websites, social media, the local pharmacist, or literature from the doctor’s office. Health literacy is dependent on your ability to understand and use the information in decision making (CDC, 2021), safely manage the use of medication, and gain control over your well-being (ABC, 2021). Advice from credible sources and lived experiences with ailments and remedies increases our knowledge and, therefore, literacy. New information is created through your practitioner’s documentation of your medical journey through treatment and recovery (Lombard, 2010). A deeper discussion can be found in the Health and Wellness chapter.
Mental / Emotional Literacy. A concept developed by Australian scholars, M/E literacy is the knowledge and belief about mental disorders that can help to recognize, manage, and prevent them (Jorm, 2000). It aids in recognizing psychological distress, understanding risk and causes, and applying self-help interventions. Mental health carries stigmas, prejudice, and discrimination that can quickly be squashed with mental / emotional literacy (APA, 2021), opening opportunities for treatment and support.
Financial Literacy. Financial Literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing, to make better financial decisions. Whether you’re budgeting for everyday spending, strategizing how you’ll pay for college, or planning for the long-term, effective money management with help further your personal goals (Fernando, 2021).
Knowing how the world of money works helps protect you from becoming a victim of financial fraud, too. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, swindlers stalk individuals and small and large businesses. Financial literacy helps insulate you from those attacks. A deeper discussion about financial literacy is in chapter 2.
Cultural Literacy. When learning to read, you also learned to decipher the symbols of the language you were learning, their shape, sound, meaning, etc., and how they combined to form grammar and, later, vocabulary. Some of these components were tied to culture.
A culturally literate person knows a given culture’s signs and symbols, including its language, dialects, stories, lifestyle, traditions, beliefs, history, etc., or a nation, people, or social group. A person does not have to be from that culture to be culturally literate; literacy does equip them to understand that culture with fluency and engage with the culture (ABC, 2021).
In an information-rich diverse global community, developing cultural literacy is a crucial component to understanding and appreciating others’ experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. This not only helps us interact and collaborate effectively in the academic environment but also in work life and social communities (WSU, 2019).
Numerical Literacy. Also known as numeracy, numerical or mathematical literacy is the ability to reason and apply simple numerical concepts, logical thinking, reasoning, and reading graphs. Like foundational literacy, your numeracy skills have developed as you’ve transitioned through math lessons in school - and will continue to develop. Even if your college major requires limited coursework in mathematics, you will continue to experience and grow in numeracy through life’s normal demands for mathematics.
Remember asking “will I ever use this”? You may not use advanced math topics in your everyday life, but you will likely cook, read receipts, play or watch a sport, paint a room, or calculate a tip. Like 21st century skills, numeracy is important to employers in the hiring process. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked weak numerical literacy to weak health literacy. Because basic mathematics and reasoning skills seep into multiple areas of our lives, this makes sense. Investigate chapter 8 for more discussion on Mathematics in college.
Life Literacy. Life literacy emphasizes the importance of lifelong and life-wide learning to help you live your life to its fullest. School, work, family, and community are important areas in your life. In and through each you will continue to develop literacies that will lead you to a more productive, healthy, and successful life experience filled with information’s golden nuggets.
References
ABC. (2021). Cultural literacy. ABC life literacy Canada. https://abclifeliteracy.ca/cultural-literacy/
APA. (2021). Stigma, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discrimination
CDC. (2021). Health literacy basics: Understanding literacy & numeracy. https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/UnderstandingLiteracy.html
CML. (n.d.). Media literacy: A definition and more. Center for Media Literacy. https://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more
Fernando, J. (2021). Financial literacy. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-literacy.asp
Jorm, A. (2000). Mental health literacy: Public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 177(5), 396-401. doi:10.1192/bjp.177.5.396
Kangan Institute. (2021). The importance of literacy and numeracy skills. https://www.kangan.edu.au/students/blog/importance-literacy-and-numeracy-skills
Lomard, E. (2010). Pursuing information literacy: Roles and relationships. Elsevier Science & Technology.
WSU Library. (2019). What is cultural literacy. Western Sydney University. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/studysmart/home/cultural_literacy/what_is_cultural_literacy
Chapter Summary
Becoming Information Literate is a lifelong and life-wide process that will enrich interactions with information and individuals in the academic, social, and professional aspects of life. As an information consumer you are also emerging as a scholar in your areas of interest through information creation, both formal and informal. Future courses in your major or minor will provide opportunities to dig deeper into research and contribute to scholarly conversations, though you are welcome to dig deeper on your own through electives and in making connections with classmates and instructors.
In this chapter we have explored the responsibilities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected, information-rich world, how to strategically decipher and integrate information into your knowledge base and value system while enriching your learning and understanding that being information literate equips you to identify, find, evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Remember, examine everything with a critical eye. Employ not only your five senses, but also the 5 Ws – who, what, when, where, why, and how – inside your bubble and beyond.
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Learning Activities
Overview
As we dig into the conversation about academic success, research shows that information literacy is essential to the ongoing learning process and students' success. Use these activities to explore information literacy further.
Activity 1
Information Literacy in Real Life
Consider these questions:
- Can you remember a time when you needed information outside of academic life - that is, in real life?
- What questions were you trying to answer?
- How did you seek the information needed?
- How did you decide you had enough information?
- Was there anything that almost led to misinformation?
Tasks:
- Share your memory with the class.
You can create an idea board (i.e., a poster or visual representation), or video, audio, or discussion board post (whichever is most appropriate for your class and meets your instructor’s guidelines). Be sure to answer each question listed in the prompt. - View, watch, or listen to 3 of your classmates' posts to learn more about their Info Lit experiences.
- Respond to 1 classmate’s post using these sentence stems:
(a) “thank you for sharing your . . .”,
(b) “I liked / found interesting / can relate to / enjoyed . . . while listening to / reading / viewing your memory”, and
(c) “I wonder . . .”.
* Note - It is important not to judge individuals by their need for information. Everyone comes from different lived experiences. Our information needs will differ, but that doesn’t make them any less insignificant.
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Readings
Overview
In this chapter, you will learn to reach your personal life goals by implementing financial planning and strategies to protect yourself, manage your money today, and put yourself in a better position for tomorrow. How you act today impacts your tomorrow.
Introduction
Student Survey
How financially literate are you? This survey will help you determine how the chapter concepts relate to you right now. As we are introduced to new concepts and practices, it can be informative to reflect on how your understanding changes over time. We’ll revisit these questions at the end of the chapter to see whether your feelings have changed. Take this quick survey to figure it out, ranking the statements on a scale of 1-4, 1 meaning “least like me” and 4 meaning “most like me.”
- I actively and regularly plan and/or monitor my finances.
- I understand the benefits and risks of credit.
- I have a plan to repay my student loans.
- I regularly take steps to protect my identity and assets.
You can also take the survey anonymously online.
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, you will learn to reach your personal life goals by implementing financial planning and strategies to protect yourself, manage your money today, and put yourself in a better position for tomorrow. How you act today impacts your tomorrow. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
- Align your personal and financial goals through smart financial planning.
- Create a saving and spending plan and track your performance.
- Plan for emergencies.
- Identify best practices and risks associated with credit cards and other debt.
- Determine the best opportunities for you to finance your college education.
- Articulate specific ways to secure your identity and accounts.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Introduction” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-introduction
Personal Financial Planning
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Honestly, practicing money management isn’t that hard to figure out. In many ways it’s similar to playing a video game. The first time you play a game, you may feel awkward or have the lowest score. Playing for a while can make you OK at the game. But if you learn the rules of the game, figure out how to best use each tool in the game, read strategy guides from experts, and practice, you can get really good at it.
Money management is the same. It’s not enough to “figure it out as you go.” If you want to get good at managing your money, you must treat money like you treat your favorite game. You have to come at it with a well-researched plan. Research has shown that people with stronger finances are healthier (Sweet et al., 2013) and happier (Kozma & Stones, 1983), have better marriages (Drew, Britt, & Huston, 2012), and even have better cognitive functioning (Mani et al., 2013).
Financial Planning Process
Personal goals and behaviors have a financial component or consequence. To make the most of your financial resources, you need to do some financial planning. The financial planning process consists of five distinct steps: goal setting, evaluating, planning, implementing, and monitoring.
- Develop Personal Goals
- What do I want my life to look like?
- What do I really need?
- Identify and Evaluate Alternatives for Achieving Goals for My Situation
- What do my savings, debt, income, and expenses look like?
- What creative ways are available to get the life I want?
- Write My Financial Plan
- What small steps can I take to start working toward my goals?
- Implement the Plan
- Begin taking those steps, even if I can only do a few small things each week.
- Monitor and Adjust the Plan
- Make sure I don’t get distracted by life. Keep taking those small steps each week. Make adjustments when needed.
Figure 1. Steps of financial planning. (Credit: Amy Baldwin / Understanding financial literacy:
Personal financial planning / Attribution (CC-BY 4.0))
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Personal Financial Planning” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-1-personal-financial-planning
References
Sweet, E., Nandi, A., Adam, E. K., & McDade, T. W. (2013). The high price of debt: Household financial debt and its impact on mental health and physical health. Social Science & Medicine, 91, 94-100.
Kozma, A. & Stones, M. J. (1983). Predictors of happiness. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 626-628.
Drew, J., Britt, S., & Huston, S. (2012). Examining the relationship between financial issues and divorce. Family Relations, 61, 615-628.
Mani, A., Mullainathan, S., Shafir, E., & Zhao, J. (2013). Poverty impedes cognitive function. Science, 341, 976-980.
Savings, Expenses, and Budgeting
What is the best way to get to the Mississippi River from here? Do you know? To answer the question, even with a map app, you would need to know where you are starting from and exactly where on the river you want to arrive before you can map the best route. Our financial lives need maps, too. You need to know where you are now and where you want to end up in order to map a course to meet the goal.
You map your financial path using a spending and savings plan, or budget, which tracks your income, savings, and spending. You check on your progress using a balance sheet that lists your assets, or what you own, and your liabilities, or what you owe. A balance sheet is like a snapshot, a moment in time, that we use to check our progress.
Budgets
The term budget is unpleasant to some people because it just looks like work. But who will care more about your money than you? We all want to know if we have enough money to pay our bills, travel, get an education, buy a car, etc. Technically, a budget is a specific financial plan for a specified time. Budgets have three elements: income, saving and investing, and expenses.
Figure 2. A budget is a specific financial plan for a finite amount of time.
For example, you can set a budget for your family for a year.
(Credit: Amy Baldwin / Understanding Financial Literacy:
Savings, Expenses, and Budgeting / Attribution (CC-BY 4.0))
Income
Income most often comes from our jobs in the form of a paper or electronic paycheck. When listing your income for your monthly budget, you should use your net pay, also called your disposable income. It is the only money you can use to pay bills. If you currently have a job, look at the pay stub or statement. You will find gross pay, then some money deducted for a variety of taxes, leaving a smaller amount - your net pay. Sometimes you have the opportunity to have some other, optional deductions taken from your paycheck before you get your net pay. Examples of optional deductions include 401(k) or health insurance payments. You can change these amounts, but you should still use your net pay when considering your budget.
Some individuals receive disability income, social security income, investment income, alimony, child support, and other forms of payment on a regular basis. All of these go under income. During school, you may receive support from family that could be considered income. You may also receive scholarships, grants, or student loan money.
Saving and Investing
The first bill you should pay is to yourself. You owe yourself today and tomorrow. That means you should set aside a certain amount of money for savings and investments, before paying bills and making discretionary, or optional, purchases. Savings can be for an emergency fund or for short-term goals such as education, a wedding, travel, or a car. Investing, such as putting your money into stocks, bonds, or real estate, offers higher returns at a higher risk than money saved in a bank. Investments include retirement accounts that can be automatically funded with money deducted from your paycheck. Automatic payroll deductions are an effective way to save money before you can get your hands on it.
Setting saving as a priority assures that you will work to make the payment to yourself as hard as you work to make your car or housing payment. The money you “pay” toward saving or investing will earn you back your money, plus some money earned on your money. Compare this to the cost of buying an item on credit and paying your money plus interest to a creditor. Paying yourself first is a habit that pays off!
Expenses
Expenses are categorized in two ways. One method separates them into fixed expenses and variable expenses. Rent, insurance costs, and car payments are examples of fixed costs: they cost about the same every month and are predictable based on your arrangement with the provider. Variable expenses, on the other hand, change based on your priorities and available funds; they include groceries, restaurants, cell phone plans, gas, clothing, and so on. You have a good degree of control over your variable expenses. You can begin organizing your expenses by categorizing each one as either fixed or variable.
A second way to categorize expenses is to identify them as either needs or wants. Your needs come first: food, basic clothing, safe housing, medical care, and water. Your wants come afterward, if you can afford them while sticking to a savings plan. Wants may include meals at a restaurant, designer clothes, video games, other forms of entertainment, or a new car. After you identify an item as a need or want, you must exercise self-control to avoid caving to your desire for too many wants.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Savings, Expenses, and Budgeting” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-2-savings-expenses-and-budgeting
Balancing Your Budget
Would you take all your cash outside and throw it up in the air on a windy day? Probably not. We want to hold on to every cent and decide where we want it to go. Our budget allows us to find a place for each dollar. We should not regularly have money left over. If we do, we should consider increasing our saving and investing. We also should not have a negative balance, meaning we don’t have enough to pay our bills. If we are short of money, we can look at all three categories of our budget: income, savings, and expenses.
We could increase our income by taking a second job or working overtime, although this is rarely advisable alongside college coursework. The time commitment quickly becomes overwhelming. Another option is to cut savings, or there’s always the possibility of reducing expenses. Any of these options in combination can work.
Another, even less desirable option is to take on debt to make up the shortfall. This is usually only a short-term solution that makes future months and cash shortages worse as we pay off the debt. When we budget for each successive month, we can look at what we actually spent the month before and make adjustments.
Tracking the Big Picture
When you think about becoming more financially secure, you’re usually considering your net worth, or the total measure of your wealth. Earnings, savings, and investments build up your assets - that is, the valuable things you own. Borrowed money, or debt, increases your liabilities, or what you owe. If you subtract what you owe from what you own, the result is your net worth. Your goal is to own more than you owe.
When people first get out of college and have student debt, they often owe more than they own. But over time and with good financial strategies, they can reverse that situation. You can track information about your assets, liabilities, and net worth on a balance sheet or part of a personal financial statement. This information will be required to get a home loan or other types of loans. For your net worth to grow in a positive direction, you must increase your assets and decrease your liabilities over time.
Good Practices That Build Wealth | Bad Practices That Dig a Debt Hole |
Tracking all spending and saving | Living paycheck to paycheck with no plan |
Knowing the difference between needs and wants | Spending money on wants instead of saving |
Resisting impulse buying and emotional spending | Using credit to buy more that you need and increasing what you owe |
You can write down your budget on paper or using a computer spreadsheet program such as Excel, or you can find popular budgeting apps that work for you (Depra, 2015). Some apps link to your accounts and offer other services such as tracking credit cards and your credit score. The key is to find an app that does what you need and maintains security over your personal information.
Here are some examples of apps to help manage your finances:
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Savings, Expenses, and Budgeting” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-2-savings-expenses-and-budgeting
References
Depra, D. (2015, September 2). Best budgeting apps for college students: Mint, you need a budget and more. Tech Times. http://www.techtimes.com/articles/80726/20150902/best-budgeting-apps-for-college-students-mint-you-need-a-budget-and-more.htm
Emergency Funds
Plan on the unplanned happening to you. It happens to all of us: a car repair, a broken computer, an unplanned visit to the doctor, a friend or relative in desperate need, etc. How will you pay for it? A recent study found that over 60 percent of households could not pay cash for a $400 unexpected expense (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2018). Could you?
What Is an Emergency Fund?
An emergency fund is a cash reserve that’s specifically set aside for unplanned expenses or financial emergencies (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2021). Some common examples include car repairs, home repairs, medical bills, and a loss of income. In general, emergency savings can be used for large or small unplanned bills or payments that are not part of your routine monthly expenses and spending.
Why Do I Need an Emergency Fund?
Without savings, even a minor financial shock could set you back, and if it turns into debt, it can potentially have a lasting impact. Research suggests that individuals who struggle to recover from a financial shock have less savings to help protect against a future emergency. They may rely on credit cards or loans, which can lead to debt that’s generally harder to pay off. They may also pull from other savings, such as retirement funds, to cover these costs.
How Much Money Should I Keep in My Emergency Fund?
There is no magic or “official” amount to keep in an emergency fund, but you can look at your own life to get an idea to start with. How much could you put into a bank account to have for emergencies? Some students and their parents will not have a problem paying for most emergencies, but many students are on their own. What can you save up over time? A common recommendation for graduates with full-time jobs is perhaps three to six months’ worth of expenses. This may not be practical for you. A large sampling of students in financial literacy classes recommend approximately $1,000.
One thousand dollars can cover a lot of small to medium unexpected expenses, such as last-minute textbooks, computer repair or replacement, car repair, or a prescription or doctor’s visit. The emergency fund is best kept separate from other money for living expenses to protect it as emergency money. While you could keep cash, an emergency fund is often best kept in a bank, in order to avoid theft or loss and still have easy access by debit card or ATM. Pizza is not an emergency!
Figure 3. Emergency funds can cover the cost of a broken phone.
(Credit: Simon Clancy / Flickr / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY 2.0))
How Do I Create an Emergency Fund?
Emergency funds can be created quickly if you have the money, or over time if you need to save a little from each paycheck, loan, or gift. You can use a financial planning tool similar to the one mentioned earlier in this chapter. Follow these steps:
- Set an emergency fund goal.
- Identify an amount to keep on hand.
- Determine how to fund it, monthly or all at once.
- Decide where you will keep your fund (e.g., a savings account), and set specific dates to deposit money in it.
- Start now!
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Banking and Emergency Funds” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-3-banking-and-emergency-funds
References
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (2018). Report on the economic wellbeing of US households. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2019-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2018-dealing-with-unexpected-expenses.htm
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (2021, May 15). An essential guide to building an emergency fund. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/start-small-save-up/start-saving/an-essential-guide-to-building-an-emergency-fund/
Banks, Credit Unions, and Online Banking
The banking system in the United States is one of the safest and most regulated banking systems in the world. A host of federal and state agencies regulate financial institutions to keep them from accidentally or purposefully losing customer money. In the United States, financial institutions (FIs) are divided into multiple types of companies. The banking system is generally divided into banks and credit unions, which have similar offerings and are both regulated and insured by the federal government.
Choosing a Bank or Credit Union
When choosing a bank or credit union, it is important to understand what you are looking for and what benefits each company provides. Generally, large national banks offer the most advanced technology and a large network of branches. There are also smaller community banks that serve specific groups of people and may offer products to meet the specific needs of the community.
Credit unions differ from banks in that they don’t have a profit motive. Instead, they are not-for-profit organizations that are owned by the people who bank with them. Each member of a credit union gets one vote for the board of directors, which runs the credit union. This means that whether you have $5 in your account or $5 million, you get the same vote. Credit unions tend to offer better rates and lower fees, on average, than banks.
There is no single best answer for what bank or credit union you should choose. The most vital question to ask and answer about a financial institution is whether it meets both your current and your future needs. Consider interest rates, access to automated teller machines (ATMs), online transfers, automatic paycheck deposits, branch locations if you will use one, and other services important to you.
Figure 4. Banks and credit unions can be accessed in many forms, both physical and online.
(Credit David Hilowitz / Flickr / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY 2.0))
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Banking and Emergency Funds” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-3-banking-and-emergency-funds
Banking Products and Services
Banks and credit unions offer a similar set of financial products or services, called account types. The difference between the account types lies primarily in how easy it is to put money into or take money out of an account. Regulations set maximum numbers of transactions (deposits or withdrawals) for each type of account at a bank or credit union.
Checking
Checking accounts allow you to deposit money and take money out anytime you want. There are no government limits on the number of transactions, although a bank or credit union might begin to charge you if you make too many transactions. Checking accounts often don’t pay any interest or pay an extremely low rate of interest. They are used to keep money safe and pay bills conveniently. Checking accounts are ideal for depositing paychecks, cashing paper checks, buying everyday items, and paying your bills.
Savings Accounts
Savings accounts allow you a specific number of transactions each month or each quarter. If you go over the maximum number of transactions, the bank won’t let you take any more money out or put any more money into the account until the next month. Savings accounts pay a small amount of interest on your money and may have minimum balance requirements. Money in a savings account should be money you plan to spend within the next 12 to 48 months. The only exception to this is money you have saved for an emergency, called an emergency fund. Since you never know when an emergency (such as losing your job) is going to happen, you want the money to be available to you in a savings account.
Debit Cards
When you get a checking account, you’ll also get a debit card, or check card. This card allows you to access the money in your checking account (and savings account at an ATM) using a plastic card similar to a credit card. But it is not a credit card.
A debit card only uses money available in your account. Paying with a debit card is like paying with a paper check, but more immediate and convenient. You will have the option of selecting overdraft protection, which means the bank or credit union will allow you to buy stuff even if you don’t have enough money in your account; they’ll just charge you a fee, perhaps $25, for each event. This can be compared to a high-interest loan. Depending on how many things you buy in a week, overdraft protection could add many fees to your statement and use up your cash so it will not be available for your planned expenses. Consider opting out of overdraft protection and carefully keeping track of your account balance. This way you can only spend the money that you have.
Be aware that by using your debit card at an ATM associated with a different bank, you can incur fees - sometimes from both banks!
Banking Fees
Banks and credit unions charge fees to operate. Many charge fees for a checking or savings account, overdrafts, and other services. You should seek to avoid fees for which you receive no extra services or when you can get similar services elsewhere for free. Two areas that are most subject to fees are services and “triggered” events. Triggered events are primarily caused by actions such as overdrawing your account (an overdraft). Overdraft fees are avoidable. The best way to avoid an overdraft fee is to continually monitor your bank balance and only spend money that you have. Standard bank fees can often be avoided by taking one or more measures as specified by the bank, such as maintaining a minimum balance or using direct deposit.
Online and Mobile Banking
There are other important banking tools you should also consider. Online and mobile banking are among the most important activities in banking. You should list all the things you might want to do regularly with your bank accounts and make sure you can do them through the bank’s website and app. This might include making payments on loans, transferring money between your checking and savings accounts, paying bills through automated bill pay, and creating new savings accounts. Learn the rules of your account and keep track of how you use it. This can help you keep costs down and develop a positive banking relationship.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Banking and Emergency Funds” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-3-banking-and-emergency-funds
Debt
When you take out a loan, you take on an obligation to pay the money back, with interest, through a monthly payment. You will take this debt with you when you apply for auto loans or home loans, when you enter into a marriage, and so on. Effectively, you have committed your future income to the loan. While this can be a good idea with student loans, take on too many loans and your future self will be poor, no matter how much money you make. Worse, you’ll be transferring more and more of your money to the bank through interest payments.
Compounding Interest
While compounding works to make you money when you are earning interest on savings or investments, it works against you when you are paying the interest on loans. To avoid compounding interest on loans, make sure your payments are at least enough to cover the interest charged each month. The good news is that the interest you are charged will be listed each month on the loan account statements you are sent by the bank or credit union, and fully amortized loans will always cover the interest costs plus enough principal to pay off what you owe by the end of the loan term.
The two most common loans on which people get stuck paying compounding interest are credit cards and student loans. Paying the minimum payment each month on a credit card will just barely cover the interest charged that month, while anything you buy with the credit card will begin to accrue interest on the day you make the purchase. Since credit cards charge interest daily, you’ll begin paying interest on the interest immediately, starting the compound interest snowball working against you. When you get a credit card, always pay the credit card balance down to $0 each month to avoid the compound interest trap.
Student loans are another way you can be caught in the compound interest trap. When you have an unsubsidized student loan or put your loans into deferment, the interest continues to rack up on the loans. Again, you’ll be charged interest on the interest, not just on the original loan amount, forcing you to pay compound interest on the loan.
How Much Good Debt to Take On
During college and for the first few years after graduation, most students should only have two loans: student loans and possibly a car loan. We’ve already discussed your student loans, which should be equal to or less than your first year’s expected salary after graduation.
When you get a car, you should keep your car payment to between 10 and 20 percent of your monthly take-home pay. This means if your paycheck is $200 per week, your car payment should be no more than $80 - $160 each month. In total, you want your debt payments (plus rent if you are renting) to be no more than 44 percent of your take-home pay. If you are planning to build wealth, however, you want to cap it at 30 percent of take-home pay.
Signs You Have Too Much Debt
You can consider yourself in too much debt if you have any of the following situations:
- You cannot make your minimum credit card payments.
- Your money is gone before your next paycheck.
- Bill collectors are contacting you.
- You are unable to get a loan.
- Your paycheck is being garnished by creditor.
- You are considering a debt consolidation loan with extra fees added.
- Your items are repossessed.
- You do not know your debt or financial situation.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Credit Cards and Other Debt” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-4-credit-cards-and-other-debt
Educational Debt
As you progress through your college experience, the cost of college can add up rapidly. Worse, your anxiety about the cost of college may rise faster as you hear about the rising costs of college and horror stories regarding the “student loan crisis.” It is important to remember that you are in control of your choices and the cost of your college experience, and you do not have to be a sad statistic.
Education Choices
Education is vital to living. Education starts at the beginning of our life, and as we grow, we learn language, sharing, and to look both ways before crossing the street. We also generally pursue a secular or public education that often ends at high school graduation. After that, we have many choices, including getting a job and stopping our formal education, working at a trade or business started by our parents and bypassing additional schooling, earning a certificate from a community college or four-year college or university, earning a two-year or associate degree from one of the same schools, and completing a bachelor’s or advanced degree at a college or university. We can choose to attend a public or private school. We can live at home or on a campus.
Each of these choices impacts our debt, happiness, and earning power. The average income goes up with an increase in education, but that is not an absolute rule. The New York Federal Reserve Bank reported in 2017 that approximately 34 percent of college graduates worked in a job that did not require a college degree (Cooper, 2017), and in 2013, CNN Money reported on a study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce showing that nearly 30 percent of Americans with two-year degrees are now earning more than graduates with bachelor’s degrees (Chen, 2019). Of course, many well-paying occupations do require a bachelor’s or master’s degree. You have started on a path that may be perfect for you, but you may also choose to make adjustments.
College success from a financial perspective means that you must:
- Know the total cost of the education
- Consider job market trends
- Work hard at school during the education
- Pursue ways to reduce costs
Sample College Costs
While costs vary from student to student, answering the questions below may assist with estimating your cost of attendance for one semester at SHSU.
https://www.shsu.edu/dept/cashiers/cost/
Please note: These estimations are for planning purposes only and do not reflect possible financial aid awards including scholarships, grants, or student loans. To learn more about financing an education, visit the SHSU Financial Aid and Scholarships website.
Figure 5. Sam Houston State University Cost Calculator.
(Credit Sam Houston State University / Flickr / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC-BY 2.0))
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Banking and Emergency Funds” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-5-education-debt-paying-for-college
Types of Financial Aid: How to Pay for College
The true cost of college may be more than you expected, but you can make an effort to make the cost less than many might think. While the price tag for a school might say $40,000, the net cost of college may be significantly less. The net price for a college is the true cost a family will pay when grants, scholarships, and education tax benefits are factored in.
Grants and Scholarships
Grants and scholarships are free money you can use to pay for college. Unlike loans, you never have to pay back a grant or a scholarship. All you have to do is go to school. And you don’t have to be a straight-A student to get grants and scholarships. There is so much free money, in fact, that billions of dollars go unclaimed every year (Imam, 2015).
While some grants and scholarships are based on a student’s academic record, many are given to average students based on their major, ethnic background, gender, religion, or other factors. There are likely dozens or hundreds of scholarships and grants available to you personally if you look for them.
Federal Grants.
Federal Pell Grants are awarded to students based on financial need, although there is no income or wealth limit on the grant program. The Pell Grant can give you more than $6,000 per year in free money toward tuition, fees, and living expenses (Federal Student Aid, 2021). If you qualify for a Pell Grant based on your financial need, you will automatically get the money.
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs) are additional free money available to students with financial need. Through the FSEOG program, you can receive up to an additional $4,000 in free money. These grants are distributed through your school’s financial aid department on a first-come, first-served basis, so pay close attention to deadlines.
Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants are designed to help students who plan to go into the teaching profession. You can receive up to $4,000 per year through the TEACH Grant. To be eligible for a TEACH Grant, you must take specific classes and majors and must hold a qualifying teaching job for at least four years after graduation. If you do not fulfill these obligations, your TEACH Grant will be converted to a loan, which you will have to pay back with both interest and back interest. There are numerous other grants available through individual states, employers, colleges, and private organizations.
State Grants. Most states also have grant programs for their residents, often based on financial need. Eleven states have even implemented free college tuition programs for residents who plan to continue to live in the state. Even some medical schools are beginning to be tuition free. Check your school’s financial aid office and your state’s department of education for details.
College/University Grants and Scholarships. Most colleges and universities have their own scholarships and grants. These are distributed through a wide variety of sources, including the school’s financial aid office, the school’s endowment fund, individual departments, and clubs on campus.
Private Organization Grants and Scholarships. A wide variety of grants and scholarships and are awarded by foundations, civic groups, companies, religious groups, professional organizations, and charities. Most are small awards under $4,000, but multiple awards can add up to large amounts of money each year. Your financial aid office can help you find these opportunities.
Employer Grants and Scholarships. Many employers also offer free money to help employees go to school. A common work benefit is a tuition reimbursement program, where employers will pay students extra money to cover the cost of tuition once they’ve earned a passing grade in a college class. And some companies are going even further, offering to pay 100 percent of college costs for employees. Check to see whether your employer offers any kind of educational support.
Additional Federal Support. The federal government offers a handful of additional options for college students to find financial support.
Education Tax Credits. The IRS gives out free money to students and their parents through two tax credits, although you will have to choose between them. The American opportunity tax credit (AOTC) will refund up to $2,500 of qualifying education expenses per eligible student, while the lifetime learning credit (LLC) refunds up to $2,000 per year regardless of the number of qualifying students. The IRS warns taxpayers to be careful when claiming the credits. There are potential penalties for incorrectly claiming the credits, and you or your family should consult a tax professional or financial adviser when claiming these credits.
The Federal Work-Study Program provides part-time jobs through colleges and universities to students who are enrolled in the school. The program offers students the opportunity to work in their field, for their school, or for a nonprofit or civic organization to help pay for the cost of college. If your school participates in the program, it will be offered through your school’s financial aid office.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Education Debt” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-5-education-debt-paying-for-college
References
Chen, G. (2019, September 27). Studies show community colleges may offer superious ROI to some four-year schools. Community College Review.
Cooper, P. (2017, July 13). New York fed highlights underemployment among college graduates. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2017/07/13/new-york-fed-highlights-underemployment-among-college-graduates/#55be172f40d8
Federal Student Aid. (2021). Federal Pell grants. U.S. Department of Education. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell
Imam, M. (2015, January 20). $2.9 billion unused federal grant awards in last academic year. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2015/01/20/29-billion-unused-federal-grant-awards-in-last-academic-year/37399897/
Student Loans
Federal student loans are offered through the US Department of Education and are designed to give easy and inexpensive access to loans for school. You don’t have to make payments on the loans while you are in school, and the interest on the loans is tax deductible for most people. Direct Loans, also called Federal Stafford Loans, have a competitive fixed interest rate and don’t require a credit check or cosigner.
Direct Subsidized Loans
Direct Subsidized Loans are federal student loans on which the government pays the interest while you are in school. Direct Subsidized Loans are made based on financial need as calculated from the information you provide in your application. Qualifying students can get up to $3,500 in subsidized loans in their first year, $4,500 in their second year, and $5,500 in later years of their college education.
Direct Unsubsidized Loans
Direct Unsubsidized Loans are federal loans on which you are charged interest while you are in school. If you don’t make interest payments while in school, the interest will be added to the loan amount each year and will result in a larger student loan balance when you graduate. The amount you can borrow each year depends on numerous factors, with a maximum of $12,500 annually for undergraduates and $20,500 annually for professional or graduate students. There are also aggregate loan limits that apply to put a maximum cap on the total amount you can borrow for student loans.
Direct PLUS Loans
Direct PLUS Loans are additional loans a parent, grandparent, or graduate student can take out to help pay for additional costs of college. PLUS loans require a credit check and have higher interest rates, but the interest is still tax deductible. The maximum PLUS loan you can receive is the remaining cost of attending the school.
Parents and other family members should be careful when taking out PLUS loans on behalf of a child. Whoever is on the loan is responsible for the loan forever, and the loan generally cannot be forgiven in bankruptcy. The government can also take Social Security benefits should the loan not be repaid.
Private Loans
Private loans are also available for students who need them from banks, credit unions, private investors, and even predatory lenders. But with all the other resources for paying for college, a private loan is generally unnecessary and unwise. Private loans will require a credit check and potentially a cosigner, they will likely have higher interest rates, and the interest is not tax deductible. As a general rule, you should be wary of private student loans or avoid them altogether.
Applying for Financial Aid, FAFSA, and Everything Else
Take this first step - you will need to do it. The federal government offers a standard form called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which qualifies you for federal financial aid and also opens the door for nearly all other financial aid. Most grants and scholarships require you to fill out the FAFSA, and they base their decisions on the information in the application.
The FAFSA only requests financial aid for the specific year you file your application. This means you will need to file a FAFSA for each year you are in college. Since your financial needs will change over time, you may qualify for financial aid even if you did not qualify before.
You can apply for the FAFSA through your college’s financial aid office or at studentaid.gov if you don’t have access to a financial aid office. Once you file a FAFSA, any college can gain access to the information (with your approval), so you can shop around for financial aid offers from colleges.
In addition to the federal financial aid, foreign students or non-citizen may also be eligible to be classified as a resident for tuition purposes in some states. You may also be eligible to receive state financial aid. The Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) is a financial aid application for students who ARE Texas residents, but NOT United States citizens or eligible for Federal Aid. The TASFA must be completed each year beginning October 1st. More information about the TASFA can be found at the College for All Texans website: http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/index.cfm?objectid=A3119543-CBF8-C202-F1B0EEFD5F4B9805.
Attributions
Content on this page is a derivative of “Understanding Financial Literacy: Education Debt” by Amy Baldwin and is licensed CC BY 4.0.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/10-5-education-debt-paying-for-college
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Learning Activities
Activity 3.1
Identify Needs and Wants
Think on some of your recent purchases. List the last ten purchases you made in the table below, and place each of them in the category you think is correct. Needs are expenses that are required to maintain basic minimum living standards (e.g., electricity, water, transportation, food). Wants are those expenses that help you to live more comfortably (movies, games, travel, designer clothing). Make sure to include both the item and cost to purchase it.
Item | Need Expense $ | Want Expense $ |
Totals |
Reflect on the following questions.
- How do your total “need” expenses compare to your total “want” expenses?
- Should either of your expenses change? Why or why not?
- How do you currently prioritize your expenses?
Activity 3.2
Create a Monthly Budget
Budgets are done in a chart or spreadsheet format and often look like the ones below.
Income (use net monthly pay) | |
Paycheck | $2200 |
Other | $300 |
Total Income | $2500 |
Saving and Investing | |
Savings Account | $120 |
Investments | $240 |
Amount Left for Expenses | $2140 |
Expenses (Monthly) | |
Housing | $750 |
Car Payment/Insurance | $450 |
Groceries | $400 |
Restaurants/Food Delivery | $100 |
Internet | $60 |
Phone | $60 |
Medical Insurance and Copays | $120 |
Gas | $200 |
Total Expenses | $2140 |
Balance (Amount left for expenses minus total expenses) | $0 |
Create a monthly budget using the spreadsheet above as an example. You can also create your own using one of the apps discussed earlier in the chapter (e.g., Mint, Mvelopes, Wally, Goodbudget)
Activity 3.3
Complete the Cash Course
CashCourse is a free online personal finance course aimed at promoting students’ financial well-being. CashCourse provides information and tools that allow the student to make wise financial decisions in and out of school.
- Visit CashCourse.org and click on “Register for a free account” under “students.”
Click here to access CashCourse
- Fill out your information and select Texas for “State” and Sam Houston State University for “School.”
- Click My Profile at the top-right and enter your Sam ID for “Student ID” and click Save Profile. You have to add your Sam ID.
- Complete the Module
Learning Check/Assessment
- What are the five steps in financial planning?
- Identify and briefly discuss the primary components of a budget?
- What is the purpose of creating an emergency fund?
- Identify two different banking products and services and briefly discuss how they differ from one another?
- Identify two different examples of financial aid. Examples should be from different categories (federal, state, etc.).
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/79239/overview
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Readings
Overview
In this chapter, we delve into what critical thinking is and why it is emphasized in college, briefly examine various branches of critical thought you will encounter in your college experience, and introduce you to various barriers that may keep you from engaging in the process.
Introduction
Just about every conversation contains a knowledge claim. This means you will be asked to accept, believe, take action on, or purchase something based on the words someone conveys. From opinions during passing conversations, social media posts, the pulpit, advertisements, to pronouncements in the college classroom, you will entertain many assertions throughout your life. Some of these claims and decisions will barely affect you, and others will have lifelong ramifications. You may choose which pizza delivery business to order from or which presidential candidate to vote for. Depending on the situation, you may put forth a lot of energy investigating a claim, or very little. You may even accept some claims without question. Why might this investment be so variable? Ultimately, the evaluation of knowledge claims takes time, energy, and critical thought, which are all limited resources.
Simply investing time and energy evaluating a claim does not guarantee clarity, objectivity, nor the “right” answer. Your judgment and life experiences can help or hinder the process as well. What is more, humans have a tendency to rely on biases and use partial thinking. Critical thought, however, can afford you greater clarity, the ability to investigate assumptions, and the ability to account for bias. The development of critical thought takes guided practice, reflection, and time. Thankfully, if students are open to it, such practice can be afforded with a college education.
In general, critical thinking is the evaluation of claims. The way in which claims are evaluated can vary depending on the goal of the endeavor. We can evaluate the supporting information and structure of a claim to see if everything adds up like an equation. We may also evaluate the source of the claim, the claimant’s motivations, or even societal consequences. Both ends of this spectrum, from logical to sociocultural, constitute critical thought and belong to the same proverbial tree. Each branch of critical thought is differentially emphasized and valued by different fields of study or occupation.
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, we delve into what critical thinking is and why it is emphasized in college, briefly examine various branches of critical thought you will encounter in your college experience, and introduce you to various barriers that may keep you from engaging in the process.
The student will:
- consider the need for critical thinking;
- explore the various definitions, or branches, of critical thought;
- reflect on the barriers to engaging in critical thought; and
- prepare a plan of action using critical thought.
The Need for Critical Thought
We, the authors of this digital text, assert critical thinking is important. This in and of itself is a knowledge claim. We want you, the reader, to entertain this argument. We want you to think it too, to the point that you not only accept it but also engage in the process of improving your own critical thinking. One of the primary goals of higher education is to improve students’ critical thinking (Bok, 2006; Facione et al., 1995; van Gelder, 2005). This is no easy task. Engaging in this journey of practice and reflection, to better evaluate claims, takes time and energy (van Gelder, 2005). Large–scale improvements do not typically occur overnight and rarely in a single semester or from a single course (Hubern & Kuncel, 2016). Significant improvement in critical thinking does occur, on average, by the end of a typical 4-year degree (Harris, et al., 2014; Hubern & Kuncel, 2016). So why do it? Why might university instructors invest so much time in relaying these skills? In short, instructors invest in relaying these skills because your ability to think critically affects us all. Your decisions affect society at large. Critical thought is highly valued by future employers as well. It can enable you to self-advocate, guard against exploitation, and, given your educational goals, afford you with great power and privilege.
With the ever-increasing cost of a college degree, students and their families are more concerned with obtaining a return on their educational investment. Many colleges have addressed this concern by focusing on employability measures, graduate job placement, and advising students to major in careers with higher salaries. Such a pragmatic approach makes sense, as unabated student loan debt can greatly inhibit a graduate’s ability to own a home and accumulate wealth. Data comparing employees with and without college degrees are quite staggering as well. We have all seen statistics showing college graduates are more likely to obtain employment, earn higher wages, and have greater job satisfaction (Joubert, 2020). This is not by coincidence. A piece to this puzzle lies in graduates’ ability to critically think. In 2013, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU, 2013) conducted a national survey of businesses and nonprofit leaders to discern what they value in college–educated new hires. Nearly all employers surveyed valued critical thinking, communication, and problem solving skills (AACU, 2013). The valuation of this quality appears to have persisted. A more recent study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (2019) found critical thinking to be one of the main competencies associated with career readiness. An ability to think critically not only makes you more employable, it enables you to survive and thrive outside of the workplace as well.
Brookfield (2012) argued critical thinking is imperative to survival; without it, an individual could not self-advocate nor recognize when they are being manipulated. Critical thinking helps a person arrive at more sound decisions and construct stronger arguments. Critical thinking can aid a person in evaluating important life decisions. Take for instance the recommendation to buy or lease a vehicle, to own or rent a home, or to participate in a particular cancer treatment. Critical thought is not just an academic endeavor. It is not solely used to pass the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), design a well–constructed research project, or construct a perfectly worded essay. It is part of life.
| Mini Activity 1 |
What are three consequential claims/problems you might encounter outside the classroom? Please choose three claims/problems you would put forth the extra effort to analyze (e.g., choosing a part-time job while in school, choosing to purchase student health insurance). Why do you consider these claims / problems important for deeper analysis? |
A college degree affords graduates with a measure of power and privilege as well. For instance, college-educated individuals appear to be less affected and recover more quickly from economic downturns, such as the 2000 recessions and job loss due to the coronavirus (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2013; Vilsack, 2020; Whistle, 2020). College students will also become the next generation of leaders and changemakers. Researchers at Tufts University found college–educated individuals are more likely to vote and engage in politics (Hugo Lopez et al., 2005). In a very real way, knowledge is power. What you do with it is up to you. We want you to have the tools (e.g., critical thinking skills) to think through the very important decisions you will make.
References
Bok, D. (2006). Our underachieving colleges: A candid Look at how much students learn and why they should be learning more. Princeton University Press.
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2013, April 10). Employers more interested in critical thinking and problem solving than college major [Press release]. https://www.aacu.org/press/press-releases/employers-more-interested-critical-thinking-and-problem-solving-college-major
Brookfield, S. (2012). Teaching for critical thinking: Tools and techniques to help students question their assumptions. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Facione, P. A., Sánchez, C. A., Facione N. C., & Gainen, J. (1995). The disposition toward critical thinking. Journal of General Education, 44(1), 1–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27797240
Harris, K., Stein, B., Haynes, A., Lisic, E., & Leming, K. (2014). Identifying courses that improve students’ critical thinking skills using the CAT instrument: A case study. Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Joint Conferences on Computer, Information, System Sciences, and Engineering, 10, 1–4.
Huber, C. R., & Kuncel, N. R. (2016). Does college teach critical thinking? A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 431–468. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315605917
Hugo Lopez, M., Kirby, E., Sagoff, J., & Kolaczkowski, J. (2005, July). Electoral engagement among non-college attending youth. The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement. https://circle.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/2019-12/FS_ElectoralEngagementNonCollegeYouth_2005.pdf
Joubert, S. (2020, January 09). 10 benefits of having a college degree. Northeastern University. https://www.northeastern.edu/bachelors-completion/news/is-a-bachelors-degree-worth-it/
Pew Charitable Trusts. (2013, January). How much protection does a college degree afford? The impact of the recession on recent college graduates [Report]. https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2013/pewcollegegradsrecessionreportpdf.pdf
van Gelder, T. (2005). Teaching critical thinking: Some lessons from cognitive science. College Teaching, 53(1), 41–46. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.53.1.41-48
Vilsack, R. (2020, July 9). Workers without a college degree are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 job losses. National Skills Coalition. https://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/blog/higher-education/workforce-update-workers-without-a-college-degree-are-disproportionately-impacted-by-covid-19-job-losses/
Whistle, W. (2020, December 16). College graduates are less likely to become unemployed due to the coronavirus. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/04/17/college-graduates-are-less-likely-to-become-unemployed-due-to-the-coronavirus/
Definition of Critical Thinking
Defining critical thinking is not easy. If you asked your instructors to define it, you would likely hear a different definition from each. There are many reasons for this. Largely, it is due to the fact that each of your instructors likely practices a specific branch of critical thinking. Some may have even earned advanced degrees in using these skills but did not delve into the philosophy and nuance of defining it. Defining such a term is also not something educators are generally asked to do. It is important to note that critical thinking is a field unto itself. A diverse array of researchers and experts in the field of critical thinking convened over a 10–year period to create a consensus definition of critical thinking (Facione, 2015).
They defined critical thinking as “the process of purposeful, self-regulatory judgment. This process gives reasoned consideration to evidence, context, conceptualizations, methods, and criteria” (Facione, 1990, p. 5). It is both a skill and a disposition. This means you can learn how to engage in critical thinking, and it is something in which you will choose to engage, or not, depending on the situation. There are great debates on whether or not problem solving should be included in the definition, if creativity is an integral component, and if and how we should measure critical thinking. Like any topic, there are aspects we have yet to detail, argue over, and uncover. The experts, for instance, have not definitively agreed critical thinking is transferable from one context or problem to another.
It is still hotly debated whether a person can learn to critically think in one area and then transfer those same skills in a new, unrelated context or problem. For instance, will learning to critically evaluate medical claims in a biology course help students critically evaluate political ideologies in a political science course? There is some evidence to support transferability, though it appears to be a difficult task (van Gelder, 2005).
References
Facione, P. A., Sánchez, C. A., Facione N. C., & Gainen, J. (1995). The disposition toward critical thinking. Journal of General Education, 44(1), 1–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27797240
Facione, P.A. (1990). Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction. American Philosophical Society, Newark, DE. Retrieved https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED315423.pdf
van Gelder, T. (2005). Teaching critical thinking: Some lessons from cognitive science. College Teaching, 53(1), 41–46. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.53.1.41-48
Branches of Critical Thinking
Although transferability is difficult, it appears to be possible. A college education requires students complete a selection of general/introductory coursework from various disciplines. In these courses, students can garner basic knowledge and, more importantly, practice critical thinking with experts in various fields. Students may also take generalist critical thinking courses, typically as a philosophy elective, as part of their common core requirements. These generalist courses provide students with the ability to delve into the process of critical thinking. The diversity of your common core courses, generalist critical thinking courses, and upper level courses will certainly afford you the opportunity to experience and hone the use of various branches of critical thinking.
A branch of critical thinking you may practice in some of your college courses involves the structure of an argument. Arguments typically consist of two types of claims: supporting claims and concluding claims. Some terms that typically indicate a supporting claim, or premise, include “since,” “because,” “for,” and “assuming.” Supporting claims, also called premises, are used to support a concluding claim, or conclusion. Some terms that typically indicate concluding claims, or conclusions, are “thus,” “hence,” and “therefore.”
Example: | I am a human, and humans are mortal (will die); therefore, one day, I will die. | Premise 1 Premise 2 Conclusion |
There are various types of arguments, each with their own uses. Some are definitive in nature, and others relay degrees of reason. Evaluating the veracity of premises and their alignment with the conclusion is part of most fields but of particular interest in the fields of philosophy, law, and the natural sciences. Occasionally, a person may use illogical but emotionally or psychologically appealing methods of persuasion. These are called logical fallacies (i.e., hasty generalization, appeal to tradition, false cause).
"Five Fallacies" by PBS Idea Channel, PBS Digital Studios,
located at https://youtu.be/8qb-h0sXkH4
Many fields of study value the critical analysis of the sociocultural and political elements of a claim or problem. This overarching branch, or ideology, is called critical theory. At large, the goal of this type of analysis is to evaluate assumptions and power structures to make society more democratic. There are many specializations of critical theory, each focusing on a particular lens of analysis or view. In your studies, you may be asked to analyze a claim (or problem) using one or more of the following lenses: classism, globalism, feminism, genderism, racism, colorism, and more. You might encounter this form of critical analysis in your sociology, education, or history classes. You may even practice analyzing scenarios or historical events using different political or philosophical lenses. Remember, we do not all have the same lived experiences. Working with others who are different from us can help us uncover hidden truths, improve our insight into a given topic, and help us make more informed decisions. This can occur both inside and outside the classroom.
We have many facets to our identity. We are not singularly our race, gender, or country of origin. Each facet makes the whole. You may even explore the interplay of identities and experiences through the lens of intersectionality. Universities can be culturally diverse places. Paradoxically, attending a large university can sometimes feel alienating. Finding your friend groups and exploring your identity can be difficult, especially if you do not see yourself represented or are used to a more homogenous learning environment. It is important to explore the various student groups and support services your university has to offer. Make it a point to befriend individuals unlike yourself as well. Expand your worldview. For many, college is the one place to meet people easily from different backgrounds and with different identities. Doing so can only serve to expand your ability to think critically, empathize with others, and gain insight into how others live, learn, and think.
Attributions
"Five Fallacies" by PBS Idea Channel, PBS Digital Studios, located at https://youtu.be/88qb-h0sXkH4
Cognitive Dissonance
Critical thinking requires a degree of self-awareness and the ability to suspend judgment. You may find yourself evaluating a claim that aligns with your own values, beliefs, or motives. It can be difficult to objectively evaluate claims tied to aspects of your identity or values. You could have unconscious biases that blind you from fully engaging in critical analysis. Your own experiences may run counter to larger trends or findings. Although there are many barriers to critical thinking, we will briefly outline two of the most common: cognitive dissonance and bias.
Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is when a person holds inconsistent ideas at the same time. These ideas can be simple thoughts, attitudes, or deeply held beliefs. Holding contradictory ideas at the same time usually causes discomfort. Individuals typically attempt to reduce their dissonance to alleviate this discomfort. They can do so by:
- changing their mind,
- acquiring information that outweighs the conflicting idea, or
- Reducing the importance of the idea that is contradictory.
"Cognitive Dissonance Theory: A Crash Course" by Andy Luttrell,
located at https://youtu.be/9Y17YaZRRvY
Mini Activity 2 |
Think of a time you (or someone close to you) purchased, used, and/or potentially sold a product that promised extraordinary results (e.g., weight loss made easy, get rich quick). These products are often expensive and lack sound supporting arguments. Many times, when we invest in a product such as these, we ignore the negative and/or lacking elements of the claim. We seek out only positive, confirming information on them (e.g., positive testimonials, before and after pictures). We do not take into account the negative side effects, the lack of peer–reviewed literature, the company’s business model, and the expertise of the salespeople or claimants selling the product. Think about your (or close friend/family member’s) experience. How did you (they) handle this dissonance? Did you (they) ignore the contradictory information or confront it directly? What type of investigation did you (they) do when purchasing the product, if any? |
Attributions
"Cognitive Dissonance Theory: A Crash Course" by Andy Luttrell, located at https://youtu.be/9Y17YaZRRvY
Bias
Bias is a preference for or against a particular thing, idea, person, or group. A bias can be conscious or unconscious, meaning you may or may not be aware of your preferences. They are often learned but can also be the product of your brain making a shortcut. Everyone is susceptible to bias. It is part of the human condition.
"Understanding unconscious bias" by The Royal Society,
located at https://youtu.be/dVp9Z5k0dEE
The following example may seem a bit odd at first, but provides a great example of how unconscious bias can affect decision making and daily life. Several cities in Sweden and Canada enacted diversity and bias analyses of their policies and budgets (Cossette, 2018; Schmitt et al., 2018). To some, it was unclear how such analyses would affect seemingly mundane aspects of city governance and spending. Snow plowing, for example, is a regular and pretty normal part of life in Ottawa, Canada. How might bias and critical analysis factor into such an everyday decision? Snow does not have a gender, and everyone drives on the streets. To many, conducting the analysis did not seem like a fruitful endeavor. The mayor decided to include women in the analysis of city snow plowing, an endeavor largely managed and conducted by men. What they discovered was the city and snowplow team prioritized larger streets over sidewalks and side streets. Sidewalks were plowed last. Men in this city were more likely to drive to work, and women were more likely to walk. Children were also affected in that schools and daycares were largely situated on side streets and accessed via foot traffic. Pedestrians had nowhere to walk while the larger streets were being plowed. The prioritization of the larger streets being plowed first was a prioritization of vehicular traffic and, by extension, men. This was not done intentionally, of course—it is just the way it had always been done. It was a product of unconscious bias. By analyzing the order in which streets and sidewalks were cleared, they discovered the city could increase foot traffic (reducing carbon emissions—another city priority), improve pedestrian safety, improve public transport, and enable families to get to school and daycare on time. Such an analysis is not without its critics, but the analysis certainly created a dialogue and set of actions the city could take to shift priorities. Similar projects and analyses have also occurred in Sweden.
Bias is part of the human experience. We all must check our assumptions and work with others to make more informed decisions. Unfortunately, you cannot completely eliminate bias from your thinking. You can, however, engage in the lifelong process of the reflection, analysis, and collaboration it takes to identify it. Self-awareness is integral to critical thinking and decision making.
Attributions
"Understanding unconscious bias" by The Royal Society, located at https://youtu.be/dVp9Z5k0dEE
Chapter Summary
You are, and continually will be, bombarded with knowledge claims. The evaluation of these claims takes time, energy, and critical thought. It may not be an endeavor you wish to use for every decision, but your college experiences and education will provide you with the ability to make that choice. When you choose to engage in critical thought is a decision only you can make. The ability, however, is one that can help you self-advocate, gain privilege and power, and provide you with the tools to work with others not like yourself. It is difficult to ignore the barriers to critical thought and self–deception once you discover the mirror and magnifying properties of the process. It is difficult to avoid self-reflection, inquiry, and collaboration.
In this chapter, we explored what critical thinking is, why it is emphasized in college, and how it truly matters outside the classroom. We briefly examined various branches of critical thought encountered during a college experience and explored a few barriers to this process. You are just starting your journey. How meaningfully you engage in the process is up to you.
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Learning Activities
Activity 6.1
Reflection: Consequential Claims
What are three consequential claims/problems you might encounter outside the classroom? Please choose three claims/problems you would put forth the extra effort to analyze (e.g., choosing a part-time job while in school, choosing to purchase student health insurance).
1.
2.
3.
Activity 6.2
Reflection: Dissonance
Think of a time you (or someone close to you) purchased, used, and/or potentially sold a product that promised extraordinary results (e.g., weight loss made easy, get rich quick). These products are often expensive and lack sound supporting arguments.
Many times, when we invest in a product such as these, we ignore the negative and/or lacking elements of the claim. We seek out only positive, confirming information on them (e.g., positive testimonials, before and after pictures). We do not take into account the negative side effects, the lack of peer–reviewed literature, the company’s business model, and the expertise of the salespeople or claimants selling the product.
Think about your (or close friend/family member's) experience. How did you (they) handle this dissonance? Did you (they) ignore the contradictory information or confront it directly? What type of investigation did you (they) do when purchasing the product, if any?
Activity 6.3
Critical Thinking in Practice
Choose a current event. List a lens or perspective (preferably your own or one to which you are more closely tied) that could be used to analyze the event (e.g., gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability status, age). Think through questions that may arise.
Example 1
Current Event: The shift to online learning during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Lens: Ability status / age
Questions: More courses were delivered online during the pandemic than at any other point in history. Many instructors were new to teaching in this environment. Did this open the door for more differently abled individuals to participate in higher learning? Could older students with full–time jobs now participate in college? Did instructors (or institutions) have the time, resources, and money available to properly accommodate students? Did students, at large, benefit from any of these changes (i.e., closed captioning and transcripts of recorded lectures)?
Your Response
Current Event:
Lens:
Questions:
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:22.575649
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/79241/overview
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Digging Deeper
Improving Critical Thinking
Watch the video, 5 Steps to Improve Critical Thinking, by Samantha Agoos (2015):
"5 Tips to Improve Your Critical Thinking" by Samantha Agoos is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
Complete the questionnaire, titled "Think," on the TedEd website and discuss your responses with the class:
- What is one advantage of critical thinking?
- What is the first step (of five) in the critical thinking process?
- When making a decision, what is the main purpose of gathering facts and information?
- Whas does it mean to consider the implications of a decision?
- How can critical thinking improve your chances of making better choices?
- Consider the example of the diet craze presented in the video. In your own words, explain how you would apply information to determine whether the weight-loss cliams are logical and accurate. Be specific about each step you would take.
- Read the scenario below and respond to the prompt that follows. Two candidates are running for President of the United States. One candidate advocates for reducing corporate taxes to incentivize businesses to open in the US, fostering the economy. The opposing candidate wishes to incrase corporate tax rates to use the revenue to address domestic issues like education. Describe why it is valuable and beneficial to the decision-making process to explore both political perspectives prior to casting your vote?
- Silently reflect on an upcoming choice you may encounter in the future. Compose a pagraph (5 sentences maximum) that discusses how you will employ the critical thinking to enhance your decision-making process. Be specific about how you would apply at least three of the five steps mentioned in the video.
https://ed.ted.com/lessons/5-tips-to-improve-your-critical-thinking-samantha-agoos#review
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66323/overview
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Introduction: Interest Groups and Lobbying in Texas
Overview
Introduction: Interest Groups and Lobbying in Texas
Chapter Learning Objective
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Evaluate the role played by interest groups in Texas
Introduction: Lobbyists are Important for Democracy
"Say you’re passionate about finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. You can try to be a lone voice in the wilderness, but chances are there’s a lobbying organization that can bolster your argument with research and facts, and the ability to get that info to people who make the decisions.
Critics like to slam lobbyists as stand-ins for special interests. That’s the funny thing about special interests. They’re easily dismissed as “special,” until they’re yours. Lobbyists represent all points of view on issues confronting the country: environment, labor, the elderly, veterans, but also privacy advocates, pet owners, and even online poker players. That’s the great thing about America.
Everyone has a voice, and lobbyists are an effective way to get those voices heard."
Source: Brian Pallasch, former president of the American League of Lobbyists in Washington, D.C. Lobbyists are important for democracy [PODCAST]. February 13, 2008. American Public Media: Marketplace.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66324/overview
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Interest Groups in Texas
Overview
Interest Groups in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Define the essential characteristics of interest groups and why they form
Introduction
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech, which we usually think of as the right of an individual to openly express a point of view – even a controversial one. But the amendment goes on to guarantee “…the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
The right to assemble and express a collective opinion is really a constitutional right to form interest groups, and to lobby on public policy issues. If the Texas chapter of the Sierra Club organizes a group to lobby state legislators on climate change issues, they’re exercising their constitutional right to express a collective opinion. If the Texas Association of Realtors organizes a group to lobby the legislature to repeal a real estate tax they consider unfair, what are they doing? They’re peaceably assembling, and they’re petitioning their state government for a redress of grievances. If the Texas Barber Association lobbies against a sales tax on haircuts, they’re doing the same thing.
What are Interest Groups?
While the term interest group is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, the framers were aware that individuals would band together in an attempt to use government in their favor. In Federalist No. 10, James Madison warned of the dangers of “factions,” minorities who would organize around issues they felt strongly about, possibly to the detriment of the majority. But Madison believed limiting these factions was worse than facing the evils they might produce, because such limitations would violate individual freedoms. Instead, the natural way to control factions was to let them flourish and compete against each other. The sheer number of interests in the United States suggests that many have, indeed, flourished. They compete with similar groups for membership, and with opponents for access to decision-makers. Some people suggest there may be too many interests in the United States. Others argue that some have gained a disproportionate amount of influence over public policy, whereas many others are underrepresented.
Madison’s definition of factions can apply to both interest groups and political parties. But unlike political parties, interest groups do not function primarily to elect candidates under a certain party label or to directly control the operation of the government. Political parties in the United States are generally much broader coalitions that represent a significant proportion of citizens. In the American two-party system, the Democratic and Republican Parties spread relatively wide nets to try to encompass large segments of the population. In contrast, while interest groups may support or oppose political candidates, their goals are usually more issue-specific and narrowly focused on areas like taxes, the environment, and gun rights or gun control, or their membership is limited to specific professions. They may represent interests ranging from well-known organizations, such as the Sierra Club, IBM, or the American Lung Association, to obscure ones, such as the Texas-based Romance Writers of America. Thus, with some notable exceptions, specific interest groups have much more limited membership than do political parties.
Definitions abound when it comes to interest groups, which are sometimes referred to as special interests, interest organizations, pressure groups, or just interests. Most definitions specify that interest group indicates any formal association of individuals or organizations that attempt to influence government decision-making and/or the making of public policy. Often, this influence is exercised by a lobbyist or a lobbying firm.
Formally, a lobbyist is someone who represents the interest organization before government, is usually compensated for doing so, and is required to register with the government in which he or she lobbies, whether state or federal. The lobbyist’s primary goal is usually to influence policy. Most interest organizations engage in lobbying activity to achieve their objectives. As you might expect, the interest hires a lobbyist, employs one internally, or has a member volunteer to lobby on its behalf.
Why Do We Form Interest Groups?
Political scientists point to three major reasons people form interest groups. The first involves material benefits. It’s fair to say Americans probably join the nation’s largest interest group – AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) – not to stand up for the rights of retired people, but in order to get discounts on insurance, as well as other products and services. For most of its history, the National Rifle Association was more about safety classes and insurance discounts that political advocacy.
The second reason involves solidary benefits. There’s something very special about getting together with other people who do what you do for a living.
Whether you’re a police officer, and apartment manager or a dentist, colleagues can learn from each other, discuss best practices and share stories only another person in their business can truly appreciate.
Finally, there are purposive benefits – the satisfaction of working together with others toward a common cause. Members of groups like the Sierra Club or Mothers Against Drunk Drivers are motivated primarily by the satisfaction of working with other like-minded people to support a specific cause.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Interest Groups in Texas. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66325/overview
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Interest Group Typologies
Overview
Interest Group Typologies
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Identify the various interest group typologies
Introduction: Types of Interest Groups
As of 2019, the Texas Ethics Commission listed 1834 registered lobbyists, many of whom represent multiple clients – some interest groups, some individual companies. What are some of the types of interest groups in Texas?
Texas Interest Groups
Trade associations are groups of companies involved in the same business. The Texas Association of Realtors, the Texas Bankers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association are three prominent examples.
Professional Associations are like trade associations, but with individual – rather than company – members. The Texas Nurses Association and the Texas Society of Professional Engineers are two major Texas professional associations. The Texas Nursing Association advocates for safe nursing practices through education and licensure in the Texas Nursing Practice Act.
Organized labor is another major interest group type. While union members account for less than 5 percent of wage and salary workers in Texas, unions play a prominent role in the political process. The most prominent umbrella group for labor in Texas is the AFL-CIO, but with increasing competition from SEIU Texas, which specializes in government and service workers.
Historically, agriculture groups have played a more prominent role in Texas government than any other type of interest group. As Texas politics become more urban, however, groups like the Texas Farm Bureau and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, while still important, don’t dominate policy in Texas as much as in the 20th Century.
Racial, ethnic, and minority groups from the Texas National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and LULAC to Equality Texas advocate on behalf of specific groups of people based on their racial heritage, sexual orientation, or other types of minority status.
Religious groups have a long history of advocacy in Texas. Groups such as the Baptist Christian Life Commission have historically held considerable influence on abortion, gambling, and alcohol issues, but are involved increasingly on social justice issues like predatory lending and human trafficking.
One of the least-known, but most powerful classes of interest groups in Texas, are groups of local governments. The Texas Municipal League and the Texas Association of Counties have been increasingly active during state legislative sessions as legislators deal with property tax and local control issues that affect their ability to serve their constituents.
Finally, for every cause about which Texans are passionate, there are cause groups representing their interests. From the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) to Texas Right to Life on abortion and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) on drinking and driving laws to Bike Texas which advocates for bicyclists, cause groups lobby for their members’ views on a wide variety of policy issues.
References and Further Reading
Texas Board of Nursing (2017). Laws & Rules - Nursing Practice Act (NPA).
United States Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union Members in Texas - 2018.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Interest Group Typologies. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66326/overview
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How Interest Groups Influence Texas Government
Overview
How Interest Groups Influence Texas Government
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Analyze the techniques used by interest groups to influence Texas government
Introduction
Texas interest groups use a wide variety of techniques to attempt to influence public policy, but most fall into two primary areas: electioneering and lobbying.
Electioneering
Electioneering is what groups do to influence who the policymakers will be. While federal law has strict limits on the amount of money that can be raised and contributed in federal races, Texas law permits groups to form political action committees that can receive and donate unlimited amounts of money to state and local election campaigns (Note: Home rule cities in Texas can limit contributions to candidates for city positions by ordinance).
The Texas Association of Realtors PAC raised nearly 2 million dollars during the 2018 election cycle, donating $1.2 million to candidates. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group that advocates for civil justice reform, donated $1.3 million, spread over 100 different candidates.
PACs in Texas have different approaches to political involvement. Many interest groups follow – officially or unofficially – the friendly incumbent rule. They avoid backing challengers to incumbent legislators – even when those challengers might be more in line with their group’s interests.
Why?
Because challengers rarely win, and many groups fear retaliation from a spurned incumbent legislator more than they value the chance – often a long shot – to replace that incumbent with a more supportive candidate.
Whatever an interest group chooses to do in an election, the election is eventually over, and a winner is sworn into office whether the group supported or opposed him. That’s when electioneering gives way to lobbying.
Lobbying
Lobbying is simply the process of advocating for your group’s interests. Some groups hire professional lobbyists to represent them in Austin. Others rely solely on volunteers.
Grassroots lobbying involves getting large numbers of constituents to contact their legislators on behalf of a particular issue. When done well, grassroots lobbying is incredibly effective with legislators, who are strongly motivated to please voters who live in their districts. Less well known but also effective is “grasstops” lobbying, which involves generating smaller numbers of contacts from people of special importance to legislators – possibly including their largest campaign contributors, local party officials, mayors or school superintendents. Even small numbers of highly influential people can sometimes make a significant impression.
Like lawmakers, many lobbyists are lawyers, and the persons they are trying to influence have the duty of writing laws. That the disciplines of law and lobbying are intertwined could be seen in the case of a Texas lawyer, Kevin Glasheen, who had been seeking compensation for his unfairly imprisoned client. Glasheen's exonerated-prisoner client had trouble paying the legal expenses, which totaled $1,024,166.67. Glasheen then lobbied the Texas state legislature to pass a bill that increased the payout to exonerated prisoners from $50,000 per year to $80,000 per year. It succeeded, making it possible for his newly freed client to pay the lawyer's fees (the lawyer was later sued for his billing in wrongful conviction cases).
Legislators frankly rely on interest groups for information. The 2019 legislature considered 10,877 individual bills and resolutions. Part-time legislators cannot possibly know how each of those proposed changes in state law might impact various industries and interests unless representatives of those groups tell them.
References and Further Reading
Top Ten PACs of the 2018 Texas Election Cycle. Transparency Texas. September 6, 2017.
Who Are the Biggest Spenders in Texas Races? Becca Aaronson. March 1, 2016.
Vertuno, J. (2019, August 23). Texas gun rights lobby pushing back on calls for new laws. AP News. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
Schwartz. J. (2011, May 9). Exonerated Inmates Fight Lawyer's Lobbying Fees. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
Licensing and Attribution
LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
How Interest Groups Influence Texas Government. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66327/overview
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Interest Group Regulation in Texas
Overview
Interest Group Regulation in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Discuss how interest groups are regulated in Texas
Introduction: The Texas Ethics Commission
Texas doesn’t place as many limits on what interest groups can do as some other states, but Texas places a high value on transparency. An interest group in Texas can give an unlimited amount of money to a political campaign but must disclose their contributions to the Texas Ethics Commission, which makes that information available to the public on its recently redesigned, highly-searchable website.
The Texas Ethics Commission has eight commissioners, appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house.
Political Action Committees (PACs)
Political action committees (PACs) are formed by designating an official treasurer, who must then file contribution and expenditure reports twice a year, with additional reports due prior to any election in which it is involved.
Lobbying
The Commission defines lobbying as “making direct communications with members of the legislative or executive branch of Texas state government to influence legislation or administrative action.” Registration is required for any lobbyist who receives more than $1000 per calendar quarter for lobbying, or who spends “more than $500 in a calendar quarter to benefit a state officer or employee (or his or her immediate family) when the expenditures are made to communicate to influence legislation or administrative action.”
Registration is $750 per year, with a reduced fee for lobbyists representing non- profit groups. Registered lobbyists file monthly activity reports listing their clients and specific expenditures.
Gifts to officials are limited to $500 per year, and any gift with a value of more than $50 must be reported. Fines of up to $10,000 and criminal punishments as high as a second-degree felony may be pursued against violators.
Some local governments in Texas can place additional restrictions on interest groups. The City of Houston requires everyone who lobbies their city government to register – defining lobbying as either spending or being paid at least $200 in a calendar quarter or $800 in a calendar year “to influence municipal legislation or administrative action on behalf of the employer by whom the person is compensated or reimbursed.” To register as a lobbyist in the City of Houston costs $291.87 per year and is due along with a registration form within five working days of the lobbyist’s first communication with a city official.
After registering, lobbyists in Houston file quarterly reports detailing any spending on communications with city officials, from the cost of buying breakfast for the mayor to the price of a ticket to take a city council member to a ballgame.
As of October, 2019, there were 130 people registered as lobbyists with the City of Houston.
| Question: How many lobbyists are registered in your city or town? |
The list of registered lobbyists and their clients is available online. Filed registration forms and activity reports are available in the City Secretary’s office during business hours.
| Does business group's use of "dark money" for its political action committee follow state ethics rules? Find out more at the Texas Tribune |
References and Further Reading
Texas Ethics Commission
Texas Ethics Commission. Checklist for Starting Your Lobbying.
City of Houston. Code of Ordinances - Article V: Lobbying. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
City of Houston. City Fee Schedule. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
City of Houston. Office of the City Secretary. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
Murphy, J. & Root, R. (2018). Does business group's use of "dark money" for its political action committee follow state ethics rules? Texas Tribune.
Licensing and Attribution
LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
How Interest Groups are Regulated. Authored by: Andrew Teas.License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66328/overview
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Glossary
Overview
Glossary
Glossary: Interest Groups and Lobbying in Texas
dark money: In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to political spending by nonprofit organizations—for example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare), 501(c)
(unions), and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups—that are not required to disclose their donors
free rider problem: the incentive to benefit from others' work without making a contribution, which leads individuals in a collective action situation to refuse to work together
friendly incumbent rule: regarding interest groups, the informal practice of avoiding support for challengers to incumbent legislators – even when those challengers might be more in line with their group’s interests
grassroots lobbying: an approach that asks the general public to contact legislators and government officials concerning issues at hand, as opposed to conveying the message to the legislators directly.
interest group: an organization established to influence the government's programs and policies
lobbying: an attempt to influence policy by persuading a government policy-making official
political action committee (PAC): In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation
References and Further Reading
Center for Responsive Politics (2015). "Political Nonprofits: Summary." Retrieved from opensecrets.org. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
Robert Maguire (2014, April). How 2014 Is Shaping Up to be the Darkest Money Election to Date. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Interest Groups and Lobbying in Texas: Glossary. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66329/overview
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Assessment
Overview
This is a quiz for Chapter Ten.
Texas Government Chapter Ten Quiz
Check your knowledge of Chapter X by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
This is a quiz for Chapter Ten.
Check your knowledge of Chapter X by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66307/overview
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Introduction: Elections and Campaigns in Texas
Overview
Introduction: Elections and Campaigns in Texas
Chapter Learning Objective
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Analyze the state and local election process in Texas
Introduction
Elections offer American voters the opportunity to participate in their government with little investment of time or personal effort. Yet voters should make decisions carefully. The electoral system allows them the chance to pick party nominees as well as office-holders, although not every citizen will participate in every step.
An election is the process by which we select our government officials and determine matters of policy. Campaigns are the efforts of candidates to secure positions in the government or the efforts to get policy matters adopted.
Elections are very important because the outcomes of government actions are almost always the result of the people who hold elected office and elections determine which policies we will have to live by. Campaigns are important because they ultimately determine who gets elected whether that person is the best person for the job or not.
As you can imagine, Texas has had some interesting elections and campaigns in the past and will continue to have them in the future.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Elections and Campaigns in Texas: Introduction. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66308/overview
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Types of Elections
Overview
Types of Elections
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Differentiate between primary, general, runoff, and special elections
Introduction
The Texas Secretary of State serves as Chief Election Officer for Texas, assisting county election officials and ensuring the uniform application and interpretation of election laws throughout Texas. This section explores the various types of elections used in Texas.
Types Of Elections In Texas
Texas uses four types of elections:
- Primary Elections
- Runoff Elections
- General Elections
- Special Elections
Primary Elections
Primary elections are the first elections held in an electoral cycle. A primary election is an election used either to narrow the field of candidates for a given elective office or to determine the nominees for political parties in advance of a general election. Each state decides how it will run primary elections. State law, not federal, regulates most aspects of primary (as well as general) elections, and local election officials (county, city, and township) are predominantly responsible for administering them. In Texas, primary elections are held on the second Tuesday in March on even-numbered years.
Winning the primary election requires an absolute majority, meaning that the party's nominees must have more votes than all opponents combined. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, there is a runoff primary between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
Runoff Elections
A runoff election is held when no candidate gets 50 percent plus one vote in the primary election. Primary elections often have multiple candidats vying to represent a party in the general election and it’s not uncommon that a single candidate fails to win 50 percent plus one vote. In such a case there is a runoff election between the top two vote-getters.
General Elections
A general election is an election in which voters cast ballots to select public officials at any level, including city, county, congressional district, or state. Major state officials, such as the attorney general, governor, lieutenant governor, and comptroller of public accounts, are elected in nonpresidential election years.
General elections determine the final winner – the candidate to take office. The candidate obtaining the most votes (even if not necessarily a majority of votes) wins.
Texas holds its general elections on the same day that we elect members to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and that we select electors for the Electoral College to select the President in Presidential-election years.
This date was set by a national law passed in 1845 as "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November" or "the first Tuesday after November 1” in even numbered years.
The earliest possible date is November 2, and the latest possible date is November 8 on even-numbered years (2020, 2022, and so on).
Texas holds its statewide elections (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and so on) in “nonpresidential” or “midterm” years—the general elections when we are not electing a President.
One of the more puzzling questions is “Why Do We Vote on Tuesday?” A group advocating moving the general election to another day may be found here: https://whytuesday.org.
Special Elections
Special elections are used to ratify or reject Texas constitutional amendments, fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections, or provide approval to borrow money.
In most cases, special elections occur after the incumbent dies or resigns, but they also occur when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office. For example, if a Texas state senator resigns, the governor will call a special election to fill the vacancy.
Special elections are called by the Texas Legislature.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Revision and Adaptation. Authored by: Daniel M. Regalado. License: CC BY: Attribution
Types of Elections in Texas. Authored by: Daniel M. Regalado. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66309/overview
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Primary Systems
Overview
Primary Systems
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
- Compare and contrast open and closed primary systems
Introduction
States are responsible for running elections. Each state may opt to use a variety of primary election systems. This section discusses Texas’ primary elections.
Types of Primary Elections
Among the fifty states, there are several different types of primary elections:
Closed primary. People may vote in a party’s primary only if they are registered members of that party prior to election day. Independents cannot participate. Note that because some political parties name themselves independent, the terms “non- partisan” or “unaffiliated” often replace “independent” when referring to those who are not affiliated with a political party. Eleven states – Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, District of Columbia, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming – have closed primaries.
Semi-closed. As in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own party’s primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well. Depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day. Thirteen states – Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia – have semi-closed primaries that allow voters to register or change party preference on election day.
Open Primary. An open primary is a primary election in which any registered voter can participate in the contest, regardless of party affiliation. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his or her own party affiliation. Eleven states – Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin – have open primaries. When voters do not register with a party before the primary, it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party’s primary he or she wishes to vote in on election day. Because of the open nature of this system, a practice known as raiding may occur. Raiding consists of voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party, effectively allowing a party to help choose its opposition’s candidate. The theory is that opposing party members vote for the weakest
candidate of the opposite party in order to give their own party the advantage in the general election.
Semi-open. A registered voter need not publicly declare which political party’s primary that they will vote in before entering the voting booth. When voters identify themselves to the election officials, they must request a party’s specific ballot. Only one ballot is cast by each voter. In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials or poll workers from their respective parties record each voter’s choice of party and provide access to this information. The primary difference between a semi-open and open primary system is the use of a party-specific ballot. In a semi- open primary, a public declaration in front of the election judges is made and a party-specific ballot given to the voter to cast. Certain states that use the open- primary format may print a single ballot and the voter must choose on the ballot itself which political party’s candidates they will select for a contested office.
Blanket primary. A primary in which the ballot is not restricted to candidates from one party is called a blanket primary.
Nonpartisan blanket primary. In a nonpartisan blanket primary, the ballot is not restricted to candidates from one party, and the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Louisiana has famously operated under this system, which has been nicknamed the “jungle primary.” California has used a nonpartisan blanket primary since 2012 after passing Proposition 14 in 2010, and the state of Washington has used a nonpartisan blanket primary since 2008.
Texas' Primaries
Texas’ primaries are difficult to classify–they are somewhere between open and semi-open. Voters in Texas don’t register under a party label and may choose to vote in either party’s primary (but not both).
Voters who cast ballots in one of the major party primary elections may only vote in the runoff election for the same party in which they cast their primary ballot. Voters who did not cast a ballot in primary elections are free to choose either party’s runoff ballot, but may only vote in one party’s runoff election.
Check Your Knowledge
Check your knowledge of this section by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
References and Further Reading
Don't Waste Your Vote in Another Party's Primary. Daily Texan. 2018.
"State Primary Election Types.” NCSL. National Conference of State Legislatures. June 26, 2018.
"History of Washington State Primary Systems" (PDF) Accessed August 25, 2019.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Revision and Adaptation. Authored by: Daniel M. Regalado. License: CC BY: Attribution
Types of Elections in Texas. Authored by: Daniel M. Regalado. License: CC BY: Attribution
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Becoming a Candidate and Nominee
Overview
Becoming a Candidate and Nominee
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
- Explain the key elements and phases of deciding to run for office and becoming a political party’s nominee in a partisan election
Introduction: Deciding to Run
Running for office in Texas can be as easy as collecting one hundred signatures on a city election form or paying a registration fee of several thousand dollars to run for governor of a state. However, a potential candidate still needs to meet state-specific requirements covering length of residency, voting status, and age. Potential candidates must also consider competitors, family obligations, and the likelihood of drawing financial backing. His or her spouse, children, work history, health, financial history, and business dealings also become part of the media’s focus, along with many other personal details about the past. Candidates for office are slightly more diverse than the representatives serving in legislative and executive bodies, but the realities of elections drive many eligible and desirable candidates away from running.
When candidates run for office, they are most likely to choose local or state office first. For women, studies have shown that family obligations rather than desire or ambition account for this choice. Further, women are more likely than men to wait until their children are older before entering politics, and women say that they struggle to balance campaigning and their workload with parenthood. Because higher office is often attained only after service in lower office, there are repercussions to women waiting so long. If they do decide to run for the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate, they are often older, and fewer in number, than their male colleagues.
Becoming the a Political Party's Nominee
States, through their legislatures, often influence the nomination method by paying for an election to help parties identify the nominee the voters prefer. Many states fund elections because they can hold several nomination races at once. In 2012, many voters had to choose a presidential nominee, U.S. Senate nominee, House of Representatives nominee, and state-level legislature nominee for their parties.
The most common method of picking a party nominee for state, local, and presidential contests is the primary. Party members use a ballot to indicate which candidate they desire for the party nominee. Despite the ease of voting using a ballot, primary elections have a number of rules and variations that can still cause confusion for citizens. In a closed primary, only members of the political party selecting nominees may vote. A registered Green Party member, for example, is not allowed to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary.
Parties prefer this method, because it ensures the nominee is picked by voters who legitimately support the party. An open primary allows all voters to vote. In this system, a Green Party member is allowed to pick either a Democratic or Republican ballot when voting.
For state-level office nominations, or the nomination of a U.S. Senator or House member, some states use the top-two primary method. A top-two primary, sometimes called a jungle primary, pits all candidates against each other, regardless of party affiliation. The two candidates with the most votes become the final candidates for the general election. Thus, two candidates from the same party could run against each other in the general election. In one California congressional district, for example, four Democrats and two Republicans all ran against one another in the June 2012 primary. The two Republicans received the most votes, so they ran against one another in the general election in November. In 2016, thirty-four candidates filed to run to replace Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). In the end, two Democratic women of color emerged to compete head-to-head in the general election. California attorney general Kamala Harris eventually won the seat on Election Day, helping to quadruple the number of women of color in the U.S. Senate overnight. More often than not, however, the top-two system is used in state-level elections for non-partisan elections, in which none of the candidates are allowed to declare a political party.
Regardless of which nominating system the states and parties choose, states must also determine which day they wish to hold their nomination. When the nominations are for state-level office, such as governor, the state legislatures receive little to no input from the national political parties. In presidential election years, however, the national political parties pressure most states to hold their primaries or caucuses in March or later. Only Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina are given express permission by the national parties to hold presidential primaries or caucuses in January or February. Both political parties protect the three states’ status as the first states to host caucuses and primaries, due to tradition and the relative ease of campaigning in these smaller states.
Other states, especially large states like California, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin, often are frustrated that they must wait to hold their presidential primary elections later in the season. Their frustration is reasonable: candidates who do poorly in the first few primaries often drop out entirely, leaving fewer candidates to run in caucuses and primaries held in February and later. In 2008, California, New York, and several other states disregarded the national party’s guidelines and scheduled their primaries the first week of February. In response, Florida and Michigan moved their primaries to January and many other states moved forward to March. This was not the first time states participated in frontloading and scheduled the majority of the primaries and caucuses at the beginning of the primary season. It was, however, one of the worst occurrences. States have been frontloading since the 1976 presidential election, with the problem becoming more severe in the 1992 election and later.
Political parties allot delegates to their national nominating conventions based on the number of registered party voters in each state. California, the state with the most Democrats, sent 548 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, while Wyoming, with far fewer Democrats, sent only 18 delegates. When the national political parties want to prevent states from frontloading, or doing anything else they deem detrimental, they can change the state’s delegate count, which in essence increases or reduces the state’s say in who becomes the presidential nominee. In 1996, the Republicans offered bonus delegates to states that held their primaries and caucuses later in the nominating season. In 2008, the national parties ruled that only Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire could hold primaries or caucuses in January. Both parties also reduced the number of delegates from Michigan and Florida as punishment for those states’ holding early primaries. Despite these efforts, candidates in 2008 had a very difficult time campaigning during the tight window caused by frontloading.
One of the criticisms of the modern nominating system is that parties today have less influence over who becomes their nominee. In the era of party “bosses,” candidates who hoped to run for president needed the blessing and support of party leadership and a strong connection with the party’s values.
Now, anyone can run for a party’s nomination. The candidates with enough money to campaign the longest, gaining media attention, momentum, and voter support are more likely to become the nominee than candidates without these attributes, regardless of what the party leadership wants.
Take a look at Campaigns & Elections to see what hopeful candidates are reading. |
References and Further Reading
Jennifer L. Lawless. 2012. Becoming a Candidate: Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox. 2010. It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. Revised Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harold Meyerson, "Op-Ed: California’s Jungle Primary: Tried it. Dump It," Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2014.
Josh Putnam, "Presidential Primaries and Caucuses by Month (1976)," Frontloading HQ (blog), February 3, 2009.
William G. Mayer and Andrew Busch. 2004. The Front-loading Problem in Presidential Nominations. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Joanna Klonsky, "The Role of Delegates in the U.S. Presidential Nominating Process," Washington Post, 6 February 2008.
"Party Affiliation and Election Polls," Pew Research Center, August 3, 2012.
Shanto Iyengar. 2016. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide, 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton.
Paul Begala. 1 October 2008. “Commentary: 10 Rules for Winning a Debate.”
2nd Congress, Session I, "An Act relative to the Election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and Declaring the Office Who Shall Act as President in Case of Vacancies in the Offices both of President and Vice President,"Chapter 8, section 1, image 239. http://www.loc.gov.
28th Congress, Session II. 23 January 1845. "An Act to Establish a Uniform. Time for Holding Elections for Electors of President and Vice President in all the States of the Union," Statute II, chapter 1, image 721. http://www.loc.gov; 42nd Congress, Session II, "An Act for the Apportionment of Representatives to Congress among the Several Sates According to the Ninth Census." Chapter 11, section 3, http://www.loc.gov/.
Donald Ratcliffe. 2013. "The Right to Vote and the Rise of Democracy, 1787–1828," Journal of the Early Republic 33: 219–254; Stanley Lebergott. 1966. "Labor Force and Employment, 1800–1960," In Output, Employment, and Productivity in the United States after 1800, ed. Dorothy S. Brady. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
National Bureau of Economic Research, "Presidential Popular Vote Summary for All Candidates Listed on at Least One State Ballot. [PDF]." (November 7, 2015)
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
American Government. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by: OpenStax; Rice University. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9e28f580-0d1b-4d72- 8795-c48329947ac2@1.
Adaption and Remix, and Original Content. Authored by: Deborah Smith Hoag. Provided by: Austin Community College. Located at: http://austincc.eduProject: Achieving the Dream Grant. License: CC BY: Attribution
Adaptation and Remix: The Path to Nomination. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution
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Campaigning
Overview
Campaigning
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
- Explain the key elements and phases of political campaigns and elections
Primary Versus General Campaigns
Although candidates have the same goal for primary and general elections, which is to win, these elections are very different from each other and require a very different set of strategies. Primary elections are more difficult for the voter. There are more candidates vying to become their party’s nominee, and party identification is not a useful cue because each party has many candidates rather than just one. In the 2016 presidential election, Republican voters in the early primaries were presented with a number of options, including Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and more. (Huckabee, Christie, and Fiorina dropped out relatively early.) Democrats had to decide between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley (who soon dropped out). Voters must find more information about each candidate to decide which is closest to their preferred issue positions. Due to time limitations, voters may not research all the candidates. Nor will all the candidates get enough media or debate time to reach the voters. These issues make campaigning in a primary election difficult, so campaign managers tailor their strategy.
First, name recognition is extremely important. Voters are unlikely to cast a vote for an unknown. Some candidates, like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, have held or are related to someone who held national office, but most candidates will be governors, senators, or local politicians who are less well-known nationally. Barack Obama was a junior senator from Illinois and Bill Clinton was a governor from Arkansas prior to running for president. Voters across the country had little information about them, and both candidates needed media time to become known. While well-known candidates have longer records that can be attacked by the opposition, they also have an easier time raising campaign funds because their odds of winning are better. Newer candidates face the challenge of proving themselves during the short primary season and are more likely to lose. In 2016, both eventual party nominees had massive name recognition. Hillary Clinton enjoyed notoriety from having been First Lady, a U.S. senator from New York, and Secretary of State. Donald Trump had name recognition from being an iconic real estate tycoon with Trump buildings all over the world plus a reality TV star via shows like The Apprentice. With Arnold Schwarzenegger having successfully campaigned for California governor, perhaps it should not have surprised the country when Trump was elected president.
Second, visibility is crucial when a candidate is one in a long parade of faces. Given that voters will want to find quick, useful information about each, candidates will try to get the media’s attention and pick up momentum. Media attention is especially important for newer candidates. Most voters assume a candidate’s website and other campaign material will be skewed, showing only the most positive information. The media, on the other hand, are generally considered more reliable and unbiased than a candidate’s campaign materials, so voters turn to news networks and journalists to pick up information about the candidates’ histories and issue positions. Candidates are aware of voters’ preference for quick information and news and try to get interviews or news coverage for themselves. Candidates also benefit from news coverage that is longer and cheaper than campaign ads.
Getting out the vote
Campaign managers know that to win an election, they must do two things: reach voters with their candidate’s information and get voters to show up at the polls.
To accomplish these goals, candidates and their campaigns will often try to target those most likely to vote. Unfortunately, these voters change from election to election and sometimes from year to year. Primary and caucus voters are different from voters who vote only during presidential general elections. Some years see an increase in younger voters turning out to vote. Elections are unpredictable, and campaigns must adapt to be effective.
This new reality has dramatically increased the number of politically inexperienced candidates running for national office. In 2012, for example, eleven candidates ran multistate campaigns for the Republican nomination. Dozens more had their names on one or two-state ballots.
With a long list of challengers, candidates must find more ways to stand out, leading them to espouse extreme positions or display high levels of charisma. Add to this that primary and caucus voters are often more extreme in their political beliefs, and it is easy to see why fewer moderates become party nominees. The 2016 primary campaign by President Donald Trump shows that grabbing the media’s attention with fiery partisan rhetoric can get a campaign started strong. This does not guarantee a candidate will make it through the primaries, however.
Because candidates want to achieve name recognition and visibility, campaign ads in primary elections rarely mention political parties and instead focus on issue positions or name recognition. Many of the best primary ads help the voters identify issue positions they have in common with the candidate. In 2008, for example, Hillary Clinton ran a holiday ad in which she was seen wrapping presents. Each present had a card with an issue position listed, such as “bring back the troops” or “universal pre-kindergarten.”
In a similar, more humorous vein, Mike Huckabee gained name recognition and issue placement with his 2008 primary ad. The “HuckChuck” spot had Chuck Norris repeat Huckabee’s name several times while listing the candidate’s issue positions. Norris’s line, “Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business,” was one of many statements that repeatedly used Huckabee’s name, increasing voters’ recognition of it. While neither of these candidates won the nomination, the ads were viewed by millions and were successful as primary ads.
General campaigns also try to get voters to the polls in closely contested states. In 2004, realizing that it would be difficult to convince Ohio Democrats to vote Republican, George W. Bush’s campaign focused on getting the state’s Republican voters to the polls. The volunteers walked through precincts and knocked on Republican doors to raise interest in Bush and the election.
Volunteers also called Republican and former Republican households to remind them when and where to vote. The strategy worked, and it reminded future campaigns that an organized effort to get out the vote is still a viable way to win an election.
Convention Season
Once it is clear who the parties’ nominees will be, presidential and gubernatorial campaigns enter a quiet period. Candidates run fewer ads and concentrate on raising funds for the fall. This is a crucial time because lack of money can harm their chances. The media spends much of the summer keeping track of the fundraising totals while the political parties plan their conventions. State parties host state-level conventions during gubernatorial elections, while national parties host national conventions during presidential election years.
Party conventions are typically held between June and September, with state-level conventions earlier in the summer and national conventions later.
Conventions normally last four to five days, with days devoted to platform discussion and planning and nights reserved for speeches. Local media covers the speeches given at state-level conventions, showing speeches given by the party nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, and perhaps important guests or the state’s U.S. senators. The national media covers the Democratic and Republican conventions during presidential election years, mainly showing the speeches. Some cable networks broadcast delegate voting and voting on party platforms. Members of the candidate’s family and important party members generally speak during the first few days of a national convention, with the vice-presidential nominee speaking on the next-to-last night and the presidential candidate on the final night. The two chosen candidates then hit the campaign trail for the general election. The party with the incumbent president holds the later convention, so in 2016, the Democrats held their convention after the Republicans.
here are rarely surprises at the modern convention. Thanks to party rules, the nominee for each party is generally already clear. In 2008, John McCain had locked up the Republican nomination in March by having enough delegates, while in 2012, President Obama was an unchallenged incumbent and hence people knew he would be the nominee. In 2016, both apparent nominees (Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump) faced primary opponents who stayed in the race even when the nominations were effectively sewn up—Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Ted Cruz—though no “convention surprise” took place. The naming of the vice president is generally not a surprise either. Even if a presidential nominee tries to keep it a secret, the news often leaks out before the party convention or official announcement. In 2004, the media announced John Edwards was John Kerry’s running mate. The Kerry campaign had not made a formal announcement, but an amateur photographer had taken a picture of Edwards’ name being added to the candidate’s plane and posted it to an aviation message board.
Despite the lack of surprises, there are several reasons to host traditional conventions. First, the parties require that the delegates officially cast their ballots. Delegates from each state come to the national party convention to publicly state who their state’s voters selected as the nominee.
Second, delegates will bring state-level concerns and issues to the national convention for discussion, while local-level delegates bring concerns and issues to state-level conventions. This list of issues that concern local party members, like limiting abortions in a state or removing restrictions on gun ownership, are called planks, and they will be discussed and voted upon by the delegates and party leadership at the convention. Just as wood planks make a platform, issues important to the party and party delegates make up the party platform. The parties take the cohesive list of issues and concerns and frame the election around the platform. Candidates will try to keep to the platform when campaigning, and outside groups that support them, such as super PACs, may also try to keep to these issues.
Third, conventions are covered by most news networks and cable programs. This helps the party nominee get positive attention while surrounded by loyal delegates, family members, friends, and colleagues. For presidential candidates, this positivity often leads to a bump in popularity, so the candidate gets a small increase in favorability. If a candidate does not get the bump, however, the campaign manager has to evaluate whether the candidate is connecting well with the voters or is out of step with the party faithful. In 2004, John Kerry spent the Democratic convention talking about getting U.S. troops out of the war in Iraq and increasing spending at home. Yet after his patriotic and positive convention, Gallup recorded no convention bump and the voters did not appear more likely to vote for him
Techniques and Strategies
Campaigns have always been expensive. Also, they have sometimes been negative and nasty. The 1828 “Coffin Handbill” that John Quincy Adams ran, for instance, listed the names and circumstances of the executions his opponent Andrew Jackson had ordered (Figure 8.7). This was in addition to gossip and verbal attacks against Jackson’s wife, who had accidentally committed bigamy when she married him without a proper divorce. Campaigns and candidates have not become more amicable in the years since then.
Television
Once television became a fixture in homes, campaign advertising moved to the airwaves. Television allowed candidates to connect with the voters through video, allowing them to appeal directly to and connect emotionally with voters. While Adlai Stevenson and Dwight D. Eisenhower were the first to use television in their 1952 and 1956 campaigns, the ads were more like jingles with images. Stevenson’s “Let’s Not Forget the Farmer” ad had a catchy tune, but its animated images were not serious and contributed little to the message. The “Eisenhower Answers America” spots allowed Eisenhower to answer policy questions, but his answers were glib rather than helpful.
John Kennedy’s campaign was the first to use images to show voters that the candidate was the choice for everyone. His ad, “Kennedy,” combined the jingle “Kennedy for me” and photographs of a diverse population dealing with life in the United States.
Link to LearningThe Museum of the Moving Image has collected presidential campaign ads from 1952 through today, including the “Kennedy for Me” spot mentioned above. Take a look and see how candidates have created ads to get the voters’ attention and votes over time. |
Over time, however, ads became more negative and manipulative. In reaction, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, or McCain–Feingold, included a requirement that candidates stand by their ad and include a recorded statement within the ad stating that they approved the message. Although ads, especially those run by super PACs, continue to be negative, candidates can no longer dodge responsibility for them.
Candidates are also frequently using interviews on late night television to get messages out. Soft news, or infotainment, is a new type of news that combines entertainment and information. Shows like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight make the news humorous or satirical while helping viewers become more educated about the events around the nation and the world. In 2008, Huckabee, Obama, and McCain visited popular programs like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien to target informed voters in the under-45 age bracket. The candidates were able to show their funny sides and appear like average Americans, while talking a bit about their policy preferences. By fall of 2015, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had already interviewed most of the potential presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump.
The Internet
The Internet has given candidates a new platform and a new way to target voters. In the 2000 election, campaigns moved online and created websites to distribute information. They also began using search engine results to target voters with ads. In 2004, Democratic candidate Howard Dean used the Internet to reach out to potential donors. Rather than host expensive dinners to raise funds, his campaign posted footage on his website of the candidate eating a turkey sandwich. The gimmick brought over $200,000 in campaign donations and reiterated Dean’s commitment to be a down-to-earth candidate. Candidates also use social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to interact with supporters and get the attention of younger voters.
You Might Be Wondering...
How can I stop getting inundated with texts, emails, and other political spam from political campaigns?
Find out from Texplainer at the Texas Tribune!
General Elections and Election Day
The general election campaign period occurs between mid-August and early November. These elections are simpler than primaries and conventions, because there are only two major party candidates and a few minor party candidates.
About 50 percent of voters will make their decisions based on party membership, so the candidates will focus on winning over independent voters and visiting states where the election is close. In 2016, both candidates sensed shifts in the electorate that led them to visit states that were not recently battleground states. Clinton visited Republican stronghold Arizona as Latino voter interest surged. Defying conventional campaign movements, Trump spent many hours over the last days of the campaign in the Democratic Rust Belt states, namely Michigan and Wisconsin. President Trump ended up winning both states and industrial Pennsylvania by narrow margins, allowing him to achieve a comfortable majority in the Electoral College.
Debates are an important element of the general election season, allowing voters to see candidates answer questions on policy and prior decisions. While most voters think only of presidential debates, the general election season sees many debates. In a number of states, candidates for governor are expected to participate in televised debates, as are candidates running for the U.S. Senate. Debates not only give voters a chance to hear answers, but also to see how candidates hold up under stress. Because television and the Internet make it possible to stream footage to a wide audience, modern campaign managers understand the importance of a debate.
In 1960, the first televised presidential debate showed that answering questions well is not the only way to impress voters. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, prepared in slightly different ways for their first of four debates.
Although both studied answers to possible questions, Kennedy also worked on the delivery of his answers, including accent, tone, facial displays, and body movements, as well as overall appearance. Nixon, however, was ill in the days before the debate and appeared sweaty and gaunt. He also chose not to wear makeup, a decision that left his pale, unshaven face vulnerable. Interestingly, while people who watched the debate thought Kennedy won, those listening on radio saw the debate as more of a draw.
Insider Perspective: Inside the Debate
Debating an opponent in front of sixty million television voters is intimidating. Most presidential candidates spend days, if not weeks, preparing. Newspapers and cable news programs proclaim winners and losers, and debates can change the tide of a campaign. Yet, Paul Begala, a strategist with Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, saw debates differently.
In one of his columns for CNN, Begala recommends that candidates relax and have a little fun. Debates are relatively easy, he says, more like a scripted program than an interview that puts candidates on the spot. They can memorize answers and deliver them convincingly, making sure they hit their mark. Second, a candidate needs a clear message explaining why the voters should pick him or her. Is he or she a needed change? Or the only experienced candidate? If the candidate’s debate answers reinforce this message, the voters will remember. Third, candidates should be humorous, witty, and comfortable with their knowledge. Trying to be too formal or cramming information at the last minute will cause the candidate to be awkward or get overwhelmed. Finally, a candidate is always on camera. Making faces, sighing at an opponent, or simply making a mistake gives the media something to discuss and can cause a loss. In essence, Begala argues that if candidates wish to do well, preparation and confidence are key factors.
| Is Begala’s advice good? Why or why not? What positives or negatives would make a candidate’s debate performance stand out for you as a voter? |
While debates are not just about a candidate’s looks, most debate rules contain language that prevents candidates from artificially enhancing their physical qualities. For example, prior rules have prohibited shoes that increase a candidate’s height, banned prosthetic devices that change a candidate’s physical appearance, and limited camera angles to prevent unflattering side and back shots. Candidates and their campaign managers are aware that visuals matter.
Debates are generally over by the end of October, just in time for Election Day. Beginning with the election of 1792, presidential elections were to be held in the thirty-four days prior to the “first Wednesday in December.” In 1845, Congress passed legislation that moved the presidential Election Day to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and in 1872, elections for the House of Representatives were also moved to that same Tuesday. The United States was then an agricultural country, and because a number of states restricted voting to property-owning males over twenty-one, farmers made up nearly 74 percent of voters. The tradition of Election Day to fall in November allowed time for the lucrative fall harvest to be brought in and the farming season to end. And, while not all members of government were of the same religion, many wanted to ensure that voters were not kept from the polls by a weekend religious observance. Finally, business and mercantile concerns often closed their books on the first of the month. Rather than let accounting get in the way of voting, the bill’s language forces Election Day to fall between the second and eighth of the month.
The Electoral College
Once the voters have cast ballots in November and all the election season madness comes to a close, races for governors and local representatives may be over, but the constitutional process of electing a president has only begun.
One of the reasons this is important to Texas is that the state carries the second largest share of the number of electors after California. Currently, Texas has 38 electoral votes and has seen the number of electors increase steadily for decades. Also, Texas is considered a red state in that it tends to vote for the Republican candidate. So, in terms of the role of Texas in presidential elections the state adds considerable weight to any candidate who can secure the state's electors. The electors of the Electoral College travel to their respective state capitols and cast their votes in mid-December, often by signing a certificate recording their vote. In most cases, electors cast their ballots for the candidate who won the majority of votes in their state. The states then forward the certificates to the U.S. Senate.
The number of Electoral College votes granted to each state equals the total number of representatives and senators that state has in the U.S. Congress or, in the case of Washington, DC, as many electors as it would have if it were a state. The number of representatives may fluctuate based on state population, which is determined every ten years by the U.S. Census, mandated by Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution. For the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, there are a total of 538 electors in the Electoral College, and a majority of 270 electoral votes is required to win the presidency.
Once the electoral votes have been read by the president of the Senate (i.e., the vice president of the United States) during a special joint session of Congress in January, the presidential candidate who received the majority of electoral votes is officially named president. Should a tie occur, the sitting House of Representatives elects the president, with each state receiving one vote. While this rarely occurs, both the 1800 and the 1824 elections were decided by the House of Representatives. As election night 2016 played out after the polls closed, one such scenario was in play for a tie. However, the states that Hillary Clinton needed to make that tie were lost narrowly to Trump. Had the tie occurred, the Republican House would have likely selected Trump as president anyway.
As political parties became stronger and the Progressive Era’s influence shaped politics from the 1890s to the 1920s, states began to allow state parties rather than legislators to nominate a slate of electors. Electors cannot be elected officials nor can they work for the federal government. Since the Republican and Democratic parties choose faithful party members who have worked hard for their candidates, the modern system decreases the chance they will vote differently from the state’s voters.
There is no guarantee of this, however. Occasionally there are examples of faithless electors. In 2000, the majority of the District of Columbia’s voters cast ballots for Al Gore, and all three electoral votes should have been cast for him. Yet one of the electors cast a blank ballot, denying Gore a precious electoral vote, reportedly to contest the unequal representation of the District in the Electoral College. In 2004, one of the Minnesota electors voted for John Edwards, the vice-presidential nominee, to be president and misspelled the candidate’s last name in the process. Some believe this was a result of confusion rather than a political statement. In the 2016 election, after a campaign to encourage faithless electors in the wake of what some viewed as controversial results, there were seven faithless electors: four in the state of Washington, two in Texas, and one in Hawaii. The electors’ names and votes are publicly available on the electoral certificates, which are scanned and documented by the National Archives and easily available for viewing online.
In forty-eight states and the District of Columbia, the candidate who wins the most votes in November receives all the state’s electoral votes, and only the electors from that party will vote. This is often called the winner-take-all system. In two states, Nebraska and Maine, the electoral votes are divided. The candidate who wins the state gets two electoral votes, but the winner of each congressional district also receives an electoral vote. In 2008, for example, Republican John McCain won two congressional districts and the majority of the voters across the state of Nebraska, earning him four electoral votes from Nebraska. Obama won in one congressional district and earned one electoral vote from Nebraska. In 2016, Republican Donald Trump won one congressional district in Maine, even though Hillary Clinton won the state overall. This Electoral College voting method is referred to as the district system.
Midterm Elections
Presidential elections garner the most attention from the media and political elites. Yet they are not the only important elections. The even-numbered years between presidential years, like 2014 and 2018, are reserved for congressional elections—sometimes referred to as midterm elections because they are in the middle of the president’s term. Midterm elections are held because all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the senators come up for reelection every two years.
During a presidential election year, members of Congress often experience the coattail effect, which gives members of a popular presidential candidate’s party an increase in popularity and raises their odds of retaining office. During a midterm election year, however, the president’s party often is blamed for the president’s actions or inaction. Representatives and senators from the sitting president’s party are more likely to lose their seats during a midterm election year. Many recent congressional realignments, in which the House or Senate changed from Democratic to Republican control, occurred because of this reverse-coattail effect during midterm elections. The most recent example is the 2010 election, in which control of the House returned to the Republican Party after two years of a Democratic presidency.
References and Further Reading
Jennifer L. Lawless. 2012. Becoming a Candidate: Political Ambition and the Decision to Run for Office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox. 2010. It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. Revised Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harold Meyerson, "Op-Ed: California’s Jungle Primary: Tried it. Dump It," Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2014.
Josh Putnam, "Presidential Primaries and Caucuses by Month (1976)," Frontloading HQ (blog), February 3, 2009.
William G. Mayer and Andrew Busch. 2004. The Front-loading Problem in Presidential Nominations. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Joanna Klonsky, "The Role of Delegates in the U.S. Presidential Nominating Process," Washington Post, 6 February 2008.
"Party Affiliation and Election Polls," Pew Research Center, August 3, 2012.
Shanto Iyengar. 2016. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide, 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton.
Paul Begala. 1 October 2008. “Commentary: 10 Rules for Winning a Debate.”
2nd Congress, Session I, "An Act relative to the Election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and Declaring the Office Who Shall Act as President in Case of Vacancies in the Offices both of President and Vice President,"Chapter 8, section 1, image 239. http://www.loc.gov.
28th Congress, Session II. 23 January 1845. "An Act to Establish a Uniform. Time for Holding Elections for Electors of President and Vice President in all the States of the Union," Statute II, chapter 1, image 721. http://www.loc.gov; 42nd Congress, Session II, "An Act for the Apportionment of Representatives to Congress among the Several Sates According to the Ninth Census." Chapter 11, section 3, http://www.loc.gov/.
Donald Ratcliffe. 2013. "The Right to Vote and the Rise of Democracy, 1787–1828," Journal of the Early Republic 33: 219–254; Stanley Lebergott. 1966. "Labor Force and Employment, 1800–1960," In Output, Employment, and Productivity in the United States after 1800, ed. Dorothy S. Brady. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
National Bureau of Economic Research, "Presidential Popular Vote Summary for All Candidates Listed on at Least One State Ballot. [PDF]." (November 7, 2015).
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
American Government. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by: OpenStax; Rice University. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9e28f580-0d1b-4d72- 8795-c48329947ac2@1.
Adaption and Remix, and Original Content. Authored by: Deborah Smith Hoag. Provided by: Austin Community College. Located at: http://austincc.edu Project: Achieving the Dream Grant. License: CC BY: Attribution
Adaptation and Remix: The Path to Nomination. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66312/overview
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Political Campaigns: Fundraising and Finance Laws
Overview
Political Campaigns: Fundraising and Finance Laws
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe the relevant fundraising and campaign finance laws in Texas
Introduction
Political campaigns are efforts of the candidates to win support of the voters. The goal of the campaign is to attain sufficient support to win the primary election in March and the general election in November. Campaigns involve attempts to reach potential voters through print and electronic media, mail, door-to-door campaigning, speeches to small and large groups, and text and telephone solicitation. The cost is enormous. And money is critical for candidate success in Texas.
Fundraising
Early in the 2016 election season, several candidates had fundraised well ahead of their opponents. Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, and Ted Cruz were the top fundraisers by July 2015. Clinton reported $47 million, Cruz with $14 million, and Bush with $11 million in contributions. In comparison, Bobby Jindal and George Pataki (who both dropped out relatively early) each reported less than $1 million in contributions during the same period. Bush later reported over $100 million in contributions, while the other Republican candidates continued to report lower contributions. Media stories about Bush’s fundraising discussed his powerful financial networking, while coverage of the other candidates focused on their lack of money. Donald Trump, the eventual Republican nominee and president, showed a comparatively low fundraising amount in the primary phase as he enjoyed much free press coverage because of his notoriety. He also flirted with the idea of being an entirely self-funded candidate.
Even with a carefully planned and orchestrated presidential run, early fundraising is vital for candidates. Money helps them win, and the ability to raise money identifies those who are viable. In fact, the more money a candidate raises, the more he or she will continue to raise. EMILY’s List, a political action group, was founded on this principle; its name is an acronym for “Early Money Is Like Yeast” (it makes the dough rise). This group helps progressive women candidates gain early campaign contributions, which in turn helps them get further donations (Figure 8.11).
Many potential candidates may decline to run if their opponent has a lot of money in a campaign war chest. War chests are campaign accounts registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and candidates are allowed to keep earlier donations if they intend to run for office again. Incumbents and candidates trying to move from one office to another very often have money in their war chests. Those with early money are hard to beat because they have an easier time showing they are a viable candidate (one likely to win). They can woo potential donors, which brings in more donations and strengthens the campaign. A challenger who does not have money, name recognition, or another way to appear viable will have fewer campaign donations and will be less competitive against the incumbent.
Campaign Finance Laws
In the 2012 presidential election cycle, candidates for all parties raised a total of over $1.3 billion dollars for campaigns. Congressional candidates running in the 2014 Senate elections raised $634 million, while candidates running for the House of Representatives raised $1.03 billion. This, however, pales in comparison to the amounts raised by political action committees (PACs), which are organizations created to raise and spend money to influence politics and contribute to candidates’ campaigns. In the 2014 congressional elections, PACs raised over $1.7 billion to help candidates and political parties. How does the government monitor the vast amounts of money that are now a part of the election process?
The history of campaign finance monitoring has its roots in a federal law written in 1867, which prohibited government employees from asking Naval Yard employees for donations. In 1896, the Republican Party spent about $16 million overall, which includes William McKinley’s $6–7 million campaign expenses. This raised enough eyebrows that several key politicians, including Theodore Roosevelt, took note. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt pushed Congress to look for political corruption and influence in government and elections. Shortly after, the Tillman Act (1907) was passed by Congress, which prohibited corporations from contributing money to candidates running in federal elections. Other congressional acts followed, limiting how much money individuals could contribute to candidates, how candidates could spend contributions, and what information would be disclosed to the public.
While these laws intended to create transparency in campaign funding, the government did not have the power to stop the high levels of money entering elections, and little was done to enforce the laws. In 1971, Congress again tried to fix the situation by passing the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which outlined how candidates would report all contributions and expenditures related to their campaigns. The FECA also created rules governing the way organizations and companies could contribute to federal campaigns, which allowed for the creation of political action committees. Finally, a 1974 amendment to the act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which operates independently of government and enforces the elections laws.
While some portions of the FECA were ruled unconstitutional by the courts in Buckley v. Valeo (1976), such as limits on personal spending on campaigns by candidates not using federal money, the FEC began enforcing campaign finance laws in 1976. Even with the new laws and the FEC, money continued to flow into elections. By using loopholes in the laws, political parties and political action committees donated large sums of money to candidates, and new reforms were soon needed.
Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (former D-WI) cosponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), also referred to as the McCain–Feingold Act. McCain–Feingold restricts the amount of money given to political parties, which had become a way for companies and PACs to exert influence. It placed limits on total contributions to political parties, prohibited coordination between candidates and PAC campaigns, and required candidates to include personal endorsements on their political ads. It also limited advertisements run by unions and corporations thirty days before a primary election and sixty days before a general election.
Soon after the passage of the McCain–Feingold Act, the FEC’s enforcement of the law spurred court cases challenging it. The first, McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003), resulted in the Supreme Court’s upholding the act’s restrictions on how candidates and parties could spend campaign contributions. But later court challenges led to the removal of limits on personal spending and ended the ban on ads run by interest groups in the days leading up to an election. In 2010, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission led to the removal of spending limits on corporations funding independent political broadcasts. Justices in the majority argued that the BCRA violated a corporation’s free speech rights.
The court ruling also allowed corporations to place unlimited money into super PACs, or Independent Expenditure-Only Committees. These organizations cannot contribute directly to a candidate, nor can they strategize with a candidate’s campaign. They can, however, raise and spend as much money as they please to support or attack a candidate, including running advertisements and hosting events. In 2012, the super PAC “Restore Our Future” raised $153 million and spent $142 million supporting conservative candidates, including Mitt Romney. “Priorities USA Action” raised $79 million and spent $65 million supporting liberal candidates, including Barack Obama. The total expenditure by super PACs alone was $609 million in the 2012 election and $345 million in the 2014 congressional elections.
Several limits on campaign contributions have been upheld by the courts and remain in place. Individuals may contribute up to $2,700 per candidate per election. This means a teacher living in Nebraska may contribute $2,700 to Bernie Sanders for his campaign to become to the Democratic presidential nominee, and if Sanders becomes the nominee, the teacher may contribute another
$2,700 to his general election campaign. Individuals may also give $5,000 to political action committees and $33,400 to a national party committee. PACs that contribute to more than one candidate are permitted to contribute $5,000 per candidate per election and up to $15,000 to a national party. PACs created to give money to only one candidate are limited to only $2,700 per candidate, however. The amounts are adjusted every two years, based on inflation. These limits are intended to create a more equal playing field for the candidates so that candidates must raise their campaign funds from a broad pool of contributors.
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References and Further Reading
"2012 Presidential Campaign Finance." (November 10, 2015).
"2014 House and Senate Campaign Finance." (November 12, 2015).
"Political Action Committees. ”(November 12, 2015).
Scott and Mullen, "Thirty Year Report."
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976).
S.27 - Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2001
Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).
"Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (November 11, 2015).
"Independent Expenditure-Only Committees." (November 11, 2015).
"2012 Outside Spending, by Super PAC." (May 15, 2016).
"Contribution Limits for the 2015–2016 Federal Elections [PDF]." (November 11, 2015).
"The Cost of Winning a House and Senate Seat, 1986–2014." (May 15, 2016).
Political Fundraisers: What You Need to Know. A Guide for Candidates, Officers, and Political Committees [PDF]. Texas Ethics Commission. September 20, 2018.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
American Government. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by: OpenStax; Rice University. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9e28f580-0d1b-4d72-8795-c48329947ac2@1.
Adaption and Remix, and Original Content. Authored by: Deborah Smith Hoag. Provided by: Austin Community College. Located at: http://austincc.edu Project: Achieving the Dream Grant. License: CC BY: Attribution
Adaptation and Remix: Political Campaigns: Fundraising and Finance Laws Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66313/overview
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Glossary
Overview
Glossary
Glossary: Elections and Campaigns in Texas
blanket primary: A primary in which the ballot is not restricted to candidates from one party
campaign: the efforts of candidates to secure positions in the government or the efforts to get policy matters adopted
caucus: a form of candidate nomination that occurs in a town-hall style format rather than a day-long election; usually reserved for presidential elections
closed primary: a primary election in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote.
coattail effect: the result when a popular presidential candidate helps candidates from his or her party win their own elections
delegates: party members who are chosen to represent a particular candidate at the party’s state- or national-level nominating convention
district system: the means by which electoral votes are divided between candidates based on who wins districts and/or the state
election: the process by which government officials are selected and matters of policy are determined
electoral college: the constitutionally created group of individuals, chosen by the states, with the responsibility of formally selecting the next U.S. president
general election: the election in which voters cast ballots to select public officials
gerrymandering: the drawing of district lines to guarantee a desired electoral outcome
incumbency advantage: the advantage held by officeholders that allows them to often win reelection
incumbent: the current holder of a political office
midterm elections: the congressional elections that occur in the even-numbered years between presidential election years, in the middle of the president’s term
nonpartisan blanket primary. A primary in which the ballot is not restricted to candidates from one party, where the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation
open primary: a primary election in which any registered voter can participate in the contest, regardless of party affiliation
platform: the set of issues important to the political party and the party delegates
political action committees (PACs): organizations created to raise money for political campaigns and spend money to influence policy and politics
primary election: a ballot vote in which citizens select a party's nominee for the general election
Raiding: occurs when voters of one party cross over and vote in the primary of another party, effectively allowing a party to help choose its opposition’s candidate.
runoff primary: a second primary election held between the two candidates who received the most votes in the primary election if no candidate in the first primary election had received a majority
shadow campaign: a campaign run by political action committees and other organizations without the coordination of the candidate
special elections: an election that is not held on a regularly scheduled basis. In
Texas, a special election is called to ratify amendments to the Texas Constitution, fill a vacancy in a public office, or give approval for the state government to borrow money.
straight-ticket voting: the practice of voting only for candidates from the same party
super PACs: officially known as Independent Expenditure-Only Committees; organizations that can fundraise and spend as they please to support or attack a candidate but not contribute directly to a candidate or strategize with a candidate’s campaign
top-two primary: a primary election in which the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, become the nominees for the general election
winner-take-all system: all electoral votes for a state are given to the candidate who wins the most votes in that state
References and Further Reading
Hershey, Marjorie Randon (2007). Party Politics in America 12th ed. Longman Classics in Political Science. Pages 110-111
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Elections and Campaigns in Texas: Glossary. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66314/overview
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Assessment
Overview
This is a quiz for Chapter 8.
Texas Government Chapter Eight Quiz
Check your knowledge of Chapter Eight by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
This is a quiz for Chapter 8.
Check your knowledge of Chapter Eight by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66330/overview
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Introduction: Public Policy in Texas
Overview
Public Policy in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Discuss important public policy issues in Texas
Introduction
Public policy is the broad strategy government uses to do its job, the relatively stable set of purposive governmental behaviors that address matters of concern to some part of society. Most policy outcomes are the result of considerable debate, compromise, and refinement that happen over years and are finalized only after input from multiple institutions within government. Health care reform, for instance, was developed after years of analysis, reflection on existing policy, and even trial implementation at the state level.
Simply put, public policy is anything the government does to achieve a particular outcome. More will be said about this in the next section; however, it is important for you to understand that public policy decisions impact our lives in many ways. As a result, we should understand how policies are formed, budgeted, implemented, and evaluated. We should also know who the policymakers are and be able to measure the effectiveness of policies that have been made.
This chapter explores public policy-making in Texas across a variety of leading issue areas, including public education, social welfare, Medicaid, immigration, energy, and the environment.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Revision and Adaptation. Authored by: Kris S. Seago. License: CC BY: Attribution
Revision and Adaptation. Authored by: panOpen. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66331/overview
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What is Public Policy?
Overview
What is Public Policy?
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Discuss the underlying controversies in making public policy
Introduction
It is easy to imagine that when designers engineer a product, like a car, they do so with the intent of satisfying the consumer. But the design of any complicated product must take into account the needs of regulators, transporters, assembly line workers, parts suppliers, and myriad other participants in the manufacture and shipment process. And manufacturers must also be aware that consumer tastes are fickle: A gas-guzzling sports car may appeal to an unmarried twenty- something with no children; but what happens to product satisfaction when gas prices fluctuate, or the individual gets married and has children?
In many ways, the process of designing policy isn’t that much different. The government, just like auto companies, needs to ensure that its citizen-consumers have access to an array of goods and services. And just as in auto companies, a wide range of actors is engaged in figuring out how to do it. Sometimes, this process effectively provides policies that benefit citizens. But just as often, the process of policymaking is muddied by the demands of competing interests with different opinions about society’s needs or the role that government should play in meeting them. To understand why, we begin by thinking about what we mean by the term “public policy.”
Public Policy Defined
One approach to thinking about public policy is to see it as the broad strategy the government uses to do its job. More formally, it is the relatively stable set of purposive governmental actions that address matters of concern to some part of society. This description is useful in that it helps to explain both what public policy is and what it isn’t. First, public policy is a guide to legislative action that is more or less fixed for long periods of time, not just short-term fixes or single legislative acts. Policy also doesn’t happen by accident, and it is rarely formed simply as the result of the campaign promises of a single elected official, even the governor.
Public policy can be complicated and controversial; deciding what works best and how to allocate resources to achieve a policy goal can involve multiple trade- offs. While elected officials are often important in shaping policy, most policy outcomes are the result of considerable debate, compromise, and refinement that happen over years and are finalized only after input from multiple institutions within government as well as from interest groups and the public.
Consider the example of government health care expansion. A follower of politics in the news media may come away thinking the reforms implemented in 2010 were as sudden as they were sweeping, having been developed in the final weeks before they were enacted. The reality is that expanding health care access by the government had actually been a priority of the Democratic Party for several decades. What may have seemed like a policy developed over a period of months was in fact formed after years of analysis, reflection upon existing policy, and even trial implementation of similar types of programs at the state level.
Remember that the policies of the federal government often have a direct consequence for Texas. Texas led other states in an effort to combat the federal government's efforts to take over the healthcare industry by the Obama administration's program. Even before passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA; 2010), which expanded health care coverage to millions and of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA; 2010), more than 50 percent of all healthcare expenditures in the United States already came from federal government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Several House and Senate members from both parties along with First Lady Hillary Clinton had proposed significant expansions in federal health care policy during the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton, providing a number of different options for any eventual health care overhaul. Much of what became the ACA was drawn from proposals originally developed at the state level, by none other than Obama’s 2012 Republican presidential opponent Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts.
This story illustrates an important aspect of policy, Republicans are not all the same. Republicans in Texas tend to be more conservative than Republicans in other parts of the country. This simply means that policy differences or preferences can occur within a political party. Likewise, Democrats in Texas tend to be more conservative than other parts of the country.
In addition to being thoughtful and generally stable, public policy deals with issues of concern to some large segment of society, as opposed to matters of interest only to individuals or a small group of people. Governments frequently interact with individual actors like citizens, corporations, or other countries. They may even pass highly specialized pieces of legislation, known as private bills, which confer specific privileges on individual entities. But public policy covers only those issues that are of interest to larger segments of society or that directly or indirectly affect society as a whole. Paying off the loans of a specific individual would not be public policy, but creating a process for loan forgiveness available to certain types of borrowers (such as those who provide a public service by becoming teachers) would certainly rise to the level of public policy.
A final important characteristic of public policy is that it is more than just the actions of government; it also includes the behaviors or outcomes that government action creates. Policy can even be made when government refuses to act in ways that would change the status quo when circumstances or public opinion begin to shift. For example, much of the debate over gun control policy
in the United States has centered on the unwillingness of Congress to act, even in the face of public opinion that supports some changes to gun control policy. In fact, one of the last major changes occurred in 2004, when lawmakers’ inaction resulted in the expiration of a piece of legislation known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994). Of course, this is relevant to Texas given the culture for freedom and self defense.
Public Policy as Outcomes
Governments rarely want to keep their policies a secret. Elected officials want to be able to take credit for the things they have done to help their constituents, and their opponents are all too willing to cast blame when policy initiatives fail. We can therefore think of policy as the formal expression of what elected or appointed officials are trying to accomplish. In passing the HCERA (2010), Congress declared its policy through an act that directed how it would appropriate money. The president can also implement or change policy through an executive order, which offers instructions about how to implement law under his or her discretion. Finally, policy changes can come as a result of court actions or opinions, such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which formally ended school segregation in the United States.
Typically, elected and even high-ranking appointed officials lack either the specific expertise or tools needed to successfully create and implement public policy on their own. They turn instead to the vast government bureaucracy to provide policy guidance. For example, when Congress passed the Clean Water Act (1972), it dictated that steps should be taken to improve water quality throughout the country. But it ultimately left it to the bureaucracy to figure out exactly how ‘clean’ water needed to be. In doing so, Congress provided the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with discretion to determine how much pollution is allowed in U.S. waterways.
There is one more way of thinking about policy outcomes: in terms of winners and losers. Almost by definition, public policy promotes certain types of behavior while punishing others. So, the individuals or corporations that a policy favors are most likely to benefit, or win, whereas those the policy ignores or punishes are likely to lose. Even the best-intended policies can have unintended consequences and may even ultimately harm someone, if only those who must pay for the policy through higher taxes.
For example, a policy designed to encourage students to go to liberal arts colleges may cause trade school enrollment to decline. Strategies to promote diversity in higher education may make it more difficult for qualified white or male applicants to get accepted into competitive programs. Efforts to clean up drinking water supplies may make companies less competitive and cost employees their livelihood. Even something that seems to help everyone, such as promoting charitable giving through tax incentives, runs the risk of lowering tax revenues from the rich (who contribute a greater share of their income to charity) and shifting tax burdens to the poor (who must spend a higher share of their income to achieve a desired standard of living). And while policy pronouncements and bureaucratic actions are certainly meant to rationalize policy, it is whether a given policy helps or hurts constituents (or is perceived to do so) that ultimately determines how voters will react toward the government in future elections.
Finding a Middle Ground: The Social Safety Net
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the United States created a set of policies and programs that constituted a social safety net for the millions who had lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings (Figure 11.2). Under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the federal government began programs like the Work Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps to combat unemployment and the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to refinance Depression-related mortgage debts. The Texas Department of Public Welfare was established in 1939 during the New Deal. As the effects of the Depression eased, the government phased out many of these programs. Other programs, like Social Security or the minimum wage, remain a part of the way the federal government redistributes wealth among members of its population. The federal government has also added further social support programs, like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, to ensure a baseline or minimal standard of living for all, even in the direst of times.
In recent decades, however, some have criticized these safety net programs for inefficiency and for incentivizing welfare dependence. They deride “government leeches” who use food stamps to buy lobster or other seemingly inappropriate items. Critics deeply resent the use of taxpayer money to relieve social problems like unemployment and poverty; workers who may themselves be struggling to put food on the table or pay the mortgage feel their hard-earned money should not support other families. “If I can get by without government support,” the reasoning goes, “those welfare families can do the same. Their poverty is not my problem.”
As for Texas, roughly 14 percent of Texas residents received Social Security benefits as of December 2016, according to the Social Security Administration. That translates to approximately 4 million people in Texas who received Social Security disbursements related to retirement, survivors, or disability benefits. About 2.9 million people in Texas were receiving retirement benefits. Of Texas’ estimated 3.4 million people aged 65 or older, about 87 percent received Social Security benefits, which is lower than this figure for the United States as a whole (which is roughly 90 percent). Benefits in Texas totaled roughly $4.85 billion for the month of December 2016, per the Social Security Administration. That works out to an average benefit of $1,206 for that month.
So where should the government draw the line? While there have been some instances of welfare fraud, the welfare reforms of the 1990s have made long-term dependence on the federal government less likely as the welfare safety net was pushed to the states. And with the income gap between the richest and the poorest at its highest level in history, this topic is likely to continue to receive much discussion in the coming years.
| Question: Where is the middle ground in the public policy argument over the social safety net? How can the Texas government protect its most vulnerable citizens without placing an undue burden on others? |
Categorizing Public Policy
The idea of public policy is by its very nature a politically contentious one. Among the differences between American liberals and conservatives are the policy preferences prevalent in each group. Modern liberals tend to feel very comfortable with the idea of the government shepherding progressive social and economic reforms, believing that these will lead to outcomes more equitable and fair for all members of society. Conservatives, on the other hand, often find government involvement onerous and overreaching. They feel society would function more efficiently if oversight of most “public” matters were returned to the private sphere. Before digging too deeply into a discussion of the nature of public policy, let us look first at why so many aspects of society come under the umbrella of public policy to begin with.
Different Types of Goods
Think for a minute about what it takes to make people happy and satisfied. As we live our daily lives, we experience a range of physical, psychological, and social needs that must be met in order for us to be happy and productive. At the very least, we require food, water, and shelter. In very basic subsistence societies, people acquire these through farming crops, digging wells, and creating shelter from local materials. People also need social interaction with others and the ability to secure goods they acquire, lest someone else try to take them. As their tastes become more complex, they may find it advantageous to exchange their items for others; this requires not only a mechanism for barter but also a system of transportation. The more complex these systems are, the greater the range of items people can access to keep them alive and make them happy. However, this increase in possessions also creates a stronger need to secure what they have acquired.
Economists use the term goods to describe the range of commodities, services, and systems that help us satisfy our wants or needs. This term can certainly apply to the food you eat or the home you live in, but it can also describe the systems of transportation or public safety used to protect them. Most of the goods you interact with in your daily life are private goods, which means that they can be owned by a particular person or group of people, and are excluded from use by others, typically by means of a price. For example, your home or apartment is a private good reserved for your own use because you pay rent or make mortgage payments for the right to live there. Further, private goods are finite and can run out if overused, even if only in the short term. The fact that private goods are excludable and finite makes them tradable. A farmer who grows corn, for instance, owns that corn, and since only a finite amount of corn exists, others may want to trade their goods for it if their own food supplies begin to dwindle.
Proponents of free-market economics believe that the market forces of supply and demand, working minimal government involvement, are the most effective way for markets to operate. The primary purpose of the government in this system is secure property rights. One of the basic principles of free-market economics is that for just about any good that can be privatized, the most efficient means for exchange is the marketplace. A well-functioning market will allow producers of goods to come together with consumers of goods to negotiate a trade. People facilitate trade by creating a currency—a common unit of exchange—so they do not need to carry around everything they may want to trade at all times. As long as there are several providers or sellers of the same good, consumers can negotiate with them to find a price they are willing to pay. As long as there are several buyers for a seller’s goods, providers can negotiate with them to find a price buyers are willing to accept. And, the logic goes, if prices begin to rise too much, other sellers will enter the marketplace, offering lower prices.
A second basic principle of free-market economics is that it is largely unnecessary for the government to protect the value of private goods. Farmers who own land used for growing food have a vested interest in protecting their land to ensure its continued production. Business owners must protect the reputation of their business or no one will buy from them. And, to the degree that producers need to ensure the quality of their product or industry, they can accomplish that by creating a group or association that operates outside government control. In short, industries have an interest in self-regulating to protect their own value. According to free-market economics, as long as everything we could ever want or need is a private good, and so long as every member of society has some ability to provide for themselves and their families, public policy regulating the exchange of goods and services is really unnecessary.
Some people in the United States argue that the self-monitoring and self- regulating incentives provided by the existence of private goods mean that sound public policy requires very little government action. Known as libertarians, these individuals believe government almost always operates less efficiently than the private sector (the segment of the economy run for profit and not under government control), and that government actions should therefore be kept to a minimum.
Even as many in the United States recognize the benefits provided by private goods, we have increasingly come to recognize problems with the idea that all social problems can be solved by exclusively private ownership. First, not all goods can be classified as strictly private. Can you really consider the air you breathe to be private? Air is a difficult good to privatize because it is not excludable—everyone can get access to it at all times—and no matter how much of it you breathe, there is still plenty to go around. Geographic regions like forests have environmental, social, recreational, and aesthetic value that cannot easily be reserved for private ownership. Resources like migrating birds or schools of fish may have value if hunted or fished, but they cannot be owned due to their migratory nature. Finally, national security provided by the armed forces protects all citizens and cannot reasonably be reserved for only a few.
These are all examples of what economists call public goods, sometimes referred to as collective goods. Unlike private property, they are not excludable and are essentially infinite. Forests, water, and fisheries, however, are a type of public good called common goods, which are not excludable but may be finite. The problem with both public and common goods is that since no one owns them, no one has a financial interest in protecting their long-term or future value. Without government regulation, a factory owner can feel free to pollute the air or water, since he or she will have no responsibility for the pollution once the winds or waves carry it somewhere else (see Figure 11.4). Without government regulation, someone can hunt all the migratory birds or deplete a fishery by taking all the fish, eliminating future breeding stocks that would maintain the population. The situation in which individuals exhaust a common resource by acting in their own immediate self-interest is called the tragedy of the commons.
A second problem with strict adherence to free-market economics is that some goods are too large, or too expensive, for individuals to provide them for themselves. Consider the need for a marketplace: Where does the marketplace come from? How do we get the goods to market? Who provides the roads and bridges? Who patrols the waterways? Who provides security? Who ensures the regulation of the currency? No individual buyer or seller could accomplish this. The very nature of the exchange of private goods requires a system that has some of the openness of public or common goods, but is maintained by either groups of individuals or entire societies.
Economists consider goods like cable TV, cellphone service, and private schools to be toll goods. Toll goods are similar to public goods in that they are open to all and theoretically infinite if maintained, but they are paid for or provided by some outside (nongovernment) entity. Many people can make use of them, but only if they can pay the price. The name “toll goods” comes from the fact that, early on, many toll roads were in fact privately owned commodities. Even today, states from Virginia to California have allowed private companies to build public roads in exchange for the right to profit by charging tolls.
So long as land was plentiful, and most people in the United States lived a largely rural subsistence lifestyle, the difference between private, public, common, and toll goods was mostly academic. But as public lands increasingly became private through sale and settlement, and as industrialization and the rise of mass production allowed monopolies and oligopolies to become more influential, support for public policies regulating private entities grew. By the beginning of the twentieth century, led by the Progressives, the United States had begun to search for ways to govern large businesses that had managed to distort market forces by monopolizing the supply of goods. And, largely as a result of the Great Depression, people wanted ways of developing and protecting public goods that were fairer and more equitable than had existed before.
These forces and events led to the increased regulation of public and common goods, and a move for the public sector—the government—to take over of the provision of many toll goods.
Classic Types of Policy
Public policy, then, ultimately boils down to determining the distribution, allocation, and enjoyment of public, common, and toll goods within a society. While the specifics of policy often depend on the circumstances, two broad questions all policymakers must consider are a) who pays the costs of creating and maintaining the goods, and b) who receives the benefits of the goods? When private goods are bought and sold in a market place, the costs and benefits go to the participants in the transaction. Your landlord benefits from receipt of the rent you pay, and you benefit by having a place to live. But non-private goods like roads, waterways, and national parks are controlled and regulated by someone other than the owners, allowing policymakers to make decisions about who pays and who benefits.
In 1964, Theodore Lowi argued that it was possible to categorize policy based upon the degree to which costs and benefits were concentrated on the few or diffused across the many. One policy category, known as distributive policy, tends to collect payments or resources from many but concentrates direct benefits on relatively few. Highways are often developed through distributive policy. Distributive policy is also common when society feels there is a social benefit to individuals obtaining private goods such as higher education that offer long-term benefits, but the upfront cost may be too high for the average citizen. One example of the way distributive policy works is the story of the Transcontinental Railroad. In the 1860s, the U.S. government began to recognize the value of building a robust railroad system to move passengers and freight around the country. A particular goal was connecting California and the other western territories acquired during the 1840s war with Mexico to the rest of the country. The problem was that constructing a nationwide railroad system was a costly and risky proposition. To build and support continuous rail lines, private investors would need to gain access to tens of thousands of miles of land, some of which might be owned by private citizens. The solution was to charter two private corporations—the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads—and provide them with resources and land grants to facilitate the construction of the railroads (see Figure 11.5).Through these grants, publicly owned land was distributed to private citizens, who could then use it for their own gain. However, a broader public gain was simultaneously being provided in the form of a nationwide transportation network.
Texas continues to have more railroad mileage than any other state and the largest number of railroad employees. In 1992 chemicals accounted for thirty percent of the railroad tonnage originating in the state, while agricultural products, the leading category during the early years, accounted for only seven percent. Coal represented the largest category of rail tonnage terminating in Texas. The state is second only to Virginia with its extensive coal shipping piers in the amount of coal terminated. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqr01.
The same process operates in the agricultural sector, where various federal programs help farmers and food producers through price supports and crop insurance, among other forms of assistance. These programs help individual farmers and agriculture companies stay afloat and realize consistent profits. They also achieve the broader goal of providing plenty of sustenance for the people of the United States, so that few of us have to “live off the land.”
Other examples of distributive policy support citizens’ efforts to achieve “the American Dream.” American society recognizes the benefits of having citizens who are financially invested in the country’s future. Among the best ways to encourage this investment are to ensure that citizens are highly educated and have the ability to acquire high-cost private goods such as homes and businesses. However, very few people have the savings necessary to pay upfront for a college education, a first home purchase, or the start-up costs of a business. To help out, the government has created a range of incentives that everyone in the country pays for through taxes but that directly benefit only the recipients. Examples include grants (such as Pell grants), tax credits and deductions, and subsidized or federally guaranteed loans. Each of these programs aims to achieve a policy outcome. Pell grants exist to help students graduate from college, whereas Federal Housing Administration mortgage loans lead to home ownership.
While distributive policy, according to Lowi, has diffuse costs and concentrated benefits, regulatory policy features the opposite arrangement, with concentrated costs and diffuse benefits. A relatively small number of groups or individuals bear the costs of regulatory policy, but its benefits are expected to be distributed broadly across society. As you might imagine, regulatory policy is most effective for controlling or protecting public or common resources. Among the best-known examples are policies designed to protect public health and safety, and the environment. These regulatory policies prevent manufacturers or businesses from maximizing their profits by excessively polluting the air or water, selling products they know to be harmful, or compromising the health of their employees during production.
A final type of policy is redistributive policy, so named because it redistributes resources in society from one group to another. That is, according to Lowi, the costs are concentrated and so are the benefits, but different groups bear the costs and enjoy the benefits. Most redistributive policies are intended to have a sort of “Robin Hood” effect; their goal is to transfer income and wealth from one group to another such that everyone enjoys at least a minimal standard of living. Typically, the wealthy and middle class pay into the federal tax base, which then funds need-based programs that support low-income individuals and families.
A few examples of redistributive policies are Head Start (education), Medicaid (health care), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, income support), and food programs like the Supplementary Nutritional Aid Program (SNAP). The government also uses redistribution to incentivize specific behaviors or aid small groups of people. Pell grants to encourage college attendance and tax credits to encourage home ownership are other examples of redistribution.
Link to Learning
The Public Policy Project on Ballotpedia aims to illuminate major policy issues being discussed and implemented throughout the United States. Public policy can be complicated and controversial; deciding what works best and how to allocate resources to achieve a policy goal can involve multiple trade-offs. Much of the public policy that affects citizens economically, legally and socially, is made at the state level.
Explore links and introductions to public policy in Texas to Texas public policy articles on Ballotpedia.
References and Further Reading
Texas Public Policy Foundation. Accessed September 10, 2019.
James E. Anderson. 2000. Public Policymaking: An Introduction, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Kaiser Family Foundation (2009). National Health Insurance—A Brief History of Reform Efforts in the U.S. Accessed September 10, 2019.
CBS Boston (2013, November). Romneycare vs. Obamacare: Key Similarities & Differences. Retrieved on October 22, 2019.
E. E. Schattschneider (1960). The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Plumer, B. (2012, December). Everything you need to know about the assault weapons ban, in one post. Washington Post.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Scroggin, A. (2018). On Social Security’s anniversary, let’s look at what it means for Texans today. AARP. Retrieved on October 22, 2019.
Mildenberg, D. (2013, November 26). Private Toll Road Investors Shift Revenue Risk to States. Bloomberg. Retrieved on October 22, 2019.
History (2019, September 11). Transcontinental Railroad.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
American Government. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by:OpenStax; Rice University. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface. License: CC BY: Attribution License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9e28f580-0d1b-4d72- 8795-c48329947ac2@1.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66332/overview
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Making Public Policy in Texas
Overview
Making Public Policy in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe the five stages in making public policy in Texas
Introduction: The Public Policy Process
Policymaking is a cyclical process. It begins in the problem identification stage with recognition and definition of a significant public problem and an organized call to government action through agenda-setting. In response, the legislative and bureaucratic machinery of government may formulate, adopt, and implement a strategy for addressing the problem. Analysis of policy effectiveness in turn often reveals shortcomings in the formulation or implementation or new problems to add to the policy agenda. The process is a cycle because the evaluation stage should feed back into the earlier stages, informing future decisions about the policy.
The public policy process is often described as a cycle that consists of five stages:
- problem definition
- agenda setting
- policy adoption
- implementation
- evaluation
Making Public Policy
1. Defining the Problem
The first stage of policymaking is problem identification. During this initial stage, public attention is focused on some public problem or issue, and policymakers respond to these political needs and problems.
Problem identification identifies the issues that merit discussion. The act of problem identification necessitates specifying alternatives. Alternative specification considers solutions to fix the difficulty raised in problem identification. For example, government officials may agree in the problem subphase that the increase in childhood obesity presents a societal problem worthy of government attention.
However, the solution can be complex, and people who otherwise agree might come into conflict over what the best answer is. Alternatives might range from reinvestment in school physical education programs and health education classes, to taking soda and candy machines out of the schools and requiring good nutrition in school lunches.
In the problem identification stage, our ideology—our ideas concepts, and visions about the way society works—plays a critical role in defining public policymaking. Whether a policy is considered "good" or "just" may depend on whether the person connecting with the proposal identifies as a liberal, conservative, libertarian, communitarians, or socialist.
2. Agenda Setting
Agenda setting is the second stage of policymaking. Not all issues make it onto the governmental agenda because there is only so much attention that government can pay. Thus, one of the more important tasks for a policy advocate is to frame his or her issue in a compelling way that raises a persuasive dimension or critical need. For example, health care reform has been attempted on many occasions over the years. One key to making the topic salient has been to frame it in terms of health care access, highlighting the percentage of people who do not have health insurance.
During this key stage, policy formation involves the detailed procedures of passing legislation, as well as making administrative rules and regulations. Agenda setting then takes place in which decisions are made regarding what problems will be discussed, how the problems will be understood, and what concrete measures will be taken to address them. As you may recall from our earlier discussion about interest groups, one of the goals of interest groups is to gain access to policy discussions inside agencies and legislatures; access provides interest groups with the opportunity to help set the institutional agenda.
Agenda setting ends when a given problem has been selected, a solution has been paired with that problem, and the solution goes to the decision makers for a vote. Acid rain provides another nice illustration of agenda setting and the problems and solutions subphases. Acid rain is a widely recognized problem that did not make it on to the governmental policy agenda until Congress passed the Air Quality Act of 1967, long after environmental groups started asking for laws to regulate pollution.
In recent years, the Texas official policy agenda has included such items as educational finance, property tax reform, medical malpractice reform, welfare reform, and corrections policy reform.
3. Policy Adoption
The third stage in the policymaking process is policy adoption. Once a proposed policy has been added to the agenda, policy adoption begins. In this policy phase, the elected branches of government typically consider one specific solution to a problem and decide whether to pass it.
Policy is made in a variety of different ways. Legislation may be passed and signed into law by the governor, or a state agency may change a rule or regulation.
This stage is the most visible one and usually garners the most press coverage. And yet it may be somewhat anticlimactic; by the time a specific policy proposal (a solution) comes out of agenda setting for a yes/no vote, it can be something of a foregone conclusion that it will pass.
However, the process of policy adoption can be extremely complex. Legislative committees and agency staff may hear testimony and sift through several different alternatives to address a problem. They may ask for reports to project the effects of a policy change before making a decision. The judiciary may issue a decision on a legal case that affects the potential policy.
4. Implementation
The fourth stage in the policy-making process is implementation. Once adopted, government agencies in the fourth stage begin the task of making the policy work. They establish procedures in accord with the policy, write guidance documents, and issue grants-in-aid to other government bodies. The agencies then carry out the policy as expressed by a legislative act, rule, regulation, or legal decision.
Identifying the appropriate agency to implement a program is crucial at this stage. They must adopt the new policy. Sometimes this requires adjusting budgets in order to accomplish a new task or function, or building new facilities, or developing infrastructure. Some policies are easily enacted, but others are more complex and require significant work. Budgetary policy plays a major role in the implementation stage and could determine the success or failure of a particular public policy.
5. Evaluation
At a certain point, all public policies must be evaluated for their effectiveness. Evaluation is the fifth stage in the policy-making process, and should be tied directly to the policy’s desired outcomes. In the best-case scenario, evaluation procedures would assess the stated goals of the particular policy against the actual outcomes of the implemented policy. Evaluation essentially asks, “How well did this policy do what we designed it to do?” The answers can sometimes be surprising. In one hotly debated case, the United States funded abstinence-only sex education for teens with the goal of reducing teen pregnancy. A 2011 study published in the journal PLoS One, however, found that abstinence-only education actually increased teen pregnancy rates.
Several different groups and persons may take part in evaluating a policy once it has been implemented. Often the agencies that implement the policy will evaluate the results of their actions to determine whether goals have been met. Legislators provide oversight of policy implementation. Through investigative reporting, the media evaluate the success or failure of public policy. Academic institutions and political scientists help evaluate policy through critiquing policy ideas and outcomes, and studying those impacted by policies. Citizens also provide an important evaluative function by responding to policies—and news regarding policies—through political participation.
Closing the loop between problem identification and program evaluation is one of the most challenging problems facing policymakers. Evaluation may reveal a need for revisions in policy, a need for changes in implementation, or even a whole new policy. It may also reveal new problems in need of policy solutions.
Next we will explore key policy areas shaping political life in Texas.
References and Further Reading
Anderson, J. E. (2010). Public Policymaking: An Introduction. Wadsworth.
Jones, B. D. & Baumgartner, F. R. (2005). The Politics of Attention. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kathrin F. Stanger-Hall & David W. Hall (2011). Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S. PLoS One.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Making Public Policy in Texas. Authored by:panOpen. License: CC BY: Attribution
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Key Policy Areas in Texas
Overview
Key Policy Areas in Texas
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Identify the key policy issues and challenges in Texas
Introduction
In practice, public policy consists of specific programs that provide resources to members of society, create regulations that protect U.S. citizens, and attempt to equitably fund the government. We can broadly categorize most policies based on their goals or the sector of society they affect, although many, such as food stamps, serve multiple purposes. Implementing these policies costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and understanding the goals of this spending and where the money goes is of vital importance to citizens and students of politics alike.
Public policy can be complicated and controversial; deciding what works best and how to allocate resources to achieve a policy goal can involve multiple trade-offs. Much of the public policy that affects citizens economically, legally and socially, is made at the state level. Highlighted here are some key policy areas in Texas.
Civil Liberties
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action refers to a complex set of policies adopted by governments and institutions to take proactive measures to increase the proportion of historically disadvantaged minority groups. These measures have taken many different forms, including strict quotas, extra outreach efforts and student financial aid specifically for minorities. In the decades since it was first instituted, affirmative action has often taken the form of racial preferences, and the two terms are often used interchangeably.
Affirmative action in Texas refers to the steps taken by employers and universities in Texas to increase the proportions of historically disadvantaged minority groups at those institutions. Historically, affirmative action nationwide has taken many different forms, such as strict quotas, extra outreach efforts, and racial and gender preferences. However, racial quotas in university admissions were banned in a 1978 United States Supreme Court case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.
As of March 2015, 109 out of 577 public four-year universities across the country reported that they considered race in admissions. This practice has been banned in eight states. Meanwhile, 28 states require affirmative action plans in either public employment or apprenticeships. Affirmative action programs that grant racial preferences have come under scrutiny in the courts for potentially violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The Right to Bear Arms
In Texas, as in other states, public policy debates about gun violence include discussions about firearms deaths – including homicide, suicide, and unintentional deaths – as well as the impact of gun ownership, criminal and legal, on gun violence outcomes. Texans who advocate for gun control support increasing regulations related to gun ownership, whereas Texans who advocate for gun rights support decreasing regulations related to gun ownership. Gun control advocates believe that legislatures can, consistent with the Constitution, impose reasonable limits on firearms sale, ownership, and use, without raising civil liberties concerns.
The dilemma for policymakers is protecting the public while avoiding infringement on 2nd amendment rights.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." In Texas, the right to keep and bear arms is said to belong to "every citizen" by the Texas constitution. Estimates of Texas gun ownership range from 35 to 43% of the population, which is above the national average.
At least seven people were killed and another 20 were injured in a mass shooting that stretched in and around Midland and Odessa, Texas. The incident was the second mass shooting in Texas in a month in 2019, following a shooting in El Paso, on Aug. 3.
Eight new gun laws went into effect in Texas Sept. 1, 2019, passed in May and June by the Texas Legislature (see Table 11.1). The laws eased restrictions on guns, allowing them to be carried in places of worship, during disasters and in rented and leased property.
Legislation | Law |
Allows Texans to carry guns in churches, synagogues and other places of worship, unless otherwise banned by those places with proper signage. | |
Prohibits property owners’ associations from banning storage of guns on rental properties. | |
Provides a legal defense for licensed handgun owners who unknowingly enter an establishment that bans firearms as long as they leave when asked. | |
Prohibits landlords from banning renters and their guests from carrying firearms in lease agreements.. | |
Loosens restrictions on the number of school marshals who can carry guns at public and private schools in Texas. | |
Allows Texans to carry handguns without a license during a state of disaster. | |
Prohibits school districts from banning licensed gun owners from storing guns and ammunition in their vehicles in parking lots. | |
Allows certain foster homes to store guns and ammunition in a locked location. |
Table 11.1 New Gun Laws in Effect on September 1, 2019 in Texas. Table adapted from KERA News (2019), 8 New Gun Laws Take Effect in Texas Sept 1.ws (
There are three different forms of campus carry laws that states enact: mandatory, institutional, or non- permissive. On Texas college and university campuses, mandatory "campus carry" laws became effective August 1, 2016 for 4-year universities and August 1, 2017 for community colleges. Mandatory refers to a law or court decision which requires a publicly funded institution to generally allow firearms on campus, though a few limited gun-free zones are allowed for specific sensitive places (e.g. in a secure area, or at a sporting event). In Texas, campus carry laws pertain to concealed carry only; open carry is forbidden.
Question: What is your opinion of campus carry laws in Texas? Are any areas exempted by school policy at your college or university?
Civil Rights
A bill introduced to the Texas House of Representatives in March 2015 proposed that any student who encountered another student who does not identify with their "biological sex" in a shared restroom could be awarded $2,000 in damage reparations for "mental anguish." The school itself would also be liable for failing to take action against known transgender students using their gender identified restroom.
Another bill introduced to the Texas House in February 2015 suggested that anyone over the age of 13 years found to be in a public restroom of a gender not their own should be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, spend up to a year in jail, and face a $4000 fine. Under this proposed bill, building managers who repeatedly and knowingly allow transgender individuals to use the facility of their gender identity would also face a fine of up to $10,000.
Although several bills were filed in both the regular legislative session and first special session of the Texas Legislature in 2017, in August 2017, the Texas Legislature adjourned without voting on the "transgender bathroom bill." Sponsored by State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and championed by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, the Texas Senate passed SB6 in the regular session and SB3 in the Special Session by a vote of 21-10 largely along party lines (Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. was the only Democrat to vote in favor of each bill). Neither bill went to the House floor for a vote (although SB6 received a hearing by the House's State Affairs committee). SB6 would have limited bathroom access based on the sex listed on one's birth certificate while SB3 would have allowed an individual to use the restroom listed on several state IDs as well (e.g. driver's license or concealed carry license).
Budget and Finances
In Texas, as in other states, lawmakers and public officials are elected in part to manage the state's finances. This includes generating revenues (money coming into the state from various sources) and approving expenditures (the money spent on governmental functions and servicing state debt). State budgets are complex and fluid, as they depend on anticipated revenues and planned expenditures, which may alter over the course of a fiscal year. If revenues do not keep pace with expenditures, states generally have to raise taxes, cut services, borrow money, or a combination of the three. State budget decisions are also influenced by policy decisions at the national level, such as the Affordable Care Act or energy and environmental regulations, and issues at the local level, such as crime and the quality of education.
Taxes
Tax policy vary from state to state. Texas, like other states, levies taxes to help fund the variety of services provided by state government. Tax collections comprise approximately 40 percent of the states' total revenues. The rest comes from non-tax sources, such as intergovernmental aid (e.g., federal funds), lottery revenues, and fees. The primary types of taxes levied by state governments include personal income tax, general sales tax, excise (or special sales) taxes and corporate income tax.
Texas generates the bulk of its tax revenue by levying a general sales tax and select sales taxes (otherwise known as excise taxes). Property taxes keep local governments like cities, counties and school districts operating and pay for everything from police officers' salaries to classroom textbooks. The state derives its constitutional authority to tax from Article 8 of the state constitution.
Education Policy
One of the most important functions of state government is providing and funding public education. Texas has a very large and complex public school system, with an equally complex school finance system.
Three issues have played a major role in shaping education in Texas over the past fifty years: desegregation, funding equity, and finding the formula for educational excellence.
K-12 Public Education
The Texas public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents.
In 2018, $52.3 billion in state and local money went to 5.4 million students in 1,019 traditional school districts and 171 charter districts.
The state of Texas guarantees every school district a certain amount of funding for each student, called the basic allotment. State lawmakers determine the base number per student, which was $5,140 in 2018. Many educators argue that the state should regularly increase that base number to match the increase in inflation to provide schools with the funding they need; however, the basic allotment per student has not changed substantially since 2010.
Higher Education
Texas' higher education system is composed of 268 colleges and universities. Of these, 107 are public institutions, 73 are nonprofit private schools, and 88 are for-profit private institutions.
Other highlights:
- At public four-year colleges in Texas, 27.6 percent graduated within four years, while 51.7 percent graduated within six-years
- Hispanic students comprised approximately 34.0 percent of the total postsecondary student population in Texas
- Texas was one of five states in which the number of teaching and research assistants alone outnumbered full-time faculty.
School Choice
School choice programs provide alternatives to parents who do not wish to send their children to the local public schools to which they are assigned. Public school choice options include open enrollment policies, magnet schools, and charter schools. In addition, governments may provide financial assistance to parents who pursue private school options. This assistance may take the form of school vouchers, which allow public school students to attend private schools; scholarship tax credits; personal tax credits and deductions; and education savings accounts (ESAs), which allow parents to receive public funds directly for educational expenses. Proponents argue that school choice programs improve educational outcomes by expanding opportunity and access for historically disadvantaged students. In addition, advocates claim that school choice programs empower parents and improve traditional public schools through competition. Critics contend that these programs divert funds from traditional public schools, thereby generating unequal outcomes for students. In addition, some critics argue that school voucher programs wrongly direct tax dollars to religious organizations, which operate many private schools.
Other information policymakers use:
In Texas, there were 312,640 students enrolled in 1,740 private schools in fall 2013, accounting for roughly 6.13 percent of the state's total school-age population.
According to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, as of June 2016, Texas provided no financial assistance (either in the form of vouchers or tax credits) to parents wishing to send their children to private schools instead of public schools.
Charter Schools
Charter schools in Texas are public schools operated independently of public school systems, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are largely publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state and local boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum.
As public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or impose special entrance requirements; students are usually admitted through a lottery process if demand exceeds the number of spaces available in a school. Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs; therefore, they must rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides revenues through special grants.
Other information policymakers use:
- According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 723 total charter schools in Texas in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 282,900 students.
- Overall, charter school students accounted for 5.39 percent of total public school enrollment in Texas in 2015.
- The Texas State Legislature approved the state's charter school law in 1995.
Election Policy
Ballot Access Requirements
In order to get on the ballot in Texas, a candidate for state or federal office must meet a variety of state- specific filing requirements and deadlines. These regulations, known as ballot access laws, determine whether a candidate or party will appear on an election ballot. These laws are set at the state level. A candidate must prepare to meet ballot access requirements well in advance of primaries, caucuses, and the general election.
There are three basic methods by which an individual may become a candidate for office in a state.
- An individual can seek the nomination of a state-recognized political party.
- An individual can run as an independent. Independent candidates often must petition in order to have their names printed on the general election ballot.
- An individual can run as a write-in candidate.
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process by which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn. Each of Texas' 36 United States Representatives and 181 state legislators are elected from political divisions called districts. United States Senators are not elected by districts, but by the states at large. District lines are redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.
Other information policymakers may use:
- Following the 2010 United States Census, Texas was apportioned 36 congressional seats. Texas' House of Representatives is made up of 150 districts; Texas' State Senate is made up of 31 districts.
- In Texas, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the state legislature. If the legislature fails to approve a state legislative redistricting plan, a backup commission must draw the lines.
- Texas' congressional and state legislative district maps that were drawn after the 2010 census have been subject to litigation (https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Texas#Redistricting_after_the_2010_census). On June 25, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed a district court decision striking down several congressional and state legislative district maps as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders (the high court upheld the district court's finding of racial gerrymandering with respect to one state House district).
Energy Policy
Energy policy involves governmental actions affecting the production, distribution, and consumption of energy in a state. Energy policies are enacted and enforced at the local, state, and federal levels and may change over time. These policies include legislation, regulation, taxes, incentives for energy production or use, standards for energy efficiency, and more. Stakeholders include citizens, politicians, environmental groups, industry groups, and think tanks. A variety of factors can affect the feasibility of federal and state-level energy policies, such as available natural resources, geography, and consumer needs.
Fracking
Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction that involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formations at high pressure. The Oil and Gas Division within the Texas Railroad Commission is responsible for regulating fracking in Texas.
Texas overlies portions of the Anadarko Basin, the Palo Duro Basin, the Permian Basin, the Barnett Shale, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the Haynesville-Bossier Shale. As of February 2017, Texas had 279,615 active oil and gas wells. As of May 2017, however, the state did not track the number of wells that were hydraulically fractured. According to the Texas Railroad Commission, fracking began in Texas in the 1950s.
While states have primary regulatory authority over fracking, oil and gas operators must meet requirements in the following federal environmental and public health laws, among others:
- The Clean Air Act (https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview), which regulates air pollutants emitted during oil and gas production
- The Clean Water Act (https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act), which regulates all pollution discharges into surface waters and requires oil and gas operators to obtain permits to discharge produced water—fluids used during fracking as well as water that occurs naturally in oil or gas-bearing formations—into surface water.
- The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), (https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-comprehensive-environmental-response- compensation-and-liability-act)which requires oil and gas operators to report the release of hazardous substances during oil and operations and allows the EPA to investigate hazardous substance releases and require operators to restore areas affected by hazardous spills.
As of March 2017, Texas regulations required fracking operators to complete and submit a list of chemicals used during the fracking process on the website FracFocus.org. Operators that consider a chemical or the concentration of a chemical to be a trade secret are allowed to withhold these chemicals from public disclosure and thus disclosure to potential competitors.
Environmental Policy
Environmental policy aims to conserve natural resources by balancing environmental protection with economic growth, property rights, public health, and energy production. This is done mainly through laws and regulation passed at all governmental levels and influenced by many stakeholders with different agendas.
Endangered Species
Endangered species policy in Texas involves the identification and protection of endangered and threatened animal and plant species. Policies are implemented and enforced by both the state and federal governments.
Finance Policy
The United States financial system is a network that facilitates exchanges between lenders and borrowers. The system, which includes banks and investment firms, is the base for all economic activity in the nation. According to the Federal Reserve, financial regulation has two main intended purposes: to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial system and to provide and enforce rules that aim to protect consumers. The regulatory framework varies across industries, with different regulations applying to different financial services. Individual federal and state entities have different and sometimes overlapping responsibilities within the regulatory system. For example, individual states and three federal agencies—the Federal Reserve, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)— regulate commercial banks. Other sectors of the financial market are regulated by specific entities. The Department of Banking is the primary regulatory body for financial institutions in Texas. Some, such as the Brookings Institution, argue that expanded governmental regulation of banks and financial products (e.g., mortgages) can prevent large- scale financial crises, protect consumers from abusive practices, and stabilize financial markets. Others, such as the Cato Institute, argue that over-regulation of banks of banks and financial products burdens business, stalls economic growth, and does little, if anything, to stabilize financial markets. Beyond this basic debate about the role of the government in regulating the private financial sector, there are varying opinions about the proper extent of governmental regulation.
Healthcare Policy
Healthcare policy in Texas involves the creation and implementation of laws, rules, and regulations for managing the state's healthcare system. The healthcare system consists of services provided by medical professionals to diagnose, treat, and prevent mental and physical illness and injury. The system also encompasses a wide range of related sectors, such as insurance, pharmaceuticals and health information technology.
Healthcare policy affects not only the cost citizens must pay for care, but also their access to care and the quality of care received, which can influence their overall health. A top concern for policymakers is the rising cost of healthcare, which has placed an increasing strain on the disposable income of consumers as well as on state budgets.
Other issues in healthcare policy include
- state Medicaid expansion,
- health information technology and privacy,
- uninsured and underinsured portions of the population, a shortage of primary care physicians, and
- mental healthcare access and coverage.
One long-term policy issue has been how to provide for the basic needs of poor people in Texas. Social welfare policy is designed to ensure some level of equity in a democratic political system based on competitive, free-market economics. During the Great Depression, many politicians came to fear that the high unemployment and low-income levels plaguing society could threaten the stability of democracy, as was happening in European countries like Germany and Italy. The assumption in this thinking is that democratic systems work best when poverty is minimized.
Social welfare policy creates an automatic stimulus for society by building a safety net that can catch members of society who are suffering economic hardship through no fault of their own. For an individual family, this safety net makes the difference between eating and starving; for an entire economy, it could prevent an economic recession from sliding into a broader and more damaging depression.
Poverty is a complicated policy issue in Texas. There are more than 200 programs administered by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHS) that are aimed at different problems related to poverty.
As part of a broader social welfare policy in Texas, Medicare and Medicaid were intended to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to health care. Medicare is an entitlement program funded through payroll taxes. Its purpose is to make sure that senior citizens and retirees have access to low-cost health care they might not otherwise have, because most U.S. citizens get their health insurance through their employers.
Medicare provides three major forms of coverage: a guaranteed insurance benefit that helps cover major hospitalization, fee-based supplemental coverage that retirees can use to lower costs for doctor visits and other health expenses, and a prescription drug benefit. Medicare faces the problem that health care costs are rising significantly faster than inflation.
Medicaid Spending
Medicaid is a formula-based health insurance program, which means beneficiaries must demonstrate they fall within a particular income category. Individuals in the Medicaid program receive a fairly comprehensive set of health benefits, although access to health care may be limited because fewer providers accept payments from the program (it pays them less for services than does Medicare).
Medicaid differs dramatically from Medicare in that it is partially funded by states, many of which have reduced access to the program by setting the income threshold so low that few people qualify. The ACA (2010) sought to change that by providing more federal money to the states if they agreed to raise minimum income requirements. Many states have refused, which has helped to keep the overall costs of Medicaid lower, even though it has also left many people without health coverage they might receive if they lived elsewhere.
Texas' Medicaid program provides medical insurance to groups of low-income people and individuals with disabilities. Medicaid is a nationwide program jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Medicaid eligibility, benefits, and administration are managed by the states within federal guidelines. A program related to Medicaid is the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers low-income children above the poverty line and is administered like Medicaid through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TexCare offers additional children's health insurance programs through Medicaid, which is provided at no cost to qualifying children, and the State Kids Insurance Program (SKIP). State employees may qualify for an insurance supplement for dependent children under age 19. SKIP supplements are covered through the Texas state insurance program.
Effect of the Affordable Care Act
The impact of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has been debated among politicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The ACA was signed into law in 2010 by President Barack Obama (D). The law facilitates the purchase of health insurance through a system of health insurance exchanges, tax credits, and subsidies. Initially, states were required to expand eligibility for Medicaid under the law; a 2012 ruling by the United States Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion voluntary for states. The law also requires insurers to cover healthcare services within a standard set of benefits and prohibits coverage denials based on preexisting conditions. Under the law, all individuals are required to obtain health insurance.
Immigration Policy
Immigration policy determines who may become a new citizen of the United States or enter the country as a temporary worker, student, refugee, or permanent resident. The federal government is responsible for setting and enforcing most immigration policy. Meanwhile, states assume a largely supportive role, enacting their own supplementary laws and setting policies that may, for example, determine which public services immigrants can access, establish employee screening requirements, or guide the interaction between related state agencies and their federal counterparts.
Many groups seek to determine the economic costs and benefits that immigration brings to states and the United States as a whole. Some groups estimate that immigrants are a net gain to the economy because of the goods and services they provide while others claim that immigrants impose a net burden to the state by using healthcare, education, or welfare services.
Some jurisdictions, including some states, cities, and counties, have adopted policies of not cooperating with federal immigration enforcement; these jurisdictions have become known as sanctuary jurisdictions.
References and Further Reading
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved October 23, 2019,
Harris, D. N. (2009). Affirmative Action: Race or Class? Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Strasser, Mr. Ryan (2008-07-01). "Second Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute.
Igielnik, R. & Brown, A. (2017). Key Takeaways on Americans' Views of Guns and Gun Ownership. Pew Research Center. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
KERA (2019, September 1). 8 New Gun Laws Take Effect in Texas Sept. 1. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
Mellig, L. (2018, March 26). The ACLU's Position on Gun Control. American Civil Liberties Union.
Texas Legislature (2015). H.B. No. 280. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
Kellaway, M. (2015). "Texas Bill Would Jail Those Whose Chromosomes Don't Match the Restroom They're Using.” Advocate.
Texas Legislature (2015). H.B. 1748. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
McGaughy, L. (2017, March 15). Bathroom of 'biological sex' bill passes Texas Senate. Dallas Morning News.
Ura, A. (2017, July 25). Texas Senate Votes Again To Advance 'Bathroom Bill. The Texas Tribune.
Brunori, D. (2011). State Tax Policy: A Political Perspective. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute Press. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
Texas Constitution and Statutes, Texas Constitution: Article VIII Taxation and Revenue. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
Swaby, A. (2019). Texas School Finance System is Unpopular and complex. Here's How it Works. Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
National Center for Education Statistics (2016). College Navigator - Texas.
Friedman Foundation for School Choice (n.d.). What is School Choice?
Professor Justin Levitt's Guide to Drawing the Electoral Lines (2019). All About Redistricting: Why Does it Matter? Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Schwartz, J. (2011, June 29). Cracked, stacked and packed: Initial redistricting maps met with skepticism and dismay. Indy Week.
Hill, S. (2013, June 17). How the Voting Rights Act Hurts Democrats and Minorities. The Atlantic.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (2019, June 27). Barnett Shale Maps and Charts. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Texas Railroad Commission (2017). Oil Well Counts by County. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Texas Railroad Commission (2017). Gas Well Counts by County. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Texas Railroad Commission (2018). Hydraulic Fracturing. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Chemical and Engineering News, "Tracking Fracking.” Retrieved October 23, 2019.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (2011). A Brief History of Regulations Regarding Financial Markets in the United States: 1789 to 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (2011). The U.S. Federal Financial Regulatory System: Restructuring Federal Bank Regulation Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Baily, M. N., Johnson, M. S. & Litan, R. E. (2008, November 24). The Origins of the Financial Crisis (https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-origins-of-the-financial- crisis/). Brookings. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
The Cato Institute (2009, July 31). Did Deregulation Cause the Financial Crisis? Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Benefits.gov (2019). TexCare Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Retrieved October 23, 2019.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Public Policy in Texas. Authored by: Ballotpedia. License: GNU Free Documentation License
Bathroom Bill: Texas. Authored by: Wikipedia. License: CC BY-SA
Bathroom Bill: Texas. Authored by: Wikipedia. License: CC BY-SA
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ADAPTATION
The Right to Bear Arms. Adapted from Gun Politics in the United States and Campus Carry in the United States. Authored by: Wikipedia. License: CC BY-SA
Fracking. Adapted from Fracking in Texas. Authored by Ballotpedia. License: GNU Free Documentation License
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66334/overview
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Influencing Policy Decisions in Texas
Overview
Influencing Policy Decisions in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Outline the actions an individual can take to impact policy decisions in Texas
Introduction: Policymakers
Many Americans were concerned when Congress began debating the ACA. As the program took shape, some people felt the changes it proposed were being debated too hastily, would be implemented too quickly, or would summarily give the government control over an important piece of the U.S. economy—the health care industry.
Ironically, the government had been heavily engaged in providing health care for decades. More than 50 percent of all health care dollars spent were being spent by the U.S. government well before the ACA was enacted. As you have already learned, Medicare was created decades earlier. Despite protesters’ resistance to government involvement in health care, there is no keeping government out of Medicare; the government IS Medicare. For Texans, this explains why there are so many problems with the program.
What many did not realize is that few if any of the proposals that eventually became part of the ACA were original. While the country was worried about problems like terrorism, the economy, and conflicts over gay rights, armies of individuals were debating the best ways to fix the nation’s health care delivery. Two important but overlapping groups defended their preferred policy changes: policy advocates and policy analysts.
Policy Advocates
Take a minute to think of a policy change you believe would improve some condition in the Texas. Now ask yourself this: “Why do I want to change this policy?” Are you motivated by a desire for justice? Do you feel the policy change would improve your life or that of members of your community? Is your sense of morality motivating you to change the status quo? Would your profession be helped? Do you feel that changing the policy might raise your status?
Most people have some policy position or issue they would like to see altered. One of the reasons the news media are so enduring is that citizens have a range of opinions on public policy, and they are very interested in debating how a given change would improve their lives or the country’s. But despite their interests, most people do little more than vote or occasionally contribute to a political campaign. A few people, however, become policy advocates by actively working to propose or maintain public policy.
One way to think about policy advocates is to recognize that they hold a normative position on an issue, that is, they have a conviction about what should or ought to be done. The best public policy, in their view, is one that accomplishes a specific goal or outcome. For this reason, advocates often begin with an objective and then try to shape or create proposals that help them accomplish that goal. Facts, evidence, and analysis are important tools for convincing policymakers or the general public of the benefits of their proposals. Private citizens often find themselves in advocacy positions, particularly if they are required to take on leadership roles in their private lives or in their organizations. The most effective advocates are usually hired professionals who form lobbying groups or think tanks to promote their agenda.
A lobbying group that frequently takes on advocacy roles is AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons). AARP’s primary job is to convince the government to provide more public resources and services to senior citizens, often through regulatory or redistributive politics. Chief among its goals are lower health care costs and the safety of Social Security pension payments.
These aims put AARP in the Democratic Party’s electoral coalition, since Democrats have historically been stronger advocates for Medicare’s creation and expansion. In 2002, for instance, Democrats and Republicans were debating a major change to Medicare. The Democratic Party supported expanding Medicare to include free or low-cost prescription drugs, while the Republicans preferred a plan that would require seniors to purchase drug insurance through a private insurer. The government would subsidize costs, but many seniors would still have substantial out-of-pocket expenses. To the surprise of many, AARP supported the Republican proposal.
While Democrats argued that their position would have provided a better deal for individuals, AARP reasoned that the Republican plan had a much better chance of passing. The Republicans controlled the House and looked likely to reclaim control of the Senate in the upcoming election. Then-president George W. Bush was a Republican and would almost certainly have vetoed the Democratic approach. AARP’s support for the legislation helped shore up support for Republicans in the 2002 midterm election and also help convince a number of moderate Democrats to support the bill (with some changes), which passed despite apparent public disapproval. AARP had done its job as an advocate for seniors by creating a new benefit it hoped could later be expanded, rather than fighting for an extreme position that would have left it with nothing.
Not all policy advocates are as willing to compromise their positions. It is much easier for a group like AARP to compromise over the amount of money seniors will receive, for instance, than it is for an evangelical religious group to compromise over issues like abortion, or for civil rights groups to accept something less than equality. Nor are women’s rights groups likely to accept pay inequality as it currently exists. It is easier to compromise over financial issues than over our individual views of morality or social justice.
Policy Analysts
A second approach to creating public policy is a bit more objective. Rather than starting with what ought to happen and seeking ways to make it so, policy analysts try to identify all the possible choices available to a decision maker and then gauge their impacts if implemented. The goal of the analyst isn’t really to encourage the implementation of any of the options; rather, it is to make sure decision makers are fully informed about the implications of the decisions they do make.
Understanding the financial and other costs and benefits of policy choices requires analysts to make strategic guesses about how the public and governmental actors will respond. For example, when policymakers are considering changes to health care policy, one very important question is how many people will participate. If very few people had chosen to take advantage of the new health care plans available under the ACA marketplace, it would have been significantly cheaper than advocates proposed, but it also would have failed to accomplish the key goal of increasing the number of insured. But if people who currently have insurance had dropped it to take advantage of ACA’s subsidies, the program’s costs would have skyrocketed with very little real benefit to public health. Similarly, had all states chosen to create their own marketplaces, the cost and complexity of ACA’s implementation would have been greatly reduced.
Because advocates have an incentive to understate costs and overstate benefits, policy analysis tends to be a highly politicized aspect of government. It is critical for policymakers and voters that policy analysts provide the most accurate analysis possible. A number of independent or semi-independent think tanks have sprung up in Washington, DC, to provide assessments of policy options. Most businesses or trade organizations also employ their own policy- analysis wings to help them understand proposed changes or even offer some of their own. Some of these try to be as impartial as possible. Most, however, have a known bias toward policy advocacy. The Cato Institute, for example, is well known and highly respected policy analysis group that both liberal and conservative politicians have turned to when considering policy options. But the Cato Institute has a known libertarian bias; most of the problems it selects for analysis have the potential for private sector solutions. This means its analysts tend to include the rosiest assumptions of economic growth when considering tax cuts and to overestimate the costs of public sector proposals.
Get Connected!
Preparing to Be a Policymaker
What is your passion? Is there an aspect of society you think should be changed? Become a public policy advocate for it! One way to begin is by petitioning the Office of the President. In years past, citizens wrote letters to express grievances or policy preferences. Today, you can visit We the People, the White House online petitions platform. At this government site, you can search for petitions related to your cause or post your own. If your petition gets enough signatures, the White House will issue a response. The petitions range from serious to silly, but the process is an important way to speak out about the policies that are important to you.
References and Further Reading
Thomas R. Oliver, T. R., Lee, P. R., & Lipton, H. L. (2004). A Political History of Medicare and Prescription Drug Coverage. Milbank Quarterly 82, No. 2: 283–354.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
Policymakers. Adapted from American Government 2e. Authored by: OpenStax. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/nY32AU8S@5.1:xJJkKaSK@5/Preface. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9d8df601-4f12-4ac1- 8224-b450bf739e5f@5.1
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66335/overview
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Glossary
Overview
Glossary
Glossary: Public Policy in Texas
distributive policy: a policy that collects payments or resources broadly but concentrates direct benefits on relatively few
domestic policy: policies focused on the citizens of the U.S. and their well being
entitlement: a program that guarantees benefits to members of a specific group or segment of the population
Gilmer-Aikin Laws: education reform legislation passed in 1949 that supplemented local funding of education with public monies, raised teachers' salaries, mandated a minimum length for the school year, and provided for more state supervision of public education
gun control: the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians
gun rights: "the right to bear arms" is a person's right to possess weapons for their own defense
HCERA: The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 combines revised portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). The HCERA was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2010 at Northern Virginia Community College.
libertarians: people who believe that government almost always operates less efficiently than the private sector and that its actions should be kept to a minimum
Medicaid: a federal and state program financing medical services for low-income citizens
Medicare: an entitlement health insurance program for older people and retirees who no longer get health insurance through their work
New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1930s programs to stimulate the national economy and provide relief to victims of the Great Depression
policy analysts: people who identify all possible choices available to a decision-maker and assess the potential impact of each
policy advocates: people who actively work to propose or maintain public policy
public policy: the broad strategy government uses to do its job; the relatively stable set of purposive governmental behaviors that address matters of concern to some part of society
public policy approach: a comprehensive method for studying the process through which issues come to the attention of government decision-makers, and through which policies are formulated, adopted, implemented and evaluated.
redistributive policy: a policy in which costs are born by a relatively small number of groups or individuals, but benefits are expected to be enjoyed by a different group in society
regulatory policy: a policy that regulates companies and organizations in a way that protects the public
safety net: a way to provide for members of society experiencing economic hardship
Social Security: a social welfare policy for people who no longer receive an income from employment
Licenses and Attributions
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Public Policy in Texas: Glossary. Authored by: panOpen. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66336/overview
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Assessment
Overview
This is a quiz for Chapter Eleven.
Texas Government Chapter Eleven Quiz
Check your knowledge of Chapter Eleven by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
This is a quiz for Chapter Eleven.
Check your knowledge of Chapter Eleven by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.203759
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"title": "Texas Government 2.0, Public Policy in Texas",
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66300/overview
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Voting and Political Participation in Texas
Overview
Voting and Political Participation in Texas
Chapter Learning Objective
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
- Identify the voting rights and responsibilities of Texas' citizens
Introduction: Voting and Political Participation in a Changing Texas
Fort Bend County covers an area along the Brazos River southwest of Houston. For most of the 20th Century, it was a rural area known for ranching and cotton farming, and as the home of Imperial Sugar and several large state prisons. As Texas shifted from a predominantly Democratic to a predominantly Republican state in the 1970s, Fort Bend County’s rural, conservative roots brought it enthusiastically along with the trend. In 1976, only 39 percent of Fort Bend voters selected Jimmy Carter for President in a race in which he carried Texas over President Gerald Ford.
In the 2000s, Republican majorities began to shrink. Mitt Romney won Fort Bend County with only 53 percent in 2012, and Hillary Clinton carried Fort Bend County in 2016, even as 52 percent of Texas voters chose Donald Trump.
In the 2018 election, every countywide election was won by a Democrat, with challenger Beto O’Rourke outpolling incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz by more than 11 points, even as Cruz was reelected statewide. How did rural/suburban Fort Bend County become what appears to be at least a Democratic-leaning, if not solidly Democratic, county?
The answer lies at least partly in demographics. The population of Fort Bend grew almost 30 percent from 2010 to the 2018 election, and the 19 percent growth in Anglos was far outpaced by Asians (56%), Hispanics (33%) and African Americans (22%). The latest Census data shows Fort Bend as the most diverse county in Texas – meaning that it has the most closely equal percentages of the four major racial groups at 35% Anglo, 24% Hispanic, 20% African American and 21% Asian and other.
For better or worse, race is a strong predictor of political party preferences. As non-Anglo races become a larger percentage of the population and – more importantly – a larger percentage of the electorate throughout Texas, many predict that Texas’ days as a reliably Republican state are numbered.
How and why do Texans participate in politics?
License and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Voting and Political Participation in Texas: Introduction. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: : CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.221279
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"title": "Texas Government 2.0, Voting and Political Participation in Texas",
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66301/overview
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Voting in Texas
Overview
Voting in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Explain the current requirements to vote in Texas and the registration process
Introduction
Before most voters are allowed to cast a ballot, they must register to vote in their state. This process may be as simple as checking a box on a driver’s license application or as difficult as filling out a long form with complicated questions. Registration allows governments to determine which citizens are allowed to vote and, in some cases, from which list of candidates they may select a party nominee. Ironically, while the government wants to increase voter turnout, the registration process may prevent various groups of citizens and non-citizens from participating in the electoral process.
Voter Registration Across the United States
Elections in the United States are state-by-state contests. They include general elections for president and statewide offices (e.g., governor and U.S. senator), and they are often organized and paid for by the states. Because political cultures vary from state to state, the process of voter registration similarly varies. For example, suppose an 85-year-old retiree with an expired driver’s license wants to register to vote. He or she might be able to register quickly in California or Florida, but a current government ID might be required prior to registration in Texas or Indiana.
The varied registration and voting laws across the United States have long caused controversy. In the aftermath of the Civil War, southern states enacted literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and other requirements intended to disenfranchise black voters in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Literacy tests were long and detailed exams on local and national politics, history, and more. They were often administered arbitrarily with more blacks required to take them than whites.
Who is Allowed to Vote?
In order to be eligible to vote in the United States, a person must be a citizen, resident, and eighteen years old. But states often place additional requirements on the right to vote. The most common requirement is that voters must be mentally competent and not currently serving time in jail. Some states enforce more stringent or unusual requirements on citizens who have committed crimes. Florida and Kentucky permanently bar felons and ex-felons from voting unless they obtain a pardon from the governor, while Mississippi and Nevada allow former felons to apply to have their voting rights restored.
On the other end of the spectrum, Vermont does ot limit voting based on incarceration unless the crime was election fraud. Maine citizens serving in Maine prisons also may vote in elections. Beyond those jailed, some citizens have additional expectations placed on them when they register to vote. Wisconsin requires that voters “not wager on an election,” and Vermont citizens must recite the “Voter’s Oath” before they register, swearing to cast votes with a conscience and “without fear or favor of any person.”
How Does Someone Register to Vote?
The National Commission on Voting Rights completed a study in September 2015 that found state registration laws can either raise or reduce voter turnout rates, especially among citizens who are young or whose income falls below the poverty line. States with simple voter registration had more registered citizens.
Another aspect of registering to vote is the timeline. States may require registration to take place as much as thirty days before voting, or they may allow same-day registration. Maine first implemented same-day registration in 1973. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia now allow voters to register the day of the election if they have proof of residency, such as a driver’s license or utility bill. Many of the more populous states (e.g., Michigan and Texas), require registration forms to be mailed thirty days before an election. Moving means citizens must re-register or update addresses. College students, for example, may have to re-register or update addresses each year as they move. States that use same-day registration had a 4 percent higher voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election than states that did not.
In all states except North Dakota, a citizen wishing to vote must complete an application. Whether the form is online or on paper, the prospective voter will list his or her name, residency address, and in many cases party identification (with Independent as an option) and affirm that he or she is competent to vote. States may also have a residency requirement, which establishes how long a citizen must live in a state before becoming eligible to register: it is often 30 days. Beyond these requirements, there may be an oath administered or more questions asked, such as felony convictions. If the application is completely online and the citizen has government documents (e.g., driver’s license or state identification card), the system will compare the application to other state records and accept an online signature or affidavit if everything matches up correctly.
Citizens who do not have these state documents are often required to complete paper applications. States without online registration often allow a citizen to fill out an application on a website, but the citizen will receive a paper copy in the mail to sign and mail back to the state.
Voter Registration Rates in Texas
Texas fares poorly in recent comparisons of registration rates among states. In the 2016 elections, Texas ranked 46 out of 51 (including the District of Columbia) for the percentage of eligible population (excluding non-citizens for instance).
Qualifications to Vote in Texas
To be eligible to register to vote in Texas, a person must be:
- A United States citizen;
- A resident of the Texas county in which application for registration is made;
- At least 18 years old on Election Day;
- Not finally convicted of a felony, or, if so convicted must have (1) fully discharged the sentence, including any term of incarceration, parole, or supervision, or completed a period of probation ordered by any court; or (2) been pardoned or otherwise released from the resulting disability to vote; and
- Not determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate jurisdiction to be (1) totally mentally incapacitated; or (2) partially mentally incapacitated without the right to vote.
Registration in Texas is generally done by signing a postage-paid voter registration application and dropping it in the mail. In most counties, the Tax Assessor-Collector is also the county voter registrar. Applications are available at county facilities and at many libraries, post offices, and schools.
You must be at least 17 years and 10 months of age on the date you apply, and the application must be received by the county or postmarked 30 days before any election in which you wish to vote.
Need to register to vote? You can fill out an application online or request to have an application mailed to you by calling the Texas Secretary of State’s office toll-free at 1.800.252.VOTE (8683). |
Votes For 17-Year Olds?
To vote in Texas, it is helpful, but not required, that you have your voter registration card with you. You are required to have one of seven forms of photo identification, like a driver’s license or a passport, to vote. Citizens can also obtain an Election Identification Certificate free of charge at more than 225 Texas driver license offices throughout the state.
Once you are registered, there are a number of different elections in which you can participate.
Primary elections are conducted jointly by major political parties and the state, generally in March of even-numbered years, and is the process by which parties choose their nominees for a general election. Party nominees must receive a majority of the votes cast in their race – otherwise, a runoff election between the top two finishers is held several weeks later. Many states have closed primaries, meaning that a voter must declare their membership in a political party as part of the voter registration process. Only “registered Republicans” can vote in Republican primary elections in states like California.
Texas is an open primary state – meaning you simply register as a voter. A registered voter can participate in any party primary but can only participate in one party’s primary in each election and cannot vote in a party’s runoff election after voting in another party’s primary in the same election.
General elections are held in November, with the nominees of the major and minor parties, as well as independent candidates running for each position. Winning a general election does not require a majority, just a plurality – more votes than anybody else in the race. Rick Perry was reelected Governor of Texas in 2006 with just 39% of the vote in a four-way race against Democratic nominee Chris Bell and two well-known independent candidates, former Texas Comptroller Carole Strayhorn and writer/musician Kinky Friedman.
Registered voters in Texas can also participate in local elections to choose mayors and city council members, school board and special district board members – all of which must be elected with a majority. Constitutional Amendment Elections, generally in November following a session of the Texas Legislature, allow voters to consider changes to the state’s constitution recommended by two-thirds of the Texas House and Senate. Bond elections involve voters deciding whether or not to authorize government entities to borrow money.
Recall elections allow voters who live in home rule cities to remove an official from office, and are held only when citizens gather a required number of signatures on petitions demanding the removal of the official. In Groves, a city near Beaumont, a petition resulted in a November recall election for City Council Member Cross Coburn following the release of controversial photos from an online dating app. More than 62 percent of Groves voters chose to remove Coburn from office.
Home rule cities can also hold charter change elections – with voters choosing whether or not to adopt changes to the city’s basic governing document recommended by city officials. In 2018, Houston voters adopted a pay parity provision sought by the local firefighters’ union, which requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police officers of equivalent rank.
Rollback elections can be triggered automatically or by petition and allow voters to choose whether or not to decrease a jurisdiction’s property tax rate. In August, 2018, voters in the Amarillo area voted nearly 2-to-1 to roll back the property tax rate for the Pampa Independent School District. In March 2019, voters in Gonzalez, Texas, voted against a petition-driven proposal to reduce the city’s property tax rate.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution (https://www.google.com/url? q=https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/&sa=D&ust=1552704204322000)
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
American Government: Voter Registration Across the United States. Authored by: OpenStax. Provided by: OpenStax; Rice University. Located at: https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface (https://cnx.org/contents/W8wOWXNF@12.1:Y1CfqFju@5/Preface). License: CC BY: Attribution
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). License Terms: Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/9e28f580-0d1b-4d72- 8795-c48329947ac2@1.
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.254078
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66302/overview
|
The History of Voting in Texas
Overview
The History of Voting in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Analyze modern and historical controversies around voting, including how states can promote and impede voter participation
Introduction
This section discusses modern and historical controversies around voting, including how states can encourage or impede voter participation.
The History of Voting in Texas
Since its admission to statehood in 1845, Texas has participated in every U.S. presidential election except the election of 1864 during the American Civil War, when the state had seceded to join the Confederacy, and the election of 1868, when the state was undergoing Reconstruction.
In its first century, Texas was a Democratic bastion, only voting for another party once – in 1928 when anti-Catholic sentiment against Al Smith drove voters to Republican Herbert Hoover. A gradual trend towards increasing social liberalism in the Democratic Party, however, has turned the state (apart from Hispanic South Texas, the Trans-Pecos, and several large cities) into a Republican stronghold. Since 1980 Texas has voted Republican in every election.
Historical Barriers to Voting in Texas
Texas shares with many other states – especially with former Confederate states – a history of the systematic disenfranchisement of blacks, Latinos, and poor whites. In the aftermath of the Civil War, many former Confederate states (and some others as well) instituted new restrictions on voting in order to disenfranchise former slaves. In response, Congress passed and the states ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution which became known as the Civil War Amendments to counteract efforts by southern elites and their allies to reestablish political rule by disenfranchising black voters – thereby denying them representation in government.
The 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment (1868) and 15th Amendment (1870) to the U.S. Constitution were passed to guarantee, respectively, the "privileges and immunities" and the right to vote of all U.S. citizens.
With the end of the Reconstruction in the 1870s, the nation politically abandoned uniform enforcement of the Civil War amendments. With reduced federal enforcement of the rights protected by the amendments, many southern states enacted Jim Crow laws designed to restrict or prevent African American voter participation. Unlike other states, Texas never legislated two of these tools: literacy tests and the grandfather clause. Instead, Texas suppressed black voting using poll taxes and the white primary.
Poll taxes added a direct out-of-pocket transaction cost to voting by charging money to vote. Texas adopted a poll tax in 1902. It required that otherwise eligible voters pay between $1.50 and $1.75 to register to vote – a lot of money at the time, and a big barrier to the working classes and poor. Poll taxes, which disproportionately affected African Americans and Mexican Americans, were finally abolished for national elections by the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1964. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, ruled that poll taxes in state elections were unconstitutional.
The white primary in Texas treated the Democratic Party as a private club whose membership could be restricted to citizens of Anglo heritage. It originated as a change in Democratic Party practice early in the twentieth century as a way to disenfranchise African Americans, and later in south Texas, Mexican Americans. In 1923 the white primary became state law. After numerous legal challenges to successive versions of the law the Legislature had passed to preserve the practice, the U.S. Supreme Court finally and decisively prohibited the white primary in the 1944 case Smith v. Allwright.
The ratification of the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 ended poll taxes, but the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 had a more profound effect. The act protected the rights of minority voters by prohibiting state laws that denied voting rights based on race. The VRA gave the attorney general of the United States authority to order federal examiners to areas with a history of discrimination. These examiners had the power to oversee and monitor voter registration and elections. States found to violate provisions of the VRA were required to get any changes in their election laws approved by the U.S. attorney general or by going through the court system. However, in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision, threw out the standards and process of the VRA, effectively gutting the landmark legislation.
Voter Decision Making
When citizens do vote, how do they make their decisions?
The election environment is complex and most voters don’t have time to research everything about the candidates and issues. Yet they will need to make a fully rational assessment of the choices for an elected office. To meet this goal, they tend to take shortcuts.
One popular shortcut is simply to vote using party affiliation. Many political scientists consider party-line voting to be rational behavior because citizens register for parties based upon either position preference or socialization. Similarly, candidates align with parties based upon their issue positions. A Democrat who votes for a Democrat is very likely selecting the candidate closest to his or her personal ideology. While party identification is a voting cue, it also makes for a logical decision.
Citizens also use party identification to make decisions via straight-ticket voting—choosing every Republican or Democratic Party member on the ballot. In some states, such as Texas or Michigan, selecting one box at the top of the ballot gives a single party all the votes on the ballot. Straight-ticket voting does cause problems in states that include non-partisan positions on the ballot. In Michigan, for example, the top of the ballot (presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial and representative seats) will be partisan, and a straight-ticket vote will give a vote to all the candidates in the selected party. But the middle or bottom of the ballot includes seats for local offices or judicial seats, which are non-partisan. These offices would receive no vote, because the straight-ticket votes go only to partisan seats.
In 2010, actors from the former political drama The West Wing came together to create an advertisement for Mary McCormack’s sister Bridget, who was running for a non-partisan seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. The ad reminded straight-ticket voters to cast a ballot for the court seats as well; otherwise, they would miss an important election. McCormack won the seat.
Straight-ticket voting does have the advantage of reducing ballot fatigue. Ballot fatigue occurs when someone votes only for the top or important ballot positions, such as president or governor, and stops voting rather than continue to the bottom of a long ballot. In 2012, for example, 70% of registered voters in Colorado cast a ballot for the presidential seat, yet only 54% voted yes or no on retaining Nathan B. Coats for the state supreme court. Voters make decisions based upon candidates’ physical characteristics, such as attractiveness or facial features.
They may also vote based on gender or race because they assume the elected official will make policy decisions based on a demographic shared with the voters. Candidates are very aware of voters’ focus on these non-political traits. In 2008, a sizable portion of the electorate wanted to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama because they offered new demographics—either the first woman or the first black president. Demographics hurt John McCain that year because many people believed that at 71 he was too old to be president.
Hillary Clinton was criticized in 2008 on the grounds that she had not aged gracefully and wore pantsuits. In essence, attractiveness can make a candidate appear more competent, which in turn can help him or her ultimately win.
Aside from party identification and demographics, voters will also look at issues or the economy when making a decision. For some single-issue voters, a candidate’s stance on abortion rights will be a major factor, while other voters may look at the candidates’ beliefs on the Second Amendment and gun control. Single-issue voting may not require much more effort by the voter than simply using party identification; however, many voters are likely to seek out a candidate’s position on a multitude of issues before making a decision. They will use the information they find in several ways.
Retrospective voting occurs when the voter looks at the candidate’s past actions and the past economic climate and makes a decision only using these factors. This behavior may occur during economic downturns or after political scandals, when voters hold politicians accountable and do not wish to give the representative a second chance.
Pocketbook voting occurs when the voter looks at his or her personal finances and circumstances to decide how to vote. Someone having a harder time finding employment or seeing investments suffer during a particular candidate or party’s control of government will vote for a different candidate or party than the incumbent.
Prospective voting occurs when the voter applies information about a candidate’s past behavior to decide how the candidate will act in the future. For example, will the candidate’s voting record or actions help the economy and better prepare him or her to be president during an economic downturn? The challenge of this voting method is that the voters must use a lot of information, which might be conflicting or unrelated, to make an educated guess about how the candidate will perform in the future. Voters do appear to rely on prospective and retrospective voting more often than on pocketbook voting.
In some cases, a voter may cast a ballot strategically. In these cases, a person may vote for a second- or third-choice candidate, either because his or her preferred candidate cannot win or in the hope of preventing another candidate from winning. This type of voting is likely to happen when there are multiple candidates for one position or multiple parties running for one seat.
In Florida and Oregon, for example, Green Party voters (who tend to be liberal) may choose to vote for a Democrat if the Democrat might otherwise lose to a Republican. Similarly, in Georgia, while a Libertarian may be the preferred candidate, the voter would rather have the Republican candidate win over the Democrat and will vote accordingly.
One other way voters make decisions is through incumbency. In essence, this is retrospective voting, but it requires little of the voter. In congressional and local elections, incumbents win reelection up to 90 percent of the time, a result called the incumbency advantage. What contributes to this advantage and often persuades competent challengers not to run? First, incumbents have name recognition and voting records. The media is more likely to interview them because they have advertised their name over several elections and have voted on legislation affecting the state or district. Incumbents also have won election before, which increases the odds that political action committees and interest groups will give them money; most interest groups will not give money to a candidate destined to lose.
Incumbents also have franking privileges, which allows them a limited amount of free mail to communicate with the voters in their district. While these mailings may not be sent in the days leading up to an election—sixty days for a senator and ninety days for a House member— congressional representatives are able to build a free relationship with voters through them. Moreover, incumbents have exiting campaign organizations, while challengers must build new organizations from the ground up. Lastly, incumbents have more money in their war chests than most challengers.
Licenses and Attributions
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.285635
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66303/overview
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Voter Turnout and Political Participation in Texas
Overview
Voter Turnout and Political Participation in Texas
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Discuss the factors that affect voter turnout and political participation in Texas
Introduction
This section discusses the factors influencing voter turnout and political participation in Texas.
Does Turnout Matter?
Houston doesn’t charge a fee for single-family home trash pickup. While most cities charge a monthly fee – usually added to the homeowner’s water bill – Houston simply used general fund tax revenue to pay for trash service provided only to single-family homes. Apartment residents help pay for this service, although they don’t receive it. They then pay again through their rent to have their own trash picked up by a private company. How can this be?
Before municipal elections in Houston, savvy candidates purchase walk lists from the Harris County Clerk’s office. A walk list is a list of street addresses at which at least one registered voter lives. When going door-to-door meeting voters and asking for support, a smart candidate will skip over houses where nobody is registered to vote. In time, candidates will realize that in a typical 100-house neighborhood, around 50 houses will probably contain at least one registered voter. How many registered voter households will that candidate find in a 100-unit apartment property?
Probably fewer than ten. Homeowners, with more roots in the community, are far more likely to register and vote than renters. Most candidates simply skip apartment properties – many of which are gated anyway – to concentrate on the more voter-rich single-family neighborhoods.
If a candidate gets elected, and is later sitting at a council meeting thinking about the wants and needs of his or her constituents, who do you think that council member is envisioning? Wouldn’t a policy to take money from a group of mostly non-voters to subsidize a service for a group that is highly likely to vote to make good political sense?
Voter Turnout in Texas
After years of elections in which Democrats nominated largely unknown, underfunded candidates for many statewide offices, Republican Senator Ted Cruz was opposed in 2018 by El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke, an energetic campaigner and prolific fundraiser who raised over $70 million to Senator Cruz’ $33 million. Driven by the success of the “Beto” campaign and controversy generated by President Donald Trump, Democrats registered significant numbers of new voters, and saw an increased turnout of Democrat voters, especially in large cities. Overall, voter turnout among the voter-eligible population increased from 28.3% in the 2014 midterm election to 46.3% - the sixth-highest turnout increase in the United States, and higher than the turnout increase nationwide.
Still, Texas turnout was below the national average – 44th out of 51 states (plus the District of Columbia). What affects voter turnout, and why don’t more Texans vote?
| Interested in mobilizing voters? Explore Rock the Vote and The Voter Participation Center for more information. |
Factors Affecting Voter Turnout
Political scientists pay tremendous attention to voter turnout – examining all the factors that predict who will and won’t show up to vote in an election.
Voter Eligibility
First, it is important to remember that not everybody is legally able to vote. Citizens of other countries – whether in the United States legally or illegally cannot vote in American elections. Children under the age of 18 cannot vote. Texans younger than 18 make up more than a fourth of the state’s population.
Removing those who can’t vote from the total population leaves what political scientists call the voting-eligible population (VEP). The VEP includes citizens eighteen and older who, whether they have registered or not, are eligible to vote because they are citizens, mentally competent, and not imprisoned.
Voter Beliefs and Attitudes
There are as many reasons not to vote as there are non-voters, but some factors seem to stand out. Many don’t vote because they don’t see any benefit – lacking political efficacy, or the feeling that they have any influence over the direction of their government.
Some don’t vote because they see little difference between the parties or the candidates. Many voters are unlikely to vote in elections they see as not being competitive – a common situation in Texas where general elections were dominated by the Democratic Party for more than a century after the Civil War, and by the Republican Party since the 1990s.
Many political scientists look at political socialization - the process by which we initially acquire our political ideals and behaviors, and which have a strong influence on our voting behavior throughout our lives.
Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors
Besides homeownership, many other factors are associated with difference in turnout. Older people are more likely to vote than younger people. Native Texans are more likely to vote then immigrants. Lower English proficiency is strongly correlated with low voter turnout. Texas, a state that skews young and Hispanic, has those factors working against high voter participation.
Voter ID Requirements in Texas
Low turnout also occurs when some citizens are not allowed to vote. One method of limiting voter access is the requirement to show identification at polling places.
In 2011, Texas passed a strict photo identification law for voters, allowing concealed-handgun permits as identification but not student identification. The Texas law was blocked by the Obama administration before it could be implemented because Texas was on the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance list. Other states, such as Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, and Virginia similarly had laws and districting changes blocked.
Proponents of voter ID requirements in Texas see increasing requirements for identification as a way to prevent in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in the election process. Opponents say there is little fraud of this kind, and the burden on voters, especially specific voter demographics, restricts the right to vote and imposes unnecessary costs and administrative burdens on elections administrators.
Increasing Turnout
In 2015, Oregon made news when it took the concept of Motor Voter further. When citizens turn eighteen, the state now automatically registers most of them using driver’s license and state identification information. When a citizen moves, the voter rolls are updated when the license is updated. While this policy has been controversial, with some arguing that private information may become public or that Oregon is moving toward mandatory voting, automatic registration is consistent with the state’s efforts to increase registration and turnout.
Oregon’s example offers a possible solution to a recurring problem for states—maintaining accurate voter registration rolls. During the 2000 election, in which George W. Bush won Florida’s electoral votes by a slim majority, attention turned to the state’s election procedures and voter registration rolls.
Journalists found that many states, including Florida, had large numbers of phantom voters on their rolls, voters had moved or died but remained on the states’ voter registration rolls.
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was passed in order to reform voting across the states and reduce these problems. As part of the Act, states were required to update voting equipment, make voting more accessible to the disabled, and maintain computerized voter rolls that could be updated regularly.
Over a decade later, there has been some progress. In Louisiana, voters are placed on ineligible lists if a voting registrar is notified that they have moved or become ineligible to vote. If the voter remains on this list for two general elections, his or her registration is cancelled. In Oklahoma, the registrar receives a list of deceased residents from the Department of Health.
Twenty-nine states now participate in the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program, which allows states to check for duplicate registrations. What are some ways that Texas could increase voter turnout?Some feel Texas could make voting more convenient. Some states allow instant registration in person or online, no-excuses absentee balloting and mail-in balloting. Texas does have absentee voting (where an individual does not need to be physically present at the poll to cast their ballot), and early voting (17 days before and 4 days until the regular election).
At the national level, some attempts have been made to streamline voter registration. The National Voter Registration Act (1993), often referred to as Motor Voter, was enacted to expedite the registration process and make it as simple as possible for voters. The act required states to allow citizens to register to vote when they sign up for driver’s licenses and Social Security benefits. On each government form, the citizen need only mark an additional box to also register to vote. Unfortunately, while increasing registrations by 7 percent between 1992 and 2012, Motor Voter did not dramatically increase voter turnout. In fact, for two years following the passage of the act, voter turnout decreased slightly. It appears that the main users of the expedited system were those already intending to vote. One study, however, found that preregistration may have a different effect on youth than on the overall voter pool; in Florida, it increased turnout of young voters by 13 percent.
Most major elections in Texas are held on Tuesday. Employers in Texas are required to provide two paid hours off from work for employees to vote, but some suggest that making election day a national holiday or simply holding more elections on weekends could increase turnout. Better outreach to citizens with limited English proficiency has seen promising results in some states. Australia has compulsory voting – like jury duty. The failure to vote can result in a ticket and a small fine. Some have even suggested paying people to vote – a recognition of the value of voting and the time voters must invest. Studies show that voters simply make better citizens. Voting is associated with stronger social ties, better health outcomes, lower recidivism – even better mental health. Also, the government simply makes better decisions when more citizens participate.
Every four years, the Get Out the Vote campaign invites graphic designers to make posters that rally US voters to go to the polls. Here are 14 posters that rock the vote, via Ideas.TED.com |
Licenses and Attributions
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66304/overview
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Political Participation
Overview
Political Participation
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Summarize other forms of political participation
Introduction
While political scientists tend to focus on voting, there are other ways citizens participate in the policymaking process.
Campaigning
Citizens who want to do more than vote can involve themselves in political campaigns in a variety of ways from donating money to volunteering. Political campaigns are labor-intensive, and any candidate will tell you that volunteers are critical to a successful run for office. Campaign volunteers go door-to-door, distribute literature, post yard signs, make phone calls and help fold, stuff and stamp mailings.
Running for Office
While wealthy people with established careers have an advantage in elective politics, as in most things, ordinary people win elections throughout Texas every year, serving in positions from school board to the state legislature and beyond. In 1990, 18-year-old high school senior John Payton was elected Justice of the Peace in Collin County, Texas. His mother drove him to neighborhoods after school so he could campaign door-to-door. Payton defeated incumbent Jim Murrell in the Republican Primary before graduating from Plano East Senior High, then went on to win the November general election. Though dismissed initially as a “fluke,” Payton went on to serve nearly 30 years before stepping down in 2019.
Political Activism
On May 3, 1980, 13-year-old Cari Lightner was killed by a drunk driver, who had been released from jail two days before following his fourth DUI arrest. Cari’s mother, Candace Lightner and other parents of drunk driving accident victims formed Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, an interest group that has had a profound influence on the passage and enforcement of tougher laws against drunk driving. In Texas, political activists of every imaginable type have worked – alone or in groups – to influence public policy with varying degrees of success.
Legal
Some individuals and interest groups find the legal system to be an effective means of political participation. In 1973, there was almost no chance of elected officials overturning laws prohibiting abortion. Instead of seeking a political solution, activists sought relief through the courts. In Roe v. Wade, abortion advocates were able to overturn a Texas law prohibiting abortion, obtaining a court ruling that a woman’s right to an abortion is protected by an implied right of privacy in the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Supporters of environmental causes have found the court system to be similarly useful, stopping politically popular public works projects with lawsuits alleging violation of federal law, such as the Endangered Species Act.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED MATERIAL, ORIGINAL
Political Participation. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66305/overview
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Glossary
Overview
Glossary
Glossary: Voting and Political Participation in Texas
ballot fatigue: occurs when someone votes only for the top or important ballot positions, such as president or governor, and stops voting rather than continue to the bottom of a long ballot
Jim Crow Laws: This term, which came to be used to designate any law requiring racial segregation, was borrowed from a racially stereotyped black character in a common nineteenth-century song-and-dance act.
compulsory voting: an effect of laws which require eligible citizens to register and vote in elections, and may impose penalties on those who fail to do so.
grandfather clause: Part of the system of Jim Crow in southern states used to enforce segregation in primary elections. In its typical usage, a voter could vote in Democratic primary elections if his grandfather had been able to vote in Democratic primaries. Blacks whose ancestors had been slaves were thereby excluded but whites were made eligible, even poor whites who might otherwise be disenfranchised by the burden of a poll tax or by literacy requirements.
literacy test: A test of a voter's ability to read and understand and hence vote intelligently, typically used in a discriminatory manner in some states until Congress suspended the use of such tests in the Voting Rights Acts of 1970 and 1975.
political efficacy: the feeling that they have any influence over the direction of their government
poll taxes: A tax of a fixed amount per person levied as a condition of voting. Poll taxes generally were not intended to raise revenue so much as to restrict the size of the electorate by making voting more costly. Amendment Twenty- Four added to the U.S. Constitution in 1964 outlawed the use of a poll tax as a pre-condition for voting in any election for federal office. The U.S. Supreme Court extended the ban to all state and local elections in 1966.
walk list: a list of street addresses at which at least one registered voter lives
white primary: primary election in which only white voters are eligible to participate
Licenses and Attributions
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Voting and Political Participation in Texas: Glossary. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.354426
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Assessment
Overview
This is a quiz for Chapter Seven.
Texas Government Chapter Seven Quiz
Check your knowledge of Chapter Seven by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
This is a quiz for Chapter Seven.
Check your knowledge of Chapter Seven by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66276/overview
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Glossary
Overview
Glossary
Glossary: The Texas Legislature
biennial sessions: In Texas, legislative sessions meet once every odd-numbered years, for 140 days
bill: a proposed law that has been sponsored by a member of the legislature and submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate
cracking: occurs when a constituency is divided between several districts in order to prevent it from achieving a majority in any one district.
gerrymandering: the process in which voting districts are redrawn in a way to favor one party during elections
legislative budget: the state budget that is prepared and submitted by the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) and that is fully considered by the House and Senate
packing: occurs when a constituency or voting group is placed within a single district, thereby minimizing its influence in other districts.
redistricting: the process of redrawing election districts and redistributing legislative representatives in the Texas House, Texas Senate, and U.S. House. Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years to reflect shifts in population or in response to legal challenges in existing districts
single-member district: a district in which one official is elected rather than multiple officials.
special session: a legislative session called by the governor that addresses an agenda set by him or her; lasts no longer than 30 days
Voting Rights Act of 1965: mandates that electoral district lines cannot be drawn in such a manner as to “improperly dilute minorities’ voting power”
License and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
The Texas Legislature: Glossary. Authored by: John Osterman. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.387614
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05/05/2020
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/28774/overview
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Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Overview
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe microeconomics
- Describe macroeconomics
- Contrast monetary policy and fiscal policy
Economic Perspectives
Economics is concerned with the well-being of all people, including those with jobs and those without jobs, as well as those with high incomes and those with low incomes. Economics acknowledges that production of useful goods and services can create problems of environmental pollution. It explores the question of how investing in education helps to develop workers’ skills. It probes questions like how to tell when big businesses or big labor unions are operating in a way that benefits society as a whole and when they are operating in a way that benefits their owners or members at the expense of others. It looks at how government spending, taxes, and regulations affect decisions about production and consumption.
It should be clear by now that economics covers considerable ground. We can divide that ground into two parts: Microeconomics focuses on the actions of individual agents within the economy, like households, workers, and businesses. Macroeconomics looks at the economy as a whole. It focuses on broad issues such as growth of production, the number of unemployed people, the inflationary increase in prices, government deficits, and levels of exports and imports. Microeconomics and macroeconomics are not separate subjects, but rather complementary perspectives on the overall subject of the economy.
To understand why both microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives are useful, consider the problem of studying a biological ecosystem like a lake. One person who sets out to study the lake might focus on specific topics: certain kinds of algae or plant life; the characteristics of particular fish or snails; or the trees surrounding the lake. Another person might take an overall view and instead consider the lake's ecosystem from top to bottom; what eats what, how the system stays in a rough balance, and what environmental stresses affect this balance. Both approaches are useful, and both examine the same lake, but the viewpoints are different. In a similar way, both microeconomics and macroeconomics study the same economy, but each has a different viewpoint.
Whether you are scrutinizing lakes or economics, the micro and the macro insights should blend with each other. In studying a lake, the micro insights about particular plants and animals help to understand the overall food chain, while the macro insights about the overall food chain help to explain the environment in which individual plants and animals live.
In economics, the micro decisions of individual businesses are influenced by whether the macroeconomy is healthy. For example, firms will be more likely to hire workers if the overall economy is growing. In turn, macroeconomy's performance ultimately depends on the microeconomic decisions that individual households and businesses make.
Microeconomics
What determines how households and individuals spend their budgets? What combination of goods and services will best fit their needs and wants, given the budget they have to spend? How do people decide whether to work, and if so, whether to work full time or part time? How do people decide how much to save for the future, or whether they should borrow to spend beyond their current means?
What determines the products, and how many of each, a firm will produce and sell? What determines the prices a firm will charge? What determines how a firm will produce its products? What determines how many workers it will hire? How will a firm finance its business? When will a firm decide to expand, downsize, or even close? In the microeconomics part of this book, we will learn about the theory of consumer behavior, the theory of the firm, how markets for labor and other resources work, and how markets sometimes fail to work properly.
Macroeconomics
What determines the level of economic activity in a society? In other words, what determines how many goods and services a nation actually produces? What determines how many jobs are available in an economy? What determines a nation’s standard of living? What causes the economy to speed up or slow down? What causes firms to hire more workers or to lay them off? Finally, what causes the economy to grow over the long term?
We can determine an economy's macroeconomic health by examining a number of goals: growth in the standard of living, low unemployment, and low inflation, to name the most important. How can we use government macroeconomic policy to pursue these goals? A nation's central bank conducts monetary policy, which involves policies that affect bank lending, interest rates, and financial capital markets. For the United States, this is the Federal Reserve. A nation's legislative body determines fiscal policy, which involves government spending and taxes. For the United States, this is the Congress and the executive branch, which originates the federal budget. These are the government's main tools. Americans tend to expect that government can fix whatever economic problems we encounter, but to what extent is that expectation realistic? These are just some of the issues that we will explore in the macroeconomic chapters of this book.
Key Concepts and Summary
Microeconomics and macroeconomics are two different perspectives on the economy. The microeconomic perspective focuses on parts of the economy: individuals, firms, and industries. The macroeconomic perspective looks at the economy as a whole, focusing on goals like growth in the standard of living, unemployment, and inflation. Macroeconomics has two types of policies for pursuing these goals: monetary policy and fiscal policy.
Self-Check Questions
What would be another example of a “system” in the real world that could serve as a metaphor for micro and macroeconomics?
Hint:
There are many physical systems that would work, for example, the study of planets (micro) in the solar system (macro), or solar systems (micro) in the galaxy (macro).
Review Questions
What is the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics?
What are examples of individual economic agents?
What are the three main goals of macroeconomics?
Critical Thinking Questions
A balanced federal budget and a balance of trade are secondary goals of macroeconomics, while growth in the standard of living (for example) is a primary goal. Why do you think that is so?
Macroeconomics is an aggregate of what happens at the microeconomic level. Would it be possible for what happens at the macro level to differ from how economic agents would react to some stimulus at the micro level? Hint: Think about the behavior of crowds.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/51114/overview
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Themes and Concepts of Biology
Overview
Biology is the science that studies life, but what exactly is life? This may sound like a silly question with an obvious response, but it is not always easy to define life. For example, a branch of biology called virology studies viruses, which exhibit some of the characteristics of living entities but lack others. It turns out that although viruses can attack living organisms, cause diseases, and even reproduce, they do not meet the criteria that biologists use to define life. Consequently, virologists are not biologists, strictly speaking. Similarly, some biologists study the early molecular evolution that gave rise to life; since the events that preceded life are not biological events, these scientists are also excluded from biology in the strict sense of the term.
Introduction
Biology is the science that studies life, but what exactly is life? This may sound like a silly question with an obvious response, but it is not always easy to define life. For example, a branch of biology called virology studies viruses, which exhibit some of the characteristics of living entities but lack others. It turns out that although viruses can attack living organisms, cause diseases, and even reproduce, they do not meet the criteria that biologists use to define life. Consequently, virologists are not biologists, strictly speaking. Similarly, some biologists study the early molecular evolution that gave rise to life; since the events that preceded life are not biological events, these scientists are also excluded from biology in the strict sense of the term.
From its earliest beginnings, biology has wrestled with three questions: What are the shared properties that make something “alive”? And once we know something is alive, how do we find meaningful levels of organization in its structure? And, finally, when faced with the remarkable diversity of life, how do we organize the different kinds of organisms so that we can better understand them? As new organisms are discovered every day, biologists continue to seek answers to these and other questions.
Properties of Life
All living organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or response to the environment, reproduction, growth and development, regulation, homeostasis, and energy processing. When viewed together, these eight characteristics serve to define life.
Order
Organisms are highly organized, coordinated structures that consist of one or more cells. Even very simple, single-celled organisms are remarkably complex: inside each cell, atoms make up molecules; these in turn make up cell organelles and other cellular inclusions. In multicellular organisms (Figure 1.10), similar cells form tissues. Tissues, in turn, collaborate to create organs (body structures with a distinct function). Organs work together to form organ systems.
Sensitivity or Response to Stimuli
Organisms respond to diverse stimuli. For example, plants can grow toward a source of light, climb on fences and walls, or respond to touch (Figure 1.11). Even tiny bacteria can move toward or away from chemicals (a process called chemotaxis) or light (phototaxis). Movement toward a stimulus is considered a positive response, while movement away from a stimulus is considered a negative response.
Watch this video to see how plants respond to a stimulus—from opening to light, to wrapping a tendril around a branch, to capturing prey.
DNA and Reproduction
Single-celled organisms reproduce by first duplicating their DNA, and then dividing it equally as the cell prepares to divide to form two new cells. Multicellular organisms often produce specialized reproductive germline cells that will form new individuals. When reproduction occurs, genes containing DNA are passed along to an organism’s offspring. These genes ensure that the offspring will belong to the same species and will have similar characteristics, such as size and shape.
Growth and Development
All organisms grow and develop following specific instructions coded for by their genes. These genes provide instructions that will direct cellular growth and development, ensuring that a species’ young (Figure 1.12) will grow up to exhibit many of the same characteristics as its parents.
Regulation
Even the smallest organisms are complex and require multiple regulatory mechanisms to coordinate internal functions, respond to stimuli, and cope with environmental stresses. Two examples of internal functions regulated in an organism are nutrient transport and blood flow. Organs (groups of tissues working together) perform specific functions, such as carrying oxygen throughout the body, removing wastes, delivering nutrients to every cell, and cooling the body.
Homeostasis
In order to function properly, cells need to have appropriate conditions such as proper temperature, pH, and appropriate concentration of diverse chemicals. These conditions may, however, change from one moment to the next. Organisms are able to maintain internal conditions within a narrow range almost constantly, despite environmental changes, through homeostasis (literally, “steady state”)—the ability of an organism to maintain constant internal conditions. For example, an organism needs to regulate body temperature through a process known as thermoregulation. Organisms that live in cold climates, such as the polar bear (Figure 1.13), have body structures that help them withstand low temperatures and conserve body heat. Structures that aid in this type of insulation include fur, feathers, blubber, and fat. In hot climates, organisms have methods (such as perspiration in humans or panting in dogs) that help them to shed excess body heat.
Energy Processing
All organisms use a source of energy for their metabolic activities. Some organisms, such as plants, algae and cyanobacteria, capture light energy from the sun by photosynthesis and convert it into chemical energy; others use chemical energy in molecules they take in as food.
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/61393/overview
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Chapter 9.5: Judicial Selection Processes
Overview
Judicial Selection Process
Introduction
Introduction
This section examines how Texas selects judges to administer justice.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, students will be able to:
- Discuss the various methods of selecting judges
- Understand how Texas selects judges
- Understand arguments supporting and criticising partisan elections
- Evaluate alternative methods of selecting judges
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Discuss the various methods of selecting judges
- Understand how Texas selects judges
- Understand arguments supporting and criticising partisan elections
- Evaluate alternative methods of selecting judges
Judicial Selection Methods
Judicial Selection Methods
Judicial selection methods vary substantially across the United States. Though each state has a unique set of guidelines governing how they fill their state and local judiciaries, there are five main methods:
- Partisan elections: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot alongside a label designating political party affiliation.
- Nonpartisan elections: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot without a label designating party affiliation.
- Legislative elections: Judges are selected by the state legislature.
- Gubernatorial appointment: Judges are appointed by the governor. In some cases, approval from the legislative body is required.
- Assisted appointment, also known as merit selection or the Missouri Plan: A nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list. After serving an initial term, the judge must be confirmed by the people in a yes-no retention election to continue serving.
- A retention election or judicial retention is a periodic process whereby voters are asked whether an incumbent judge should remain in office for another term. The judge, who does not face an opponent, is removed from the position if a percentage of voters (often 50 percent) indicate that he or she should not be retained.
Texas' Judicial Selection Process
Texas' Judicial Selection Process
Texas elects their judges (except at some of the municipal levels) in partisan elections, and the table below depicts the specifics for each level of court.[1]
Arguments For and Against Selection Judges by Partisan Elections
Arguments For and Against Selection Judges by Partisan Elections
Arguments supporting partisan elections
Proponents of judicial elections argue that this method of selection is the most democratic, allowing the people to have a direct voice in selecting judges. They believe voters are capable of selecting a judiciary that reflects their values and that they are entitled to that choice.
“ [Y]ou cannot take the politics out of decisions about who is going to hold what office, but you can take the people out of the politics. This democracy business can be a little messy at times, certainly inefficient and occasionally some bad mistakes are made, but you can trust [voters] to get it right most of the time.”
—Professor Michael E. DeBow of the Samford University School of Law
Along similar lines, those in favor of elections say that the prospect of being voted out of office holds judges accountable to voters. Samford University law professor Michael E. DeBow points to examples from the late 1990s when judiciaries in Texas and Alabama appeared to be heavily inclined towards trial lawyers. When voters caught wind of this, they began what DeBow calls a “revolt,” replacing their judges and moving towards tort reform laws.
“Could this have happened in Missouri Plan states? Or in states with nonpartisan elections? Probably not as quickly.… [I]t is a significant thing for voters to assert themselves as dramatically as they did in these two states. It strongly supports the view that voters are not incompetent to vote on judicial races, and lends aid and comfort to those working to effect legal reform.”
—Professor Michael E. DeBow of the Samford University School of Law
Another argument put forth by proponents of this selection method is that affiliating judicial candidates with a political party efficiently communicates the candidate’s values and ideologies to voters. Indeed, in their book The Politics of State Courts, political science professors Harry H. Stumpf and John H. Culver assert that “In partisan [judicial] races, the political party label may give most voters all the information they seek.”
Furthermore, some argue that partisanship is unavoidable. Even in the assisted appointment method of judicial selection there arises something of a “subterranean process of bar and bench politics,” writes DeBow, one over which voters have little control.
Arguments against partisan elections
Critics of partisan judicial elections argue that the growing amount of fundraising in election campaigns gives special interest groups a foothold to manipulate the judiciary to their liking. Judicial elections have become much more expensive in the last decade—partisan elections more so, perhaps because state parties serve as “ready-built infrastructures for ‘bundling’ donations,” according to Billy Corriher of the Center for American Progress. Those skeptical of the process also claim that it creates a highly polarized judiciary made up of judges who are pressured to please their campaign supporters.
“I never felt so much like a hooker down by the bus station… as I did in a judicial race. Everyone interested in contributing has very specific interests. They mean to be buying a vote.”
—Ohio Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Paul Pfeifer
Addressing the argument that party affiliation gives voters useful information about a judge’s values, Corriher believes voters actually understand very little about how partisanship plays into everyday decisions on the bench.
“If voters understood how a Republican judge differs from a Democratic one in the run-of-the-mill cases that occupy most of the courts’ time, then partisan identification might prove more useful. …
When voters think of judges’ political affiliation, they often think of cases involving controversial social issues, such as abortion or gay marriage, that garner a lot of media attention but constitute merely a fraction of a court’s rulings. But in the states that have seen the most judicial campaign cash, the campaign donors are not concerned with social issues. Instead, liberal judges are supported by trial lawyers who want to see judges protecting individuals’ right to sue wrongdoers; conservative judges are strongly backed by corporate interest groups that want judges who will uphold “tort reform” laws that limit lawsuits.”
—Billy Corriher, Director of Research for Legal Progress at the Center for American Progress
The Shepherd Study
A 2013 study by the American Constitution Society titled “Justice At Risk: An empirical analysis of campaign contributions and judicial decisions” examined the effects of campaign contributions on judicial behavior.
Independent researchers analyzed over 2,345 business-related state supreme court published opinions from 2010 to 2012, merging the dataset with over 175,000 campaign contribution records that occurred over that period. Information was also collected on the characteristics of individual justices, including ideology.
The findings were reported as follows:
- A significant relationship exists between business group contributions to state supreme court justices and the voting of those justices in cases involving business matters.
- The more campaign contributions from business interests justices receive, the more likely they are to vote for business litigants appearing before them in court.
- A justice who receives half of his or her contributions from business groups would be expected to vote in favor of business interests almost two-thirds of the time.
- The empirical relationship between business contributions and justices’ voting for business interests exists only in partisan and nonpartisan systems; there is no statistically significant relationship between money and voting in retention election systems.
- There is a stronger relationship between business contributions and justices’ voting among justices affiliated with the Democratic Party than among justices affiliated with the Republican Party.
Reading Review Questions
Compare and contrast partisan and nonpartisan judicial selection methods.
Describe the two main ways judges may be appointed by the State Government.
Briefly describe the arguments in favor of judicial election by the people
Briefly describe the arguments in opposition to judicial election by the people
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.454519
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01/08/2020
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66320/overview
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Candidate and Delegate Selection Processes in Texas
Overview
Candidate and Delegate Selection Processes in Texas
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
- Compare and contrast primary and caucus candidate and delegate selection processes
Introduction
This section discusses the candidate and delegate selection process in Texas.
Primary Election Systems Used in Texas
Presidential Elections
Presidential candidates in the United States are not directly nominated via primary elections; instead, presidential nominees are formally nominated at political party conventions. Presidential preference primary elections and caucuses are held in each state to determine how that state's delegation will vote during the nominating convention. The guidelines governing presidential nominating processes are set by the national committees of political parties, which in turn authorize individual state-level parties to conduct their own primaries and caucuses in accordance with their own participation standards. The terms under which presidential primaries are conducted therefore vary from state to state and from election cycle to election cycle.
In 2016, a total of 35 U.S. jurisdictions (including both states and territories) held presidential preference primaries to allocate convention delegates to both the Democratic and Republican parties' presidential candidates. In 13 jurisdictions, both parties held caucuses instead to allocate delegates. Eight jurisdictions utilized a bifurcated process in which one party held a primary and the other conducted a caucus or convention.
In 2016, Texas' political parties conducted open presidential preference primaries. Voters were not required to be a member of a party to participate in its primary.
Congressional and State-Level Elections
In 22 states, at least one political party utilizes open primaries to nominate partisan candidates for congressional and state-level (e.g. state legislators, governors, etc.) offices. In 15 states, at least one party utilizes closed primaries to nominate partisan candidates for these offices. In 14 states, at least one party utilizes semi-closed primaries. In two (California and Washington), top-two primaries are utilized.
Texas law requires parties to conduct open primary elections for state and county offices, as well as for congressional offices. During the nineteenth century, candidates were nominated at party conventions, but early in the 20th century, the state moved to the primary as a way to select candidates. Winners in primary contests are determined by majority vote. In the case that no candidate receives a majority vote, the top two candidates proceed to a runoff election.
Office | Number of Seats |
Governor of Texas | 1 |
Lieutenant Governor of Texas | 1 |
Attorney General of Texas | 1 |
Land Comptroller of Public Accounts | 1 |
Texas Land Commissioner | 1 |
Texas Agriculture Commissioner | 1 |
Texas Railroad Commission | 3 |
State Legislators | 181 |
United States Senators | 2 |
United States Representatives | 36 |
Local Officials | Varies by municipality |
Table 9.2 Elective offices for Which Parties Must Conduct Primaries to Nominate General Election Candidates .Table adapted from Ballotpedia, Primary Elections in Texas, published under a GFDL License |
The Texas Caucuses
The Texas caucuses are a political event associated with primaries, the process by which voters in the Texas ultimately select their parties' nominees for various offices. The process as a whole has been referred to as the Texas Two-Step, after the partner dance of the same name, because Texans were required to first vote in the primary election in order to be eligible for participation in party caucuses in which delegates were selected.
The current process differs for Democrats and Republicans.
The Republican Party of Texas has a winner-take-all provision in its primary, and the chances any candidate will get all of that party’s Texas delegates are very small. That candidate would have to win more than 50 percent of the vote statewide, and also in each of the state’s 36 congressional districts, to run the table. Absent such an event, a pro-rata system is followed to allocate delegates roughly according to votes received.
The Texas Democratic Party no longer selects state delegates at caucuses. After the votes of Texans participating in the Democratic primary are counted, delegates are awarded among the candidates who received 15 percent or more of the vote, in proportion to the votes received by each.
It would be even harder for a Democrat than for a Republican to get all of the Texas delegates from their party in a presidential primary. A democratic candidate could do so only by winning 85% of the vote statewide and, separately, 85% in each and every one of Texas’ 31 state Senate districts.
Controversies
The Texas Democratic Party abandoned the former caucus-based "Texas Two-step" primary system in 2015.
The Democratic County (Senate District) Conventions in late March 2008 produced a great deal of confusion. Both Clinton and Obama supporters had concerns about how these conventions were conducted. The most common complaint had to do with the fact that delegates were not being apportioned based on Precinct Convention results. For instance, in Kleberg County, 9 delegates were elected to attend the State Convention, with only one Obama supporter among them. Obama won about one-third of the votes in the Precinct Caucuses/Conventions in Kleberg County.
References and Further Reading
Bartels, L. (1988). Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (page 22)
Democratic National Committee, "2016 Democratic National Convention Delegate/Alternate Allocation,"
updated February 19, 2016
CNN.com, "Democratic National Convention Roll Call," July 26, 2016
Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process” accessed October 11, 2015
CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
FairVote, "Who Can Vote in Congressional Primaries," accessed August 17, 2017
National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," July 21, 2016
Texas Legislature, "Chapter 172. Primary Elections," accessed September 2, 2017
Nassar, George. "Texas Democratic Caucus FAQ." The Texas Blue. 03/04/2008.
"Texas Democrats dropping confusing caucus system.” Christy Hoppe. June 2015.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Primary Election Systems Used in Texas. Authored by: Ballotpedia. License: GNU Free Documentation License
Texas Caucuses. Authored by Wikipedia. License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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"author": "Kris Seago"
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66318/overview
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Party Identification
Overview
Party Identification
Learning Objective
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Understand party identification and the organization of the major political parties in Texas
Introduction
This section explores the psychological underpinnings, measurement, and expression of party identification in Texas.
Political Ideologies
A political ideology is a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order.
Predominant Ideologies
Political ideologies in the United States (and as a subset, Texas) refers to the various ideologies and ideological demographics in the United States. Citizens in the U.S. generally classify themselves as adherent to positions along the political spectrum as either liberal, progressive, moderate, or conservative. Modern liberalism aims at the preservation and extension of human, social and civil rights as well as the government guaranteed provision of positive rights. Conservatism commonly refers to a combination of economic liberalism and libertarianism, and to an extent, social conservatism. It aims at protecting the concepts of small government and individual liberty while promoting traditional values on some social issues.
Liberalism
Liberals advocate strong civil liberties and social progressivism according to which societal practices need to be changed whenever necessary for the greater good of society or the benefits of those who wish to engage in those social arrangements. They believe that government action is needed in order for people to be as free as possible. The government must thereby ensure the provision of positive rights, protect civil liberties and ensure equality. Liberals commonly reject both laissez-faire capitalism and socialism as a means to distribute economic resources. A mixed economy, that is a capitalist free market economy with limited government regulation and intervention is seen as the ideal.
Conservatism
The word “conservative” comes from “conserve,” hence describing those who generally wish to conserve the status quo, conserve morality, or conserve money. Views on individual policies vary among different sub-groups. Overall, a majority of conservatives support tax- cuts and other laissez-faire (reduced governmental interference) policies, oppose same-sex marriage, oppose abortion, oppose stricter gun control laws on the grounds of the Second Amendment and public safety, and favor increased military spending as opposed to other federal expenditures. Conservatives tend to favor (racial) color-blindness and oppose affirmative action/positive discrimination quotas. Conservatives tend to favor state governments over the federal, reserving the federal for matters of national security.
Moderates
Moderate is a general term for people who fall in the center category between Liberals and Conservatives.
Moderates incorporate different aspects from liberalism and conservatism into their personal perspective. Moderates are commonly defined by limiting the extent to which they adopt liberal and conservative ideas
| Where do your beliefs come from? The Pew Research Center offers a typology quiz to help you find out. Ask a friend or family member to answer a few questions with you and compare results. What do you think about government regulation? The military? The economy? Now compare your results. Are you both liberal? Conservative? Moderate? |
Party Identification
Party identification refers to the political party with which an individual identifies. Party identification is loyalty to a political party. Party identification is typically determined by the political party that an individual most commonly supports (by voting or other means).
Some researchers view party identification as “a form of social identity,” or a psychological attachment in the same way that a person identifies with a religious or ethnic group. This identity develops early in a person’s life mainly through family and social influences. This description would make party identification a stable perspective, which develops as a consequence of personal, family, social and environmental factors. Other researchers consider party identification to be more flexible and more of a conscious choice. They see it as a position and a choice based on the continued assessment of the political, economic and social environment. Party identification can increase or even shift by motivating events or conditions in the country.
A number of studies have found that a partisan lens affects how a person perceives the world. Partisan voters judge character flaws more harshly in rival candidates than their own, believe the economy is doing better if their own side is in power, and underplay scandals and failures of their own side.
The past thirty years have brought a dramatic change in the relationship between the two parties as fewer conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans have been elected to office. As political moderates, or individuals with ideologies in the middle of the ideological spectrum, leave the political parties at all levels, the parties have grown farther apart ideologically, a result called partisan polarization. Partisan polarization is the degree to which Democrats have become more liberal and Republicans have become more conservative. In politics, partisan polarization may make it increasingly more difficult for politicians to compromise on critical policy issues.
Measuring Party Identification
It is important to measure party identification in order to determine its strengths and weaknesses. Political scientists have developed many ways to measure party identification in order to examine and evaluate it.
One American method of measuring party identification uses the Likert Scale, a 7-point scale to measure party identification, with Strong Democrat on one extreme and Strong Republican at the other. In between the two extremes are the classifications of “Lean Democrat/Republican” and “Weak Democrat/Republican.”
The Importance of Party Identification
Political scientists often refer to party identification as a “vote determinant.” Those people who identify with a party tend to vote for their party’s candidate for various offices in high percentages. Those who consider themselves to be strong partisans, strong Democrats and strong Republicans respectively, tend to be the most faithful in voting for their party’s nominee for office. In the case of voting for president, since the 1970s, party identification on voting behavior has been increasing significantly. By the late 1990s, party identification on voting behavior was at the highest level of any election since the 1950s.
When voting in congressional elections, the trend is similar. Strong party identifiers voted overwhelmingly for their party’s nominee in the general election. It is important to note that each party respectively in certain elections, would have stronger voting behavior of their strongest party identifiers. For instance, in the years the Democrats dominated House and Senate elections in the 1970s and 1980s, it can be explained that their strong party identifiers were more loyal in voting for their party’s nominee for Congress than the Republicans were.
The same level of voting behavior can also be applied to state and local levels.
While straight-ticket voting has declined among the general voting population, it is still prevalent in those who are strong Republicans and strong Democrats. According to Paul Allen Beck and colleagues, “the stronger an individual’s party identification was, the more likely he or she was to vote a straight ticket.”
The Distribution of Party Identification in Texas
Using the methodology described above, the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune surveyed respondents about their party identification. Figure 9.8 illustrates the results.
Democratic and Republican Party Organization
Although many Texans claim that they are "registered Republicans" or "registered Democrats," Texas does not have a system of party registration. Registered voters may vote in either the Democrat or Republican primary.
One of the most important functions of political parties is to select candidates to run for office under the party label, which is currently accomplished through primary elections.
Permanent Party Organization
Organization of the parties themselves are often discussed in terms of the permanent organization of the party and the temporary (campaign) organization of the party (See Figure 9.9). In each election precinct, a precinct chair will be elected in the party primary. The precinct chair will head the precinct convention, in addition to serving on the party's county executive committee. In the primary, the county chair will also be elected. The county chair will lead the county executive committee, which is composed of the chair and precinct chairs. The main responsibility of the county executive committee is to run the county primary and plan the county conventions.
At the state level, there is a state executive committee, which includes a state chair and vice-chair. These officers are selected every two years at the state party conventions. The state executive committee:
- accepts filings by candidates for statewide office
- helps raise funds for the party
- and establishes party policy
Temporary Party Organization
The temporary organization of the party includes the precinct conventions. The main role of the precinct conventions is to select delegates to the county convention and to possibly submit resolutions that may eventually become part of the party platform.
Delegates chosen at the precinct convention then go to the county conventions (or in urban areas, to district conventions). These conventions elect delegates to the state convention. Democratic and Republican parties hold state conventions every other year.
At the state convention:
- nominees are certified for statewide office
- a party platform is adopted
- and a chair, vice-chair, and state executive committee is elected
In presidential election years, the state conventions:
- select delegates for the national party conventions
- elect delegates for the national party committee
- and choose presidential electors to the Electoral College
Recommended Websites
References and Further Reading
The Texas Politics Project. University of Texas/Texas University of Texas/Texas Tribune’s February 2018 Poll.
Texas Election Code - Texas Statutes. TITLE 10. POLITICAL PARTIES. Accessed October 18, 2019.
Licensing and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Revision and Adaptation. Authored by: Kris S. Seago. License: CC BY: Attribution
PUBLIC DOMAIN CONTENT
Party Identification in Texas. Authored by: Texas Politics Project. Provided by: Texas Politics Project; Texas Tribune. Located at: https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/polling License: Public Domain: No Known Copyright
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"title": "Texas Government 2.0, Political Parties in Texas, Party Identification",
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66293/overview
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Local Government in Texas
Overview
Local Government in Texas
Chapter Learning Objective
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Describe the roles and responsibilities of local political systems in Texas
Introduction
Voters in Texas have leaned conservative throughout the state’s history, albeit with a bit of a progressive streak. Even as the nature of the Republican and Democratic parties have changed, the basic ideology of Texas voters has been fairly reliable.
One major change, though, has been the geographic distribution of liberals and conservatives. In recent elections, urban areas have grown increasingly liberal as rural areas have grown more conservative. This has created an interesting conflict with respect to the nature of local governments in Texas. Conservative lawmakers have historically supported the concept of local control, letting local governments – especially cities – conduct their business as they please, relying on local voters to keep regulatory overreach in check.
More liberal urban voters, though, have shown a higher level of comfort with government regulation and authority that conservative voters generally oppose. Austin, arguably the most liberal of Texas cities, has enacted ordinances banning grocery stores from offering plastic bags to customers, placing red-light cameras at intersections to automatically ticket drivers who fail to come to a complete stop before making a right turn - even requiring apartment properties to participate in voluntary federal low-income housing programs
The San Antonio City Council, meanwhile, refused to allow Chick-fil-A restaurants in the city’s airport because of the company’s financial support of organizations like the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which city leaders felt were insufficiently supportive of gay and lesbian issues.
In 2019, the Texas Legislature passed a number of bills to reign in local government policies it deemed out of control. Red-light cameras were banned statewide. A “Save Chick-fil-A bill” prohibiting cities from refusing to do business with companies that partner with religious groups was enacted. A bill prohibiting new partnerships between cities and abortion providers was also signed into law. As the demographics and politics of Texas change, how will future legislators expand or contract the powers of local governments?
Local Government in Texas
Understanding government in Texas is impossible without a study of local governments. Texas has one state government, which operates under the authority of one federal government. Under that umbrella, however, are 254 counties, 1214 cities, 1079 independent school districts and 2600 special purpose districts that cover everything from rural fire prevention to mosquito control.
Let’s take a look at the types of local government in Texas.
License and Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Local Government in Texas: Introduction. Authored by: Andrew Teas. License: CC BY: Attribution
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"author": "Kris Seago"
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66329/overview
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Assessment
Overview
This is a quiz for Chapter Ten.
Texas Government Chapter Ten Quiz
Check your knowledge of Chapter X by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
This is a quiz for Chapter Ten.
Check your knowledge of Chapter X by taking the quiz linked below. The quiz will open in a new browser window or tab.
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.561002
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05/05/2020
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"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66329/overview",
"title": "Texas Government 2.0, Interest Groups and Lobbying in Texas, Assessment",
"author": "Kris Seago"
}
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87597/overview
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5.3 Plant Response to Light_Phototropism & Germination
5.4 Plant Response to Gravity_Gravitropism
5.5 Other Plant Growth Responses
5.6 Plant Response to Herbivore & Pathogen Attack
5_Plant-Hormones
Exercise 2a Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Exercise 2b Plant Hormones
Plant Hormones
Overview
Daisies (Bellis perennis) facing the sun after opening in the morning, and they follow the sun through the day
böhringer friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
Georgia Tech Organismal Biology
https://organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu/
Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.
Introductions
Learning Objectives
- list the five major plant hormones, including auxin, cytokinins, gibberellins, abscisic acid, and ethylene.
- List some of the plant behaviors regulated by these hormones including phototropism, gravitropism, germination, shade avoidance, thigmotropism, water stress, and pathogen/herbivory defense.
Key Terms
abscisic acid (ABA) - a plant hormone that induces dormancy in seeds and other organs
apical dominance - a phenomenon where the growth of lateral branches is inhibited by the main stem of a tree
auxin - a plant hormone that influences cell elongation (in phototropism), gravitropism, apical dominance, and root growth
cytokinin - a plant hormone that promotes cell division
dormancy - the inert state in an organism when most functions are suspended
ethylene - volatile plant hormone that is associated with fruit ripening, flower wilting, and leaf fall
germination - the process of a seedling emerging from a seed
gibberellin (GA) - is a plant hormone that stimulates shoot elongation, seed germination, and the maturation and dropping of fruit and flowers
gravitropism - growth toward Earth’s gravitational center
phototropism - directional bending of a plant toward a light source
plant hormone - signaling molecules that are produced at different parts of a plant. The interaction of these hormones regulates growth, development, and many other functions.
thigmotropism - directional growth of a plant in response to constant contact
Shade avoidance - plant response to grow away from shade saturated with far-red light
water stress - a condition caused due to drought, flooding, salinity, or acidity of water available to plant
A plant’s sensory response to external stimuli relies on chemical messengers (hormones). Plant hormones affect all aspects of plant life, from flowering to fruit setting and maturation, and from phototropism to leaf fall. Just as in animals, hormones are signaling molecules that are present in very small amounts, transported throughout the plant body, and only elicit responses in cells that have the appropriate hormone receptors. In plants, hormones travel large throughout the body via the vascular tissue (xylem and phloem) and cell-to-cell via plasmodesmata.
Potentially every cell in a plant can produce plant hormones. In contrast, many animal hormones are produced only in specific glands. Plants do not have specialized hormone-producing glands.
Hormones in Plant
Hormones regulate a variety of plant behaviors in response to different stimuli or environmental conditions. Let us first look at the most common plant hormones and their effects. Thereafter, we will look at the stimuli that provoke these responses and the pathways that regulate the response. Throughout this reading, you should aim to recognize both the stimuli that provoke a specific behavior, as well as the hormones and (when described) the signaling pathway that mediates the response.
Auxins: The Master Growth Regulator
The term auxin is derived from the Greek word auxein, which means “to grow.” Auxins are the main hormones responsible for cell elongation in phototropism (movement in response to light) and gravitropism (movement in response to gravity). Apical dominance (inhibition of lateral bud formation) is triggered by auxins produced in the apical meristem. Flowering, fruit ripening, and inhibition of abscission (leaf falling) are other plant responses under the direct or indirect control of auxins. Auxins also act as a relay for the effects of blue light (via phot1 and phot2) and red/far-red responses (via phytochrome). Synthetic auxin is used as a rooting hormone to promote the growth of roots on cuttings and detached leaves.
Cytokinins: Cell Division
Cytokinins promote cytokinesis or cell division. Cytokinins are most abundant in growing tissues, such as roots, embryos, and fruits, where cell division is occurring. Cytokinins also delay senescence (aging) in leaf tissues, promote mitosis (cell division), and stimulate differentiation of the meristem in shoots and roots. Many effects on plant development are under the influence of cytokinins, often in combination with auxin or another hormone. For example, apical dominance seems to result from a balance between auxins that inhibit lateral buds, and cytokinins that promote bushier growth.
Gibberellins: Stem, Fruit, and Seed Growth
Gibberellins (GAs) are a group of about 125 closely related plant hormones that stimulate shoot elongation, seed germination, and fruit and flower maturation. Maturing grapes are routinely treated with GA to promote a larger fruit size. GAs is synthesized in the root and stem apical meristems, young leaves, and seed embryos. Gibberellins were first identified in the fungus, Gibberella fujikuroi.
GAs also delays senescence (aging) in leaves and fruit and break dormancy (a state of inhibited growth and development) in the seeds of plants that require exposure to cold or light to germinate. Abscisic acid (described next) is a strong GA antagonist (works against it).
Abscisic Acid (ABA): Dormancy
Abscisic acid (ABA) causes abscission (dropping) leaves. ABA accumulates as a response to stressful environmental conditions, such as dehydration, cold temperatures, or shortened day lengths. Its activity counteracts many of the growth-promoting effects of GAs and auxins. ABA also inhibits stem elongation, induces dormancy in lateral buds and seeds, and closes stomata in drought conditions.
ABA induces dormancy in seeds by blocking germination and promoting the synthesis of storage proteins. Many plants require a long period of cold temperature before seeds germinate, which protects young plants from sprouting too early during unseasonably warm weather in winter. As the hormone gradually breaks down over winter, the seed is released from dormancy and germinates when conditions are favorable in spring.
ABA also regulates the short-term drought response: low soil moisture causes an increase in ABA, which causes stomata to close, reducing water loss.
This video describes the activities of both auxins: gibberellins and abscisic acid:
Ethylene: Aging
Ethylene promotes fruit ripening, flower wilting, and leaf fall. Ethylene is unusual as a hormone because it is a volatile gas (C2H4). Aging tissues (especially older leaves) and nodes of stems produce ethylene. The best-known effect of the hormone is the promotion of fruit ripening: ethylene stimulates the conversion of starch and acids into simple sugars. Ethylene also triggers leaf and fruit abscission, flower fading, and dropping. Ethylene is widely used in agriculture. Commercial fruit growers control the timing of fruit ripening with the application of the gas. Horticulturalists inhibit leaf dropping in ornamental plants by removing ethylene from greenhouses using fans and ventilation.
This video provides a quick summary of the different roles of ethylene in plants:
Two other plant hormones—jasmonic acid and salicylic acid—participate in plant-pathogen interactions.
Systemin: Anti-Herbivory
Systemin, named for the fact that it is distributed systemically (everywhere) in the plant body upon production, activates plant responses to wounds from herbivores. Systemin initiates the production of compounds, like jasmonic acid, which tastes bad and inhibits digestion by herbivores (causing a stomachache!) to deter them from continuing to eat the plant.
Methyl Salicylate (MeSa): Immune Response
Methyl salicylate (MeSa) helps regulate responses to infection by parasites or pathogens. When a parasite or pathogen infects a cell, there is a specific, localized response called the hypersensitive response (HR). Following this very localized response, the plant initiates a systemic (whole body) response called the systemic acquired response (SAR). MeSA is responsible for inducing the SAR in response to the HR.
This section provided a brief description of plant hormones. The next section focuses to explain how these hormones regulate the different plant behaviors.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/30-6-plant-sensory-systems-and-responses
Plant Response to Light: Phototropism & Germination
Plants are generally capable of detecting and responding to at least three wavelengths of light: blue light, red light, and far-red light. The different wavelengths are detected by different photoreceptors, which are comprised of a protein covalently bonded to a light-absorbing pigment called a chromophore. Together, the two are called a chromoprotein. The behaviors regulated by light stimuli include:
phototropism (movement toward the light),
stem elongation (growth),
shade avoidance (growth)
germination(seed sprouting).
Blue light: Phototropism
Plants are dependent on access to sunlight in order to fix carbon dioxide into sugars; thus, as stationary organisms, they must grow toward the sunlight in order to survive. Phototropism is a movement toward or away from light. Tropism means movement, and photo means light, so “phototropism” is “movement in response to light.”
Phototropins are the chromoproteins responsible for mediating the phototropic response. Other responses under the control of phototropins are leaf opening and closing, chloroplast movement within cells, and the opening of stomata to permit gas exchange (and thus photosynthesis).
Charles Darwin and his son Francis determined that light was perceived by the tip of the plant (the apical meristem), but that the response (bending) took place in a different part of the plant. They concluded that the signal had to travel from the apical meristem to the base of the plant to cause the bending. We now know that the detection of light in the apical meristem occurs via phototropin called phot1 and phot2, which specifically detect blue light (Figure 2.5.1.).
In 1913, Peter Boysen-Jensen cut off the tip of a seedling, covered the cut section with a layer of gelatin (essentially jello), and then replaced the tip (Figure 2.5.2.). The cut seedling bent toward the light. However, when he inserted an impermeable barrier between the tip and the cut base, the seedling could no longer bend in response to light. Later experiments showed that the signal traveled on the shaded side of the seedling. When the barrier was inserted only on the illuminated side, the plant could still bend towards the light. Therefore, the chemical signal was a growth stimulant because the phototropic response involved faster cell elongation on the shaded side than on the illuminated side. We now know that the chemical signal is the plant hormone auxin, also called indole acetic acid or IAA.
Auxin stimulates cell elongation on the shady side of the stem through a process called the acid growth hypothesis where auxin causes cells to activate proton pumps, which then pump protons out of the cells and into the space between the plasma membrane and the cell wall. The movement of protons into the extracellular space does two things:
- The lower pH activates expansin, which breaks the links between the cellulose fibers in the cell walls, making them more flexible.
- The high concentration of protons causes sugars to move into the cell, which then creates an osmotic gradient where water moves into the cell causing the cell to expand.
To sum up, the phototropic response works in the following fashion. The phototropin phot1 and phot2 are present in the plant apical meristem. When activated by blue light, phot1 and phot2 cause an accumulation of auxin on the shaded side of the plant. Auxin promotes cell elongation due to the weakening of the cell wall combined with an influx of water (which literally stretches the cells). Because the cell expansion occurs only on the shaded side of the stem, the plant bends away from the shade and toward the light.
This video provides a concise summary of auxin’s role in phototropism and the acid growth hypothesis.
Red Light: Growth, Germination, and Photoperiodism
Blue light promotes stem bending, but red light (as opposed to far-red light) promotes stem elongation or growth. This happens because red light indicates the full sun to a plant, while far-red light indicates that a plant is being shaded out by another plant, which is due to the fact that unfiltered, full sunlight contains much more red light than far-red light. Chlorophyll absorbs strongly in the red region of the visible spectrum, but not in the far-red region, so any plant in the shade of another plant on the forest floor will be exposed to light that has been depleted of red light and enriched for far-red-light. The non-shaded areas on the forest floor have more red light, and red light triggers plant growth. In other words, plants use the red vs far-red light detection to grow away from shade and towards the light. This response is called Shade avoidance.
The chromoproteins responsible for red/far-red light detection are called phytochromes (Figure 2.5.3). Phytochromes have two photo-interconvertible forms: Pr (phytochrome red) and Pfr (phytochrome far-red). The forms are named for what they are capable of absorbing next: the Pr form is capable of absorbing red light (~667 nm), and the Pfr form is capable of absorbing far-red light (~730 nm). When the Pr form absorbs red light, it is immediately converted to Pfr; and when Pfr absorbs far-red light, it is quickly converted back to Pr. Absorption of red or far-red light causes a massive change to the shape of the chromophore, altering the conformation and activity of the phytochrome protein to which it is bound. Pfr is the physiologically active form of protein. Because phytochrome is in the Pfr state after exposure to red light, this means that exposure to red light turns the phytochrome “on.” Exposure to far-red light inhibits phytochrome activity. Together, the two forms represent the phytochrome system.
Plant Response to Gravity: Gravitropism
Whether or not they germinate in the light or in total darkness, shoots usually sprout up from the ground, and roots grow down into the ground. A plant laid on its side in the dark will send shoots upward when given enough time. Gravitropism ensures that roots grow into the soil and that shoots grow toward sunlight. Growth of the shoot apical tip upward is called negative gravitropism, whereas, growth of the roots downward is called positive gravitropism.
Amyloplasts (also known as statoliths) are specialized cellular compartments that contain starch granules that move in response to gravity. The starch granules are heavy and literally fall to the bottom of the cellular compartment in response to gravity. Amyloplasts are found in shoots and in specialized cells of the root cap. When a plant is tilted, the statoliths drop to the new bottom cell wall, which causes auxin (produced by the root apical meristem just like at the shoot apical meristem) to redistribute to the new bottom of the root. In roots, a high concentration of auxin inhibits cell elongation, slowing growth on the lower side of the root, while cells develop normally on the upper side and causing the root to bend toward the high concentration of auxin and thus causing the root to be grown down. Note that this is the exact opposite of auxin’s effect on shoots, where a higher concentration stimulates cell expansion, causing the shoot to bend away from the higher concentration of auxin. After the root begins to grow vertically again, the amyloplasts return to their normal position, and auxin is equally distributed on both sides of the root tip (Figure 2.5.5.).
Other Plant Growth Responses
Other plant responses to different growth-related stimuli include apical dominance, leaf abscission, fruit growth, and fruit ripening.
Many plants grow primarily at a single apical meristem and have limited lateral branches (which would result in multiple meristems). This phenomenon is called apical dominance and is regulated by the presence of auxin at the apical meristem. Auxin is required for the function of other growth-regulating hormones such as cytokinins, which promote cell division but only in the presence of auxin. Abscisic acid in the lateral buds inhibits the production of auxin, and removal of the apical bud will release this inhibition of auxin, allowing the lateral buds to begin growing (Figure 2.5.6.).
Some plants drop leaves in response to changing seasons (based on temperatures, photoperiod, water, or other environmental conditions). This process is called leaf abscission and is regulated by interactions between auxin and ethylene. During the growing season, the leaf produces high levels of auxin which blocks the activity of ethylene; however, as the seasons change the leaf produces lower levels of auxin. Lower levels of auxin permit ethylene to initiate senescence (aging) and ultimately programmed cell death at the site of leaf attachment to the stem, allowing the leaf to fall off in a controlled manner without harming the rest of the plant.
The growth of fruits in size is promoted by gibberellins. The artificial addition of gibberellins to fruits while still on the plant will cause them to grow larger than they ordinarily would. And once fruits have grown to the appropriate size, they begin ripening; this process is stimulated by ethylene. Fruit ripening is a form of senescence (aging), so the role that ethylene plays in fruit ripening is very similar to its role in leaf abscission.
Plant Responses to Water or Water Stress (Drought)
Though germination can be controlled by the phytochrome system, the seeds of some plant species instead rely on the imbibition (intake) of water to initiate germination (shown below). Intake of water activates the hormone gibberellin, which then signals to transcribe the gene encoding amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starches stored in the seed into simple sugars, and then germination proceeds (note these final steps are identical to what occurs in phytochrome-regulated germination). When water is absent, germination in this pathway is blocked by a hormone called abscisic acid (also called ABA), which inhibits the activity of gibberellins. Thus, gibberellins and abscisic acid act in opposition to regulating the germination response (Figure 2.5.7.).
As briefly noted above, activation of phot1 and phot2 by blue light cause stomata to open to permit gas exchange so that photosynthesis can occur. But in addition to sunlight and carbon dioxide, photosynthesis also requires water. When the plant is dehydrated due to drought, the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) causes stomata to close, preventing gas exchange and halting photosynthesis. This is the stomata closing response to stress, and this response to abscisic acid occurs even if blue light is present (Signaling from drought via ABA overrides the signaling from blue light via phot1) (Figure 2.5.8.).
In drought conditions, the immediate response is closing stomata, as noted above. However, because closed stomata prevent gas exchange, plants will die if the stomata remain closed for too long. Thus, if the drought persists for too long, the plant will begin sacrificing certain areas by allowing the leaves or stems to die in localized regions—also known as localized cell death. This process may be regulated by the hormone ethylene, which can induce localized cell death under certain conditions.
Plant Responses to Touch: Thigmotropism
Thigmotropism is movement in response to touch. Different plant species have different types of responses to touch, including slow thigmotropism and fast thigmotropism.
Slow thigmotropism describes a plant response to a touch stimulus that affects the direction of growth, such as vines that wrap around or grow along with structures. Slow thigmotropism is regulated by auxin, which redistributes in the elongating stem in response to the touch, ultimately resulting in differential cell elongation (much like the role auxin plays in phototropism).
Fast thigmotropism only occurs in a few plant species and describes a rapid plant response to touches, such as the way the Venus flytrap snaps shut to trap an insect or the way mimosa plants clamp their leaves closed in response to touch. This response occurs as a result of an electrical signal that causes rapid changes in cell turgor pressure and thus rapid movement of structures associated with those cells.
This video shows an example of slow thigmotropism (mediated by auxin) in morning glory plants, which require a support structure of some type to grow optimally. The time-lapse images were taken at 10-minute intervals.
And this video shows an example of fast thigmotropism (mediated by membrane potential) in a Venus flytrap.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/30-6-plant-sensory-systems-and-responses
Plant Response to Herbivore & Pathogen Attack
Plants face two types of enemies: herbivores and pathogens. Herbivores both large and small use plants as food and actively chew them. Pathogens are agents of disease. These infectious microorganisms—such as fungi, bacteria, and nematodes—live off of the plant and damage its tissues. Plants have developed a variety of strategies to discourage or kill attackers.
The first line of defense in plants is an intact and impenetrable barrier. Bark and the waxy cuticle can protect against predators. Other adaptations against herbivory include thorns—modified branches—and spines—modified leaves. They discourage animals by causing physical damage and inducing rashes and allergic reactions. A plant’s exterior protection can be compromised by mechanical damage, which may provide an entry point for pathogens. If the first line of defense is breached, the plant must resort to a different set of defense mechanisms, such as toxins and enzymes.
Herbivory
When herbivores breach a plant’s physical defenses, chemical responses are induced to deter further herbivory through a couple of different mechanisms, depending on the plant species: volatile compounds or systemin and jasmonic acid.
In some plant species, damage to tissues from insects induces the production of a hormone called systemin. Systemin is named for the fact that it travels throughout the plant (systemic) after it is produced locally (though this is true of all hormones, of course). Systemin activates the production of jasmonic acid, which induces the transcription of proteinase inhibitors. Proteinase inhibitors both taste bad and prevent the breakdown of proteins in the herbivore’s gut, thus making the insect sick and deterring further herbivory.
In some plant species, damage to tissues from insects induces the production of volatile chemical attractants—or volatile compounds—that are released into the air and attract certain parasites of the insects that are eating the plant. These parasites are often parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside of the insect-eating the plant; when the eggs hatch into larvae, the larvae eat the insect from the inside out and kill it.
This video describes some of the chemical signalings that can occur between plants to communicate about herbivory and other threats.
Pathogens and Parasites
Plants demonstrate two sequential responses to parasites and pathogens: the hypersensitive response, which then induces the systemic acquired response (SAR).
The hypersensitive response occurs when a pathogen infects a plant cell. The response occurs via recognition of specific pathogen molecules, meaning the plant has specialized pathogen-specific receptors capable of detecting the pathogen molecules. Activation of these receptors induces a three-pronged, localized stress response:
- the plant produces phytoalexins, toxins that help kill the pathogen,
- the cells infected by the pathogen are physically walled off to prevent pathogen escape,
- and the cells infected by the pathogen undergo programmed cell death, removing those cells as a food source for the pathogens.
In addition, activation of the hypersensitive response induces the production of the hormone methyl salicylate (MeSA), which then induces activation of the systemic acquired response (SAR). The SAR is only induced in response to the hypersensitive response. The SAR activates transcription of general “pathogenesis-resistance” genes, which are not pathogen-specific (unlike in the hypersensitive response) but serve as a general defense against pathogenic infection. The SAR is slower than the hypersensitive response, and it also differs in that it is systemic instead of localized to the site of the infection.
This video describes a general overview of the HR and SAR, though it does not mention the signaling molecules by name.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/30-6-plant-sensory-systems-and-responses
Unit 2 Lab Exercises
Exercise 2a: Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
Students focus on the processes by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy and how they utilize this energy for growth and maintenance. It includes detailed explanations and diagrams to illustrate these essential biological functions.
Exercise 2b: Plant Hormones
Students focus on understanding the roles and effects of different plant hormones, such as auxins, gibberellins, and cytokinins, on plant growth and development. It includes activities to observe and analyze these hormones’ impact on various plant processes.
Attributions
Biology 2e By Mary Ann Clark, Matthew Douglas, Jung Choi. OpenStax is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0
Introduction to Organismal Biology at https://sites.gatech.edu/organismalbio/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Botany (Ha, Morrow, and Algiers) is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Melissa Ha, Maria Morrow, & Kammy Algiers.
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.665272
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4.3 Primary & Secondary Growth
4_Stages-of-Plant-Growth
Exercise 1a Plant Dissection
Exercise 1a Plant Dissection
Stages of Plant Growth
Overview
Introduction
Learning Objectives
- Identify factors that influence transition of a plant from vegetative to reproductive phase.
- List and describe primary and secondary meristem.
- Differentiate between annual, biennial, and perennial plants.
Key Terms
adventitious root - an above ground root that arises from a plant part other than the radicle of the plant embryo
apical bud - bud formed at the tip of the shoot
apical meristem - meristematic tissue located at the tips of stems and roots; enables a plant to extend in length
axillary bud - bud located in the axil of a leaf, the area of the stem where leaf petiole connects to the stem
bark - the tough, waterproof, outer epidermal layer of cork cells
Casparian strip - waxy coating that forces water to cross endodermal plasma membranes before entering the vascular cylinder, instead of moving between endodermal cells
companion cell - phloem cell that is connected to sieve-tube cells; contain large amounts of ribosomes and mitochondria
cortex - ground tissue found between the vascular tissue and the epidermis in a stem or root
cuticle - waxy covering on the outside of the leaf and stem that prevents the loss of water
endodermis - a layer of cells in the root that forms a selective barrier between the ground tissue and the vascular tissue, allowing water and minerals to enter the root while excluding toxins and pathogens
epidermis - a single layer of cells found in plant dermal tissue; covers and protects underlying tissue
fibrous root system - type of root system in which the roots arise from the base of the stem in a cluster, forming a dense network of roots; found in monocots
ground tissue - plant tissue involved in photosynthesis; provides support, and stores water and sugars
guard cells - paired cells on either side of a stoma that control the stomatal opening and thereby regulate the movement of gases and water vapor
intercalary meristem - meristematic tissue located at nodes and the bases of leaf blades; found only in monocots
internode - region between nodes on the stem
lamina - leaf blade
lateral meristem – also called secondary meristem, comprised of vascular cambium and cork cambium, meristematic tissue that enables a plant to increase in thickness or girth
lenticel - opening on the surface of mature woody stems that facilitates gas exchange
meristem - plant region of continuous growth
meristematic tissue - tissue containing cells that constantly divide; contributes to plant growth
node - point along the stem at which leaves, flowers, or aerial roots originate
pericycle – cell layer present on the outer boundary of the stele; produce lateral roots
periderm - outermost covering of woody stems; consists of the cork cambium, cork cells, and the phelloderm
permanent tissue - plant tissue composed of cells that are no longer actively dividing
petiole - stalk of the leaf
pith - ground tissue found towards the interior of the vascular tissue in a stem or root
primary growth - growth resulting in an increase in length of the stem and the root; caused by cell division in the shoot or root apical meristem
root cap - protective cells covering the tip of the growing root
root hair - hair-like structure that is an extension of epidermal cells; increases the root surface area and aids in the absorption of water and minerals
root system - belowground portion of the plant that supports the plant and absorbs water and minerals
shoot system - aboveground portion of the plant; consists of nonreproductive plant parts, such as leaves and stems, and reproductive parts, such as flowers and fruits
sieve-tube cell - (sieve-tube members in angiosperms) phloem cell arranged end to end to form a sieve tube that transports organic substances such as sugars and amino acids
stele - inner portion of the root containing the vascular tissue; surrounded by the endodermis
tap-root system - type of root system with the main root that grows vertically with few lateral roots; found in dicots
tendril - modified stem consisting of slender, twining strands used for support or climbing
thorn - modified stem branch appearing as a sharp outgrowth that protects the plant
tracheid - xylem cell with thick secondary walls that help transport water
trichome - hair-like structure on the epidermal surface
vascular bundle - strands of plant tissue made up of xylem and phloem
vascular stele - strands of root tissue made up of xylem and phloem
vascular tissue - tissue made up of xylem and phloem that transports food and water throughout the plant
venation - a pattern of veins in a leaf; may be parallel (as in monocots), reticulate (as in dicots), or dichotomous (as in ginkgo)
vessel element - xylem cell that is shorter than a tracheid and has thinner walls
Introduction
The lives of plants may be as short as a few weeks or months or as long as many years. All plants go through changes as they grow. We can identify these changes as stages of plant growth. These stages are more distinct in some plants compared to others. These stages can be roughly identified as germination or sprouting, seedling, vegetative growth, budding, flowering, fruiting, and ripening. The first three stages are vegetative and the last four stages are reproductive. The transition from vegetative stages to reproductive stages is called the phase transition and depends on internal genetic pathways that are regulated by environmental cues (temperature, day length) and internal factors (hormones, sugar accumulation).
Meristems
Meristems
Meristematic cells are responsible for plant growth. Plant meristems are centers of mitotic cell division and are composed of a group of undifferentiated self-renewing cells from which most plant structures arise. The Shoot Apical Meristem (SAM) gives rise to organs like the leaves and flowers, while the Root Apical Meristem (RAM) provides the meristematic cells for future root growth. The cells of the shoot and root apical meristems divide rapidly and are indeterminate, which means that they do not possess any defined end fate. In that sense, the meristematic cells are frequently compared to the stem cells in animals, which have an analogous behavior and function.
Meristem Tissue and Plant Development
Meristematic tissues are cells or groups of cells that divide perpetually. These tissues in a plant consist of small, densely packed cells that can keep dividing to form new cells. Meristematic tissue is characterized by small cells, thin cell walls, large cell nuclei, absent or small vacuoles, and no intercellular spaces. Meristematic tissues are found in many locations, including: 1) near the tips of roots and stems (apical meristems), 2) in the buds and nodes of stems, 3) in the cambium between the xylem and phloem (vascular cambium) in dicotyledonous trees and shrubs, 4) under the epidermis of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs (cork cambium), and 5) in the pericycle layer of roots, producing lateral branches.
The two types of meristems are primary meristems and secondary meristems. Primary meristem (apical meristems) initiates in the developing embryo and gives rise to three primary meristematic tissues: protoderm, procambium, and ground meristem. Primary meristem is responsible for the growth in length of a plant. All tissues that arise from primary meristem are identified as primary tissue. Secondary meristem (lateral meristem) is responsible for the growth in the girth of a plant. This growth in width of a plant is largely due to the meristematic action of the vascular cambium and to certain extent cork cambium. Any new cells arising from vascular cambium and or cork cambium are collectively called secondary tissues.
Meristem Zones
The apical meristem, also known as the “growing tip,” is an undifferentiated meristematic tissue found in the growing shoot tips or axillary buds and growing tips of roots (figure 1.4.1). Shoot apical meristems are organized into four zones: (1) the central zone, (2) the peripheral zone, (3) the medullary meristem, and (4) the medullary tissue (figure 1.4.2). The central zone is located at the meristem summit, where a small group of slowly dividing cells can be found. Cells of this zone have a stem cell function and are essential for meristem maintenance. The proliferation and growth rates at the meristem summit usually differ considerably from those at the periphery. Surrounding the central zone is the peripheral zone. The rate of cell division in the peripheral zone is higher than that of the central zone. Peripheral zone cells give rise to cells that contribute to the organs of the plant, including leaves (figure 1.4.4), inflorescence meristems, and floral meristems. The outermost layer is called the tunica, while the innermost layers are cumulatively called the corpus.
An active root apical meristem consists of slow dividing cells in the region called the quiescent center, a mass of loosed packed cells in the region of the root cap, and the three primary meristems that may or may not be identifiable at low magnifications (figure 1.4.3). An active apical meristem lays down a growing root or shoot behind itself, pushing itself forward.
Primary & Secondary Growth
Plant Growth
Growth in plants occurs as the stems and roots lengthen. Some plants, especially those that are woody, also increase in thickness during their life span. The increase in length of the shoot and the root is referred to as primary growth and is the result of cell division in the apical meristems. Secondary growth is characterized by an increase in thickness or girth of the plant and is caused by cell division in the lateral meristem. Figure 1.3.5 shows the areas of primary and secondary growth in a plant. Herbaceous plants mostly undergo primary growth, with hardly any secondary growth or increase in thickness. Secondary growth or “wood” is noticeable in woody plants; it occurs in some dicots but occurs very rarely in monocots. Some plant parts, such as stems and roots, continue to grow throughout a plant’s life: a phenomenon called indeterminate growth. Other plant parts, such as leaves and flowers, exhibit determinate growth, which ceases when a plant part reaches a particular size.
Primary Growth
Most primary growth occurs at the apices, or tips, of stems and roots. Primary growth is a result of rapidly dividing cells in the apical meristems at the shoot tip and root tip. Subsequent cell elongation also contributes to primary growth. The growth of shoots and roots during primary growth enables plants to continuously seek water (roots) or sunlight (shoots).
The influence of the apical bud on overall plant growth is known as apical dominance, which diminishes the growth of axillary buds that form along the sides of branches and stems. Most coniferous trees (ex., pine) exhibit strong apical dominance, thus producing the typical conical Christmas tree shape. If the apical bud is removed, then the axillary buds will start forming lateral branches. Gardeners make use of this fact when they prune plants by cutting off the tops of branches, thus encouraging the axillary buds to grow out, giving the plant a bushy shape.
Intercalary Meristem
The intercalary meristem is located away from the growing shoot tip, usually between mature tissues. Have you ever wondered how lawn grasses regrow rapidly after mowing? Grasses regenerate their leaves rapidly after mowing because of the actions of the intercalary meristem located right above the base of the leaf. Grasses evolved in prairie habitats with many types of grazing animals. The ability to regrow quickly is critical to survival. Intercalary meristem is also present in other plants such as horsetails and welwitschia.
Secondary Growth
The increase in stem thickness that results from secondary growth is due to the activity of the lateral meristems, which are lacking in herbaceous plants. Lateral meristems include the vascular cambium and, in woody plants, the cork cambium (Figure 1.4.5.) The vascular cambium is located just outside the primary xylem and to the interior of the primary phloem. The cells of the vascular cambium divide and form secondary xylem (tracheids and vessel elements) to the inside and secondary phloem (sieve elements and companion cells) to the outside. The thickening of the stem that occurs in secondary growth is due to the formation of secondary phloem and secondary xylem by the vascular cambium, as well as the cork cambium. The cells of the secondary xylem contain lignin, which provides hardiness and strength.
In woody plants, cork cambium is the outermost lateral meristem. It produces cork cells (bark) containing a waxy substance known as suberin that can repel water. The bark protects the plant against physical damage and helps reduce water loss. The cork cambium also produces a layer of cells known as phelloderm, which grows inward from the location of cork cambium. The cork cambium, cork cells, and phelloderm are collectively termed the periderm. The periderm substitutes for the epidermis in mature plants. In some plants, the periderm has many openings, known as lenticels, which allow the interior cells to exchange gases with the outside atmosphere (Figure 1.4.6). This supplies oxygen to the living and metabolically active cells of the cortex, xylem, and phloem.
Annual Rings
The activity of the vascular cambium gives rise to annual growth rings. During the spring growing season, cells of the secondary xylem have a large internal diameter and their primary cell walls are not extensively thickened. This is known as earlywood or springwood. During the fall season, the secondary xylem develops thickened cell walls, forming latewood, or autumn wood, which is denser than earlywood. This alternation of early and late wood is largely due to a seasonal decrease in the number of vessel elements and a seasonal increase in the number of tracheids. It results in the formation of an annual ring, which can be seen as a circular ring in the cross-section of the stem (Figure 1.4.7). An examination of the number of annual rings and their nature (such as their size and cell wall thickness) can reveal the age of the tree and the prevailing climatic conditions during each season.
Growth in Roots
Root growth begins with seed germination. When the plant embryo emerges from the seed, the radicle of the embryo forms the root system. The tip of the root is protected by the root cap, a structure exclusive to roots and unlike any other plant structure. The root cap is continuously replaced because it gets damaged easily as the root pushes through the soil. The root tip can be divided into three zones: a zone of cell division, a zone of elongation, and a zone of maturation & differentiation (Figure 1.4.8). The zone of cell division is closest to the root tip; it is made up of the actively dividing cells of the root meristem and quiescent center. The zone of elongation is where the newly formed cells increase in length, thereby lengthening the root. Beginning at the first root hair is the zone of cell maturation where the root cells begin to differentiate into specialized cell types. All three zones are in the first centimeter or so of the root tip.
The root has an outer layer of cells called the epidermis, which surrounds areas of ground tissue and vascular tissue. The epidermis provides protection and helps in absorption. Root hairs, which are extensions of root epidermal cells, increase the surface area of the root, greatly contributing to the absorption of water and minerals.
Inside the root, the ground tissue forms two regions: the cortex and the pith (Figure 1.4.9). Compared to stems, roots have lots of cortex and little pith. Both regions include cells that store photosynthetic products. The cortex is between the epidermis and the vascular tissue, whereas the pith lies between the vascular tissue and the center of the root.
The vascular tissue in the root is arranged in the inner portion of the root, which is called the stele (Figure 1.4.10). A layer of cells known as the endodermis separates the stele from the ground tissue in the outer portion of the root. The endodermis is exclusive to roots and serves as a checkpoint for materials entering the root’s vascular system. A waxy substance called suberin is present on the walls of the endodermal cells. This waxy region, known as the Casparian strip, forces water and solutes to cross the plasma membranes of endodermal cells instead of slipping between the cells. This ensures that only materials required by the root pass through the endodermis, while toxic substances and pathogens are generally excluded. The outermost cell layer of the root’s vascular tissue is the pericycle, an area that can give rise to lateral roots. In dicot roots, the xylem and phloem of the stele are arranged alternately in an X shape, whereas in monocot roots, the vascular tissue is arranged in a ring around the pith.
Unit 1 Lab Exercises
Lab Exercises Notes for Instructors
Each unit contains a section with two lab exercises provided to give students hands-on experience with the content in the SDC Plant Science course. They have been designed to be low-cost or free. The associated rubrics are guidelines for assessment and can be adapted based on specific classroom needs or standards.
Safety: Some of these exercises require safety precautions. A student safety contract is included Instructors should keep the contract in their records for the length of the course. Safety concerns contain, but are not limited to
- Handling glassware
- Using sharp objects
- Using Bromothymol blue solution
- Proximity to possible allergens
These concerns are addressed in the Student Laboratory Safety Contract.
If you conduct the exercise that uses Bromothymol blue solution, post the MSDS that comes with the solution in the classroom and review the information with students.
Schools and instructors are responsible for determining which exercises to use. Do not use an exercise if there is a high risk of harm.
Exercise 1a: Plant Dissection
Students dissect a plant to identify and study its various parts. This exercise helps students understand the structure and function of different plant components.
Exercise 1b: Plant Cell DIagram
Students create a detailed diagram of a plant cell, labeling its various parts, and understanding their functions. This exercise helps students visualize and comprehend the structure and components of plant cells.
Attributions
Title: A plant root cut to show growth rings, wood cells in longitudinal and transverse section and a root tip. Chromolithograph, c. 1850.
Work Type: Chromolithographs.
Date: [c. 1850]
Material: chromolithograph.
Description: 1 print : Pflanzenrich A. I. wurzelstock eines kieferstammes ... II. holzzellen im quer & la?ngsschnitte III. spitze, eines saugwurzel-chens ...
Repository: Wellcome Collection
Open Artstor: Wellcome Collection
ID Number:V0044550
Source: Image and original data from Wellcome Collection
License: Creative Commons: Attribution
Use of this image is in accordance with the applicable Terms & Conditions
File Name
V0044550.jpg
SSID
24897875
Biology 2e by Clark Mary Ann, Douglas Matthew, Choi Jung. OpenStax is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License V 4.0
"Plant Development - Meristems" by LibreTexts is licensed under CC BY-SA.
"Stems - Primary and Secondary Growth in Stems" by LibreTexts is licensed under CC BY-SA.
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Ethical Marketing Issues
Overview
Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Outcome: Ethical Marketing Issues
What you’ll learn to do: describe the types of ethical and social responsibility issues that marketing must address
We will begin by introducing definitions to clarify ethical terms and then turn to the issues that marketing professionals most often encounter.
If you’ve taken other business courses, you’ve probably studied business ethics and have some familiarity with examples of corporate malfeasance (which is a fancy term for unethical behavior). These cases typically involve financial fraud. (Read about investor Bernie Madoff, the man responsible for the largest financial fraud in U.S. history). Financial fraud is certainly an example of unethical (and, often, illegal) behavior, but it isn’t directly related to marketing. Despite the presence of financial scandals in the news, you might be surprised to learn that the ethical issues U.S. businesses worry about the most are related to marketing.1 Take a look at their “top eight” list of ethical concerns, below:
- Gifts, gratuities, bribes (marketing and sales)
- Price discrimination and unfair pricing (marketing and sales)
- Dishonest advertising (marketing and sales)
- Miscellaneous unfair competitive practices
- Cheating customers, unfair credit practices, and overselling (marketing and sales)
- Price collusion by competitors or price fixing (marketing and sales)
- Dishonesty in making or keeping a contract
- Unfairness to employees and prejudice in hiring
You will notice that five of the eight ethical issues cited are governed by the marketing function, and the other three can certainly affect or involve marketing. In this section, you’ll learn more about these issues and the challenges in overcoming them. As with ethics in general, the line between ethical behavior and unethical behavior can be very fine indeed.
The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:
- Define ethics in the context of marketing
- Identify common ethical issues and their impact on individuals and organizations
- Identify ethical issues introduced through new marketing channels
- Explain the role of social responsibility in marketing
Learning Activities
The learning activities for this section include the following:
- Reading: Defining Ethics
- Reading: Common Ethical Issues in Marketing
- Reading: New Challenges in Marketing Ethics
- Reading: Corporate Social Responsibility
- Brenner, S. N, Molander, E. A. "Is the Ethics of Business Changing" Harvard Business Review 55: 57-71 (1977).
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Outcome: Ethical Marketing Issues. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Defining Ethics
Ethics is the set of moral principles or values that guides behavior. There is a general recognition that many, if not most, business decisions involve some ethical judgment.
Each party in a marketing transaction brings a set of expectations regarding how the business relationship will exist and how transactions should be conducted. For example, when you as a consumer wish to purchase something from a retailer, you bring the following expectations about the transaction: (a) you want to be treated fairly by the salesperson, (b) you want to pay a reasonable price, (c) you want the product to be available as advertised and in the indicated condition, and (d) you want it to perform as promised. Unfortunately, your expectations might not be in agreement with those of the retailer. The retail salesperson may not “have time for you,” or the retailer’s notion of a “reasonable” price may be higher than yours, or the advertising for the product may be misleading. These differences in expectations can lead to ethical questions that are sometimes difficult to analyze.
To create greater clarity for marketing professionals, the American Marketing Association has created the American Marketing Association Statement of Ethics. It’s helpful to review this short document in order to understand the scope of issues that marketing professionals face. The preamble of the document defines a number of key terms and explains why ethics are of particular importance to marketers:
The American Marketing Association commits itself to promoting the highest standard of professional ethical norms and values for its members (practitioners, academics, and students). Norms are established standards of conduct that are expected and maintained by society and/or professional organizations. Values represent the collective conception of what communities find desirable, important, and morally proper. Values also serve as the criteria for evaluating our own personal actions and the actions of others. As marketers, we recognize that we not only serve our organizations but also act as stewards of society in creating, facilitating, and executing the transactions that are part of the greater economy. In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our responsibility toward multiple stakeholders (e.g., customers, employees, investors, peers, channel members, regulators and the host community).[Emphasis added]1
The exchange process between an organization and a customer is based on a relationship of trust. The Statement of Ethics aims to protect that trust.
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Revision and adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Chapter 5: External Considerations in Marketing, from Core Concepts of Marketing. Authored by: John Burnett. Located at: http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Core-Concepts-of-Marketing.pdf. License: CC BY: Attribution
- That Way. Authored by: Justin Baeder. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/justinbaeder/194066146/. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Common Ethical Issues in Marketing
Let’s start by taking at look at a hypothetical business situation:
Examples
You’re a member of the marketing team for a B2B company that sells software to restaurants. Your product is a point-of-sale system that manages orders, menus, and staff scheduling. While it generally works well, there are sometimes glitches that cause it to drop orders, and the system goes down more often than you would like. You are marketing the system to a major restaurant chain, and they’ve asked for a list of references from current customers. The marketing and sales teams sit around a table reviewing the current customer list trying to decide which references to provide. First, the team screens out those who have complained most vocally about the glitches with the product. There is one customer who told his account manager, “These thing happen with all systems,” so the team thinks he would be a good reference. There’s also a new customer who started using the system recently and hasn’t yet experienced the system down time that other customers have. The team selects that restaurant, as well, and prepares to send the two names to the sales prospect.
Question
Is that ethical? Is it fair and honest to cherry-pick the customer references, selecting only the ones that are unlikely to share negative experiences about your product? To be sure, there’s a range of customer feedback, and not all of it is positive. Are you expected to give a full picture of customers’ experience—warts and all—so the restaurant chain will know exactly what it’s buying?
Answer
In general, when prospective customers request customer references, they expect to receive favorable ones, and doing so is not a violation of their trust. It’s a lot like a prospective employer’s request for a job candidate’s work references. When you’re marketing yourself for a new job, you name the references who are most likely to report your talents and strengths—you don’t include a crabby boss who never had good things to say about anyone.
The question becomes more challenging when the customer relationship is more complicated. In every case—even the simplest—it’s a judgment call. Suppose your company compensates customers for providing references. A company might give some small thank-you gift to acknowledge that taking reference calls requires time, and that the company appreciates the client’s support. Is that unethical? Possibly. On one hand, it’s reasonable and desirable to express your appreciation to the customer, since part of maintaining the customer relationship is letting customers know that you value them and their time. On the other hand, there’s a risk, especially if the gift is large, that the customer might be influenced or even induced to give your company or product a favorable review. There is a point where the compensation begins to distort the customer dialogue and relationship, and then it’s clearly unethical—and if you’re inducing a customer to alter their behavior in exchange for a gift, it’s bribery.
Marketing professionals regularly face questions of this kind. Where the organization appreciates a close partnership with a client, a thank-you gift may well be appropriate. The challenge is to choose one of the right size that expresses appreciation but doesn’t compromise the integrity of the client or the marketing organization.
Below is a list that shows how marketing professionals responded to a survey on the most difficult ethical issues they face.1
Most Difficult Ethical Issues Marketing Professionals Face
- 15% of marketing professionals say bribery is the most difficult ethical issue
- Gifts from outside vendors, payment of questionable commissions, “money under the table”
- 14% of marketing professionals say fairness is the most difficult ethical issue
- Unfairly placing company interests over family obligations, taking credit for the work of others, inducing customers to use services not needed, manipulation of others
- 12% of marketing professionals say honesty is the most difficult ethical issue
- Lying to customers to obtain orders, misrepresenting services and capabilities
- 12% of marketing professionals say price is the most difficult ethical issue
- Differential pricing, charging higher prices than firms with similar products while claiming superiority
- 11% of marketing professionals say product is the most difficult ethical issue
- Product safety, product and brand infringement, exaggerated performance claims, products that do not benefit consumers
- 10% of marketing professionals say personnel is the most difficult ethical issue
- Firing, hiring, employee evaluation
- 5% of marketing professionals say confidentiality is the most difficult ethical issue
- Temptations to use or obtain classified, secret, or competitive information
- 4% of marketing professionals say advertising is the most difficult ethical issue
- Crossing the line between exaggeration and misrepresentation, misleading customers
- 4% of marketing professionals say manipulation of data is the most difficult ethical issue
- Falsifying figures or misusing statistics or information, distortion
Notice that many of the responses include watchwords like “questionable,” “exaggerated,” “distortion,” and “crossing the line.” In marketing, the greatest challenge is to influence the behavior of the target customer (by getting them to buy) without violating the customer’s trust or acting unethically. With the rise of social media, customers are in a much better position to share frank evaluations of products and services publicly, and this gives marketers a new means of capturing unbiased customer feedback. (It also opens the door to the problem of “fake customer reviews,” but that’s another issue.)
- Lawrence B. Chonko and Shelby D. Hunt, “Ethics and Marketing Management: An Empirical Examination,” Journal of Business Research, Vol. 13, 1985, pp. 339–359.
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Common Ethical Issues in Marketing. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Table from Chapter 5: External Considerations in Marketing, in Core Concepts of Marketing. Authored by: John Burnett. Located at: http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Core-Concepts-of-Marketing.pdf. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Tablet POS. Authored by: Travelarz. Provided by: Wikimedia. Located at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tablet_POS_HORECA13.jpg. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Reading: New Challenges in Marketing Ethics
New marketing channels create opportunities for new tactics, but sometimes these developments bring new ethical challenges. Eventually society may establish what is acceptable behavior and what is not, but that process takes time.
In the following blog post, marketer Augie Ray explains growing sensitivities around the appropriate uses of social media, and shares his guidance to marketers who are seeking to create a trusted relationship with their customers and prospects.
Social Media Ethics on Display (or Not) During Week of Boston Marathon Tragedy
Instead of considering this in the abstract, let’s examine two brands’ actions last week, during the frightening events in Boston. NBC Bay Area posted a photo of a young bombing victim and implored people to “‘Like’ this to wish him a continued speedy recovery.” This desperate attempt to trade on people’s feelings for a young victim of the bombing in order to receive a bit of EdgeRank-building engagement is horrifyingly unethical, in my book. (And if you do not agree, then please tell me how “liking” an NBC post lends support to or otherwise helps this poor hospitalized child.)
Ford, a brand I praised for authenticity in my last blog post, waded into dubious water with a Facebook status update following the capture of the second bombing suspect. The brand said, “To the first responders of Boston: Thank you. You are true American heroes.” Nothing wrong with that—in fact, I love that a brand like Ford feels it can express sincere appreciation for the sacrifices of those who serve. The problem was that Ford didn’t post that as text but included it within a beauty shot of their products, complete with the Ford logo and tagline.
Not everyone will agree, but I feel that Ford’s use of brand imagery not only reduced the sincerity of the message but demonstrated questionable ethics. Before you disagree, I would ask you to view the two status updates below—one Ford could have posted and the other it actually did—and consider three questions:
- Which is a more authentic expression of appreciation to people who sacrificed their safety to protect us?
- What does the product and brand imagery of the post on the right add (if anything) to the sincerity of the gratitude compared to the simple text version?
- Which version more clearly puts the focus on the heroes in Boston?
The version on the left imagines what Ford could have posted as text while the one on the right is what Ford actually posted following the capture of the second bombing suspect in Watertown, MA
Issues of ethics are difficult to discuss. They often are not clear cut, and while it is easy to see when a company crosses the line with both feet (as did NBC Bay Area), it can tough to discern as brands toe the gray line (as did Ford, in my opinion).
It is even tougher to see when you yourself cross ethical lines. If your boss wants to know why your brand has half a million customers but only 25,000 fans on Facebook, a sweepstakes to accumulate fans may not seem unethical. Your perspective may change, however, if you put yourself on the other side of this equation; if you do not want to see your friends becoming shills for brands in return for freebies and giveaways, then your brand should not follow this path. It is unethical to treat your own customers in a way you would not appreciate from the brands you buy or the people you know. (Fifty years ago, David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising, expressed the same sentiment when he said, “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.”)
We are roughly ten years into the social media era, and I think perhaps it is time to reset our moral compasses, not to save our souls but to improve business results. Study after study demonstrate that consumers want something more from brands than silly images and memes; they want ethical behaviors and communications.1 The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer Study found that customers increasingly expect brands to “place customers ahead of profits and have ethical business practices,” and Interbrand’s 2018 brand study noted that successful businesses are those who are willing “to simultaneously look through a microscope and a telescope, to have the courage to intercept the future, not just flow with it, and, to take decisive action that makes a real impact.”
I’d like to believe this is always the case in every business situation, but when it comes to social media marketing, the ethical path also happens to be the best one for enhancing brands and business results.
Before you click “submit” to your next social media post, don’t simply ask whether it will achieve its goal, fit best practices, or suit the brand. Ask yourself if it is honest, transparent, and ethical. That is a much higher standard, but higher standards are what consumers want and what brands increasingly wish to deliver, aren’t they?
- "Miracle on Social Media Street." Experience: The Blog. December 27, 2012. Accessed September 10, 2019. http://www.experiencetheblog.com/2012/12/miracle-on-social-media-street.html
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Revision and adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Three Steps to Improve Ethics in Social Media Marketing. Authored by: Augie Ray. Provided by: Experience: The Blog. Located at: http://www.experiencetheblog.com/2013/04/three-steps-to-improve-ethics-in-social.html. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Corporate Social Responsibility
So far we have focused on ethical dilemmas in terms of risk. If a company acts unethically, it risks damaging its reputation and its customers’ trust—worse, it can face lawsuits and criminal prosecution. In this section we’ll discuss one of the ways in which companies attempt to get out in front of such risks by taking a proactive stance on ethics, instead. As you saw with Tesla, companies that place “doing the right thing” at the center of their corporate mission and strategy often see a competitive advantage. Increasingly, they’re finding that good corporate citizenship not only benefits customers and communities but is good business, too.
Corporate social responsibility is the ethical behavior of a company toward society. It means acting responsibly toward the stakeholders—not just the shareholders—who have a legitimate interest in the business.
Shareholders own a portion or “share” of a business. Stakeholders do not own the business, but they have some stake or interest in it because they are affected by the business’s strategies and tactics. Examples of stakeholders are employees, suppliers, business partners, and the community in which the business operates.1
Below are a few examples of businesses behaving ethically in ways that have a positive impact on their stakeholders.
Xerox Supports Employee Volunteerism
Xerox is one of many companies that creates opportunities for its employees to contribute to their local communities. In 1974 Xerox launched the Xerox Community Involvement Program, which supports employee involvement in community-focused causes. Since that time more than half a million Xerox employees have participated in the program. In 2014, in a reporting on the impact of the program, Xerox announced spending $1.3 million for 13,000 of its employees to participate in 800 community projects. Xerox benefits from the program through community recognition, but also in supporting its employees make contributions that are important to them increasing their loyalty to their employer.2
Anheuser-Busch Wants Customers to Drink Responsibly
In January 2014, Anheuser-Busch ran a Super Bowl ad featuring a cute puppy and the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses. The ad plays on romance and nostalgia to remind viewers of the brand’s history (and to sell more beer). View the Budweiser Clydesdale 2014 Super Bowl commercial here.
In September 2014, the company brought back the puppy, this time to promote responsible drinking:
On its Web site, Anheuser-Busch lists a number of programs it has launched to reduce drunk driving. These are marketing programs that were developed to reduce the risk for consumers using the company’s products.
Anheuser-Busch is opposed to drunk driving and we believe it is 100 percent preventable. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, drunk-driving fatalities have decreased 53 percent since 1982 to record lows, but we recognize there is still work to be done. As part of our effort to prevent drunk driving, we have key initiatives like the Budweiser Designate a Driver campaign and Bud Light safe ride home programs, including Bud Light Alert Cab and Bud Light Tow to Go.
The company is actively promoting safety for its customers and their communities.
Target Invests in Communities
Target places an emphasis on being a “good corporate citizen” in the communities it serves. Each year the company publishes a corporate responsibility report that shares its goals and progress in a number of areas including the environment, team member well-being, education, and volunteerism.
Target shows that it is committed to protecting the environment by increasing the number of organic foods it offers and by putting in place measures to reduce waste and greenhouse gasses.
The company also makes significant contributions to education by paying for employees’ education, and by contributing to schools in its local communities. In 2014 Target donated $31,722,837 to more than 84,000 schools in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Häagen-Dazs Cares about Its Tiniest Suppliers
In 2014, the ice-cream company Häagen-Daz initiated a campaign to raise awareness about the threats to honey bees, which are rapidly disappearing and are vital to the global food chain (and many of the ingredients in flavored ice cream). The company started a honeybee microsite and donated a portion of the proceeds from its honeybee brand to bee research. In November 2014, it raised an additional $7,000 for research during a two-day Twitter campaign (#HelpHoneyBees hashtag).3
- http://www.wbcsd.org/work-program/business-role/previous-work/corporate-social-responsibility.aspx
- http://www.xerox.com/corporate-citizenship/2014/community-involvement/volunteer-programs/enus.html
- http://www.socialbrite.org/2010/04/22/4-examples-of-corporate-social-responsibility-done-right/
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Corporate Social Responsibility. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Sheep and Lambs. Authored by: Jessica The Hun Reeder. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicareeder/3495166111/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Honey Bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus). Authored by: Jim, the Photographer. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcapaldi/6162898675/. License: CC BY: Attribution
All rights reserved content
- Budweiser Clydesdale Puppy Love Super Bowl 2014 Commercial. Provided by: Clevver News. Located at: https://youtu.be/7p_3lITiK_Q. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
- Someone Waits For You At Home, DON'T DRINK & DRIVE | Budweiser Ads. Provided by: adswithme.com. Located at: https://youtu.be/56b09ZyLaWk. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.788976
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03/22/2022
|
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"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91180/overview",
"title": "Statewide Dual Credit Principles of Marketing, Ethics and Social Responsibility, Ethical Marketing Issues",
"author": "Anna McCollum"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91177/overview
|
Customer Relationships
Overview
The Principles of Marketing textbook contains fifteen modules—roughly one module per week for a 16-week semester.
We recommend NOT doubling up the following modules, because they are long and especially challenging. Students will need more time for mastery and completion of assignments.
- Module 4: Marketing Strategy
Outcome: Customer Relationships
What you’ll learn to do: explain how the development and maintenance of customer relationships are an essential part of an organization’s marketing strategy
If you are getting the impression that an organization’s planning around marketing strategy, tactics, and objectives is very complex, you are perceptive. There are a lot of variables for companies to consider, align, and track, and occasionally an important part of the planning process gets overlooked: the customer. In this last section, we’ll return to the customer and explain why customer relationships are such a crucial part of the marketing strategy and plan.
Let’s pause for a moment and put the customer into our discussion of market growth opportunities. We discussed the market for high-end skin-care products for older Americans. Imagine the woman who might buy a Proctor & Gamble antiwrinkle cream. She is standing in front of a shelf of products and chooses Proctor & Gamble’s cream. Who is she? Why is she there? What is her story? Our customer is hoping to stop the aging process and it is a personal, vulnerable moment. She doesn’t care about the SWOT analysis or the size of the market. She wants to find a product that “understands” what she needs and helps her.
In this section you’ll see how marketers address such issues and keep the customer at the center of the planning process in a very personal way.
The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:
- Describe how businesses use buyer personas to better understand the target customer
- Define customer relationship management
Learning Activities
The learning activities for this section include the following:
- Reading: Customer-Relationship Strategies
- Video: Harley Davidson Customer Relationships
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Outcome: Customer Relationships. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Customer-Relationship Strategies
A situation analysis can reveal whether a company’s relationship with customers is a strength to be exploited or a weakness that needs to be addressed. In many cases it’s a bit of both. For instance, a company might have loyal customers in one demographic but fail to hold the attention of customers in another demographic.
The question, then, is how do companies evaluate the quality of their customer relationships, and what approaches do they use to develop and maintain strong customer relationships? We will explore the answers to these questions in greater depth throughout this course. For now, we’ll touch on an approach that companies use to incorporate their customers in strategic planning and some of the tools they use to connect with them.
Buyer Personas
The basis for a strong relationship is getting to know and understand someone well enough to form a connection. The same is true for company relationships with customers. The trouble is that companies rarely have a chance to personally connect with individual customers—much less with all of their target customers.
Marketers use something called “buyer personas” to get a more accurate picture of the customers they’re trying to connect with and also to help them think of customers as real people. Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of a company’s ideal, or typical, customer. They help the marketer understand current and potential customers better. As a marketer, knowing whom you’re trying to reach and attract makes it easier to tailor your content, messages, product development, and services to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of different groups. For example, instead of sending the same email message to all potential customers, marketers will create a unique message for different buyer personas that aligns better with their personal interests and values.
Typically, a buyer persona will have a name and a story, as in Figure 1, above. The story will include information about how the persona spends her time and details about her interests, her concerns or fears, and her goals. Often, the write-up will explain what the persona wants from the company and its products to help marketers to use the information consistently. Each of these details helps the marketer focus on developing relationships with real people, and that results in a more personalized marketing plan.1
The strongest buyer personas are based on market research—both the information that is broadly available and information the company gathers through surveys, interviews, and observations of customer behavior.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Customer-Relationship Strategies. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Sample User Persona Drake Motors Ltd. Authored by: Daniel Eizans. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deizans/5525707263. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
- I Like Facebook. Authored by: Charis Tsevis. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsevis/6963815105/. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Video: Harley Davidson Customer Relationships
Once a company understands its buyer personas, how can it match those to real people who will buy its products or services? Today, companies use significant amounts of data and complex technology systems to create the right match in what it offers to individuals and groups of buyers.
The American Marketing Association defines customer relationship management in the following way:
A discipline in marketing combining database and computer technology with customer service and marketing communications. Customer relationship management seeks to create more meaningful one-on-one communications with the customer by applying customer data (demographic, industry, buying history, etc.) to every communications vehicle. At the simplest level, this would include personalizing e-mail or other communications with customer names. At a more complex level, customer relationship management enables a company to produce a consistent, personalized marketing communication whether the customer sees an ad, visits a Web site, or calls customer service.1
Customer relationship management brings data and technology together with the marketing mix to increase the personal connection with the customer. Let’s look at an example. Harley Davidson has a famously strong brand. This video provides a glimpse into the relationship that customers have with the brand and shows how a new technology is assisting the company in expanding its connection with customers.
You can view the transcript for “Harley Davidson – Community, Brand, IBM” here (opens in new window).
What are some elements of the Harley Davidson buyer persona?
How is technology being used for customer relationship management?
Key Terms
Buyer persona. Fictional, generalized representations of an ideal customer that help a marketer understand current and potential customers better.
Customer relationships management. A discipline in marketing combining database and computer technology with customer service and marketing communications. Customer relationship management seeks to create more meaningful one-on-one communications with the customer by applying customer data (demographic, industry, buying history, etc.) to every communications vehicle.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Video Introduction. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENT
- Harley Davidsonu2014Community, Brand, IBM. Authored by: Chris Sparshott. Located at: https://youtu.be/iOF7aAVZMqA. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.821614
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03/22/2022
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"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91177/overview",
"title": "Statewide Dual Credit Principles of Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Customer Relationships",
"author": "Anna McCollum"
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91170/overview
|
Targeting and Marketing Mix
Overview
The Principles of Marketing textbook contains fifteen modules—roughly one module per week for a 16-week semester.
Outcome: Targeting and Marketing Mix
What you’ll learn to do: explain how targeting influences each element of the marketing mix
Segmentation helps you decide who your target customers are, while targeting helps you zero in on the best method for reaching them. Your targeting strategy helps you set priorities for making an impact on your target segments and on the market as a whole. As you’ll see in this section, your targeting strategy also helps you determine which combination of product, promotion, place, and price—i.e., which marketing mix—will best fit the segments you are trying to capture.
Take a moment to watch the following video, which explains how the car company Toyota used segmentation and a new targeting strategy to improve a product (the first P of the marketing mix) and give it genuine family appeal.
You can view the transcript for “Toyota Appeals to Kids.” (opens in new window).
Learning Activities
The learning activities for this section include the following:
- Reading: Targeting Strategies and the Marketing Mix
- Case Study: Red Bull Wins the “Extreme” Niche
- Simulation: Segmenting the Ice Cream Market
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Outcome: Targeting and Marketing Mix. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Toyota Appeals to Kids. Provided by: BBC. Located at: https://youtu.be/zUjsfqDZnO8. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Reading: Using the Marketing Mix to Reach Target Segments
Using the Marketing Mix to Reach Target Segments
Once target segments are identified, the marketing manager selects a targeting strategy that will be the best fit for reaching them. Targeted marketing enables the marketing and sales teams to customize their message to the targeted group(s) of consumers in a focused manner. The targeting strategy is where the marketing mix comes together to create the right offer and marketing approach for each target segment. A summary of common targeting strategies is provided in the table below.
| Strategy | Target Market | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Mass marketing | Everybody everywhere | Target |
| Differentiated marketing | Large groups within the total market | Costco, Sam’s Club |
| Niche marketing | High penetration within smaller, specialized segments | Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods |
| Micromarketing | Individual customers or localized microsegments | Groupon |
Mass Marketing
Mass marketing, also called undifferentiated marketing, involves marketing to the entire market the same way. Mass marketing effectively ignores segmentation and instead generates a single offer and marketing mix for everyone. The market is treated as a homogeneous aggregate. Mass marketing aims to reach the largest audience possible, and exposure to the product is maximized. In theory, this would directly correlate with a larger number of sales or buy-in to the product.
Mass marketing tries to spread a marketing message to anyone and everyone willing to listen. Communication tends to be less personal, as evidenced by common mass-marketing tactics: national television, radio and print advertising campaigns; nationally focused coupons; nationally focused point-of-purchase displays. The success of mass-marketing depends on whether it is possible to reach enough people, through mass-communication techniques and one universal product offer, to keep them interested in the product and make the strategy worthwhile. While mass-marketing tactics tend to be costly because they operate on a large scale, this approach yields efficiencies and cost savings for companies because it requires the marketing team to execute only one product offer and marketing mix.
For certain types of widely consumed items (e.g., gasoline, soft drinks, white bread), the undifferentiated market approach makes the most sense. For example, toothpaste (such as the brands Crest and Colgate) isn’t made specially for one consumer segment, and it is sold in huge quantities. The manufacturer’s goal is to get more people to select and buy their particular brand over another when they come to the point of purchase. Walk through any supermarket, and you will observe hundreds of grocery products, especially generic items, that are perceived as nearly identical by the consumer and are treated as such by the producer. Many mass-marketed items are considered staple or “commodity” items. People buy new ones when the old ones wear out or are used up, and mass-marketed brand loyalty might be the primary driver when they decide which replacement product to purchase.
Differentiated Marketing
A differentiated marketing strategy is one in which the company decides to provide separate offerings to each different market segment that it targets. It is also called multisegment marketing. Each segment is targeted in a particular way, as the company provides unique benefits to different segments. The goal is to help the company increase sales and market share across each segment it targets. Proctor and Gamble, for example, segments some of its markets by gender, and it has separate product offerings and marketing plans for each: Secret-brand deodorant for women, and Rogaine (a treatment for hair loss) for men.1
When it is successful, differentiated marketing can create a very strong, entrenched market presence that is difficult for competitors to displace because of consumers’ strong affinity for products and offers that meet the unique needs of their segment. A differentiated strategy can be a smart approach for new companies that enter a market and lure customers away from established players to capture share in a large overall market. Often, established companies become vulnerable to new competitors because they don’t give sufficient attention to the perfect marketing mix for any given market segment.
However, differentiated marketing is also very expensive. It carries higher costs for the company because it requires the development of unique products to fit each target segment. Likewise, each unique product and market segment requires its own marketing plans and execution: unique messages, campaigns, and promotional tactics and investments. Costs can add up quickly, especially if you are targeting a lot of unique market segments.
CHINESE OREOS
For a large company such as Kraft, the cost of this kind of marketing is well worth it, since its products are sold all over the world. An example of its differentiated marketing strategy are the many surprising variations of the famous Oreo cookie developed for the Chinese market. Consumers there can enjoy Oreos with cream flavors such as green-tea ice cream, raspberry-blueberry, mango-orange, and grape-peach. All of these Oreo formulations have been heavily market tested and are based on the unique preferences of Chinese consumers.2
Niche Marketing
Niche marketing (also called concentrated marketing) is a strategy that targets only one or a few very defined and specific segments of the consumer population. The goal is to achieve high penetration among the narrowly defined target segments. For example, the manufacturer of Rolex watches has chosen to concentrate on only the luxury segment of the watch market.
An organization that adopts a niche strategy gains an advantage by focusing all efforts on only one or a small handful of segments. All of their market analysis, product development, marketing strategy, and tactics concentrate on serving that select part of the market. When they do it well, this approach can provide a differential advantage over other organizations that don’t concentrate all their efforts on the “niche” segment(s). Niche targeting is particularly effective for small companies with limited resources, as it does not require the use of mass production, mass distribution, or mass advertising. When a company is highly successful in desirable “niche” market segments, it can be very profitable.
The primary disadvantage of niche marketing is that it makes companies vulnerable to demand in the narrow market segments they serve. As long as demand is robust, the organization’s financial position will be strong. But if something changes and demand drops off, the company has nothing to cushion it from financial hardship. Since the company has focused all efforts on one market (essentially putting all their eggs in one basket), the firm is always somewhat at risk. Such companies are especially vulnerable to small shifts in population or consumer tastes, which can greatly affect their position (for better or for worse). Large competitors with deeper pockets may choose to enter a market and use their size and resources to put smaller, niche players out of business. To insulate themselves from this type of risk, many companies pursuing a niche strategy may target multiple segments.
Luxury-goods providers are a great illustration of the challenges of the niche marketing strategy. When economic recessions occur, luxury-goods providers like Rolex, Chanel, and Armani routinely struggle financially because their narrow segment of “luxury” consumers has less disposable income. When fickle consumer tastes shift from Ralph Lauren to Dolce & Gabanna to Prada (and back again), the company’s profitability can hang in the balance.
Micromarketing
Micromarketing is a targeting strategy that focuses even more narrowly than niche marketing. It caters to the needs of individuals (“individual marketing”) or very small segments in a targeted geography (“local marketing”). Micromarketing can be very powerful by giving consumers exactly what they want, when they want it. However, to achieve large-scale success with this approach, companies must figure out how to meet highly individualized needs efficiently and profitably.
Individual marketing is sometimes referred to as “mass customization” or “one-to-one marketing.” With this approach, companies offer consumers a product created to their individual specifications. For example, Build-A-Bear Workshop invites children to create their own custom stuffed animals. A child can select the type of animal, from teddy bear to unicorn, along with color, size, clothing, and other accessories. Creators of handmade goods on Etsy.com take orders from buyers who may request variations on the individually crafted jewelry, clothing, toys, and other items displayed on the Web site. In the following video, Etsy CEO, Chad Dickerson, explains what makes the company’s approach unique.
You can view the transcript for “Etsy Business” (opens in new window).
Achieving wide-scale success with individual marketing requires product providers to develop production strategies and an entire marketing mix that can ramp up as demand grows. Frequently this involves offering a baseline product with parameters customers can customize to fit their needs. For example, you can order custom M&M candies, selecting colors, packaging, and even custom-printed with words or images you select. The advent of digital print technologies has also made mass customization a viable targeting strategy for companies like Vistaprint and Sticker Mule. They provide custom print materials, stickers, decals and other printed products for businesses and individuals using designs created and uploaded by customers. Their primary messaging emphasizes custom products designed by and for individual customers, matching their unique needs and preferences.
Local marketing is a targeting strategy focused expressly on a small, clearly defined neighborhood or geographic area. Organizations using this technique strive to generate a strong local presence, and targets may include any person or organization within that small area.
Groupon and Amazon Local are excellent examples of local marketing. Both online services partner with local businesses to promote timely offers and special pricing for individuals living in a designated geographic area. Limited-time and limited-quantity deals may include restaurant meals, spa treatments, performances, recreational activities, lessons, hotel accommodations, and a wide variety of other local area products and services. These local marketing companies earn revenue when consumers purchase and redeem the special offers in their neighborhood or city. Another example are farm cooperatives and CSAs (community-supported agriculture shares), which virtually always use a local marketing strategy. They market locally grown produce and farm-fresh goods to people residing in the immediate community, and their ongoing goal is to increase local supply and demand for healthy, local, farm-fresh food and produce.
Applying the Marketing Mix to Target Segments
With any of the strategies described above, the marketing team must come together to develop a marketing mix tailored to the needs of each segment being targeted. This marketing mix is the unique combination of product, promotion, place, and price designed expressly to fit a designated market segment.
SHAPING THE MARKETING MIX
This course will explore each element of the marketing mix in further detail in other modules. However, the following questions can help you start down the path toward shaping the marketing mix to fit your target segments.
Product
- What would make the ideal product for your target segment?
- What special features or capabilities are critical for this segment?
- What unique problems does your product help this segment solve?
Promotion
- What are the best ways to get your target segment’s attention?
- What do you want this segment to remember about your product?
Place / Distribution
- Where does this segment look or shop for your product?
- What is the best way to get your product to your target customers?
Price
- What price(s) are your target customers willing to pay for your product?
- How much is too expensive? How much is too cheap?
As you consider each of these questions, you generate ideas for altering the marketing mix to appeal to your target segment.
EXAMPLE: ALUMNI CHARITABLE GIVING
Let’s see how this works in practice. A university alumni organization embarks on a fund-raising campaign to generate funding for the strategic expansion of new and existing university programs. The baseline “product” this organization sells is charitable giving: an affiliation with the university, a tax deductible charitable donation, and the honor of contributing to a worthy philanthropic cause.
For the coming year, the alumni organization decides to use a niche marketing strategy. Specifically, it will target alumni with significant upcoming reunions or years since graduation: 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, and so forth. The organization chooses to tailor the marketing mix as follows:
Product: The ideal product for these alumni isn’t just a generic philanthropic donation. Instead, it is a giving opportunity that reflects their significant anniversary. For this reason, the alumni organization introduces a new “product” or type of donation opportunity: a class legacy fund that encourages alumni to contribute with other classmates to a common fund. When they do, they can select the areas they want their donation to benefit, such as scholarships, library, technology, and endowed professorship, etc.
Promotion: Getting the attention of busy alumni scattered across the world is a challenge. People are most likely to pay attention when a message is coming from someone they know personally, and so the alumni organization decides to capitalize on classmate relationships. It recruits several well-connected people from each class to post on social media and send email messages to fellow classmates about an upcoming reunion as well as the legacy-fund donation opportunity. The email message asks people to share with other former classmates who may not have heard about the reunion and class legacy fund. Hopefully, this message begins to go viral, working through pre-existing networks to spread the word. The organization also sends a letter about the class legacy fund to older alumni who are less likely to be active with email or digital technology.
Place/Distribution: As people learn about the class legacy fund, the alumni organization wants to make sure the donation opportunity is easy for anyone to act on. For this reason, they offer a variety of different ways to contribute: mail a check; dial a phone number; donate on a Web site using PayPal or a credit card; donate via phone using a mobile app. People can even come to the annual reunion activities and contribute to the legacy fund in person.
Price: For a voluntary donation, “price” can be tricky. On one hand, the alumni organization wants to encourage donations of any size to the class legacy funds, no matter how small. On the other hand, it also wants to encourage alumni to consider making larger donations when possible. Based on publicly available income data, the alumni organization recognizes that most recent graduates have lower average salaries and disposable income compared to those who have been working their fields for a decade or more. Acting on this information, it adjusts the range of “suggested donation” levels for each class. Recent alumni marking a 5-year anniversary are invited to contribute between $25 and $250. Alumni marking 10- and 15-year anniversaries are invited to contribute between $50 and $500 to class legacy funds. Alumni with 20 or more years see suggested donation amounts ranging from $150 to $2,500 or more.
Thoughtful consideration of the four Ps leads to a successful launch of the alumni organization’s class legacy funds. Because the alumni organization has tailored the product, promotional strategy, placement, and pricing to the interests of the target segments, the effort is much more successful than the all-purpose, generic, “please donate to your alumni organization” campaign used in the past. In this example, wise targeting strategy works hand-in-hand with the marketing mix to yield better results.
- Markgraf, Bert. “Real-World Examples of Effective Market Segmentation.” Small Business - Chron.com. Chron.com, November 21, 2017. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/realworld-examples-effective-market-segmentation-60195.html. ↵
- Eric Jou,Jou, Eric. “The Wonderfully Weird World Of Chinese Oreos.” Kotaku. Kotaku, October 1, 2012. http://kotaku.com/5947767/the-wonderfully-weird-world-of-chinese-oreos. ↵
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Revision and adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Micromarketing and Applying the Marketing Mix to Target Segments. Authored by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Photo: Harvard Kennedy School of 1995 Class Reunion. Authored by: Julie Curtis. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Chapter 1, Introducing Marketing, from Introducing Marketing, . Authored by: John Burnett. Provided by: Global Text. Located at: http://solr.bccampus.ca:8001/bcc/file/ddbe3343-9796-4801-a0cb-7af7b02e3191/1/Core%20Concepts%20of%20Marketing.pdf.. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Concentrated Marketing, from Marketing. Provided by: Boundless. Located at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Selecting Target Markets, from Marketing. Provided by: Boundless. Located at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Ralph Lauren--London. Authored by: thinkretail. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28964535@N08/4389940775/. License: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
- Toothbrush in a White Bowl with Toothpaste. Authored by: Marco Verch Professional Photographer and Speaker. Located at: https://flic.kr/p/DedTib. License: CC BY: Attribution
- CSA Box, Week of August 25 - 31. Provided by: Suzie's Farm. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/suziesfarm/15031130256/. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Case Study: Red Bull Wins the “Extreme” Niche
Background
Red Bull is an Austria-based company started in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz that sells one product: an energy drink containing taurine (an amino acid) that’s sold in a slim, silver-colored 8.3-ounce can. The drink has been an enormous hit with the company’s target youth segment around the globe. In the year 2018, Red Bull boasted sales of $1.06 billion USD in the United States alone[1], and has held the majority of the energy-drink market share for years, with a 35.3% market share in 2019 (Monster Energy, their closest competitor, held 25.4%).[2] From Stanford University in California to the beaches of Australia and Thailand, Red Bull has managed to maintain its hip, cool image, with virtually no mass-market advertising.
Red Bull’s Targeted Approach to Marketing
“Red Bull. It gives you wings.” Over the years, Red Bull has organized extreme sports events (like cliff diving in Hawaii and skateboarding in San Francisco), parties, and even music festivals to reinforce the brand’s extreme, on-the-edge image. In 2012, they sponsored Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting freefall from 128,000 feet:
(Note that the following video has limited narration. Access audio description using the widget below the video.)
You can view the transcript for “Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights” here (opens in new window) or the text alternative for “Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights” (opens in new window).
Their grass-roots approach to reaching the youth market worked: “In terms of attracting new customers and enhancing consumer loyalty, Red Bull has a more effective branding campaign than Coke or Pepsi,” said Nancy F. Koehn, author of Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell. Red Bull’s success has also gained attention (and concern) among beverage-industry giants, and some have tried to follow its lead: For a time Coke ran a stealth marketing campaign, packaging its cola in a slim can reminiscent of Red Bull and offering it to customers in trendy bars and clubs in New York City.
- “Red Bull Energy Drink Sales U.S., 2015–2018.” Statista. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/558082/us-sales-of-red-bull-energy-drinks/.
- “Energy Drink Market Share in the US in 2019.” Statista. Accessed September 25, 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/306864/market-share-of-leading-energy-drink-brands-in-the-us-based-on-case-volume-sales/.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Revision and adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Marketing. Provided by: Boundless. Located at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Red Bull Gives you Strobes. Authored by: Aurimas. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/needoptic/3828156829/. License: CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENT
- Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 128k' - Mission Highlights. Provided by: Red Bull. Located at: https://youtu.be/FHtvDA0W34I. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
Simulation: Segmenting the Ice Cream Market
Try It
We’ve been talking a lot about segmentation and targeting and discussing how they both work in real-life marketing. Now it’s time for you to give it a try.
Remember the ice cream shop you ran in a simulation earlier in the course? We’re going back to that scenario: you are an entrepreneur working to build your house-made ice cream business. This time you’ll explore how to use segmentation, targeting, and the marketing mix to grow the business.
Try the simulation a few times to see how different choices lead to different outcomes. In a simulation you should take the opportunity to try out choices you think are right and some you suspect are wrong, since you can learn from both. All simulations allow unlimited attempts so you can gain experience exploring and applying the concepts.
Good luck!
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Simulation: Segmentation Sandbox. Provided by: Clark Aldridge for Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.868069
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03/22/2022
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91165/overview
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Why it Matters
Overview
Teacher resources for Unit 3 can be found on the next page.
Segmentation and Targeting
Resources for Unit 3: Segmentation and Targeting
Slide Deck - Unit 3: Segmentation and Targeting
Simulation Unit 3: “Simulation: Segmenting the Ice Cream Market”
Unit 3 Assignment: Submit Marketing Plan Template
During this course, you will learn to develop all the essential elements of a Marketing Plan. The purpose of this assignment is to make sure you are familiar with this course’s Marketing Plan Template. It is a well-designed tool for learning and reference about what a Marketing Plan includes and how to create one.
Student Instructions:
- Download the Marketing Plan Template: Open it in MS Word or Google Docs, your choice.
- Take a moment to look over the Marketing Plan Template and notice the different pieces of information it includes.
- Add your name to the header or another easily identifiable location in the Marketing Plan Template.
- Save the template with a new name using this convention: first initial.last name_MKT Plan_v1.
- Example: J.Workman_MKT Plan_v1.doc
- Submit this document as an assignment.
Marketing Plan Resources
Finding Information for the Creation of Charts and Graphs in MS Word
Pacing
The Principles of Marketing textbook contains sixteen units—roughly one unit per week for a 16-week semester. If you need to modify the pace and cover the material more quickly, the following units work well together:
- Unit 1: What Is Marketing? and Unit 2: Marketing Function. Both are lighter, introductory units.
- Unit 15: Global Marketing and Unit 16: Marketing Plan. Unit 16 has more course review and synthesis information than new material per se.
- Unit 5: Ethics can be combined with any unit. You can also move it around without losing anything.
- Unit 8: Positioning and Unit 9: Branding. Companion modules that can be covered in a single week.
- Unit 6: Marketing Information & Research and Unit 7: Consumer Behavior. Companion units that can be covered in a single week.
We recommend NOT doubling up the following units, because they are long and especially challenging. Students will need more time for mastery and completion of assignments.
- Unit 4: Marketing Strategy
- Unit 10: Product Marketing
- Unit 13: Promotion: Integrated Marketing Communication
Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input.
Why determine market segments and target customers?
As you work through this module, you will learn about segmentation, targeting, and how they work. You will also learn how these tools help you shape the marketing mix to reach your target audiences effectively.
Learning Outcomes
- Explain the purpose of segmentation and targeting in marketing
- Describe common segmentation approaches
- Explain the process of selecting an appropriate segmentation approach and deciding which customer segments to target for marketing activities
- Explain how targeting influences each element of the marketing mix
Suppose you have just accepted a product marketing job with a technology company called Chumber. You’re excited about the company and the team you’ll be working with. Chumber’s main product is an automated, fully online system for checking the references of job candidates and getting feedback from coworkers about their professional skills.
After a morning orientation session and a product demonstration on the first day, your boss gives you your first assignment: spend a half day doing research. Then come back to her with recommendations about whom Chumber should be targeting in its sales and marketing activities, and why.
After you give your boss a puzzled look, she adds, “Don’t look so worried. I already know who I think we should be targeting. But with you coming in fresh, I’d like to hear what you think. We can probably learn something from each other!”
As you sit down at your new desk, the wheels start turning in your head.
Q: What problem is Chumber’s product solving?
A: The hassle of checking references for job candidates and finding out who is really a good fit.
Q: Who has this problem?
A: Companies that hire people.
You recognize that this is a business-to-business marketing challenge, not a business-to-consumer issue. But “companies that hire people” covers a lot of ground. How effective will Chumber be if you try marketing and selling to every company in the world? And within any given company, which people would be most interested in using this product?
The question of whom to target is a foundational part of any marketing activity. Marketers use the tools of segmentation and targeting to answer this question. Segmentation helps you understand your market and divide it into groups that share common needs and characteristics. Targeting helps you figure out which of these groups to focus on in your sales and marketing activities.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Why It Matters: Segmentation and Targeting. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.902207
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03/22/2022
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"author": "Anna McCollum"
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/88071/overview
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War Crimes Trials: Nuremberg and the Pacific
Overview
Postwar War Crimes Trials
In the postwar period, people realized the essentiality of holding people accountable for their wartime actions if future humanity were to be protected. Although the Nuremberg Trials and Tokyo War Crimes Trials were far from perfect, they demonstrated to the world that individual actions matter and international justice would be meted out to those who crimes against humanity.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the significance of the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials
Key Terms / Key Concepts
The Nuremberg Trials: most famous set of international war crimes trials of top Nazi officials
Tokyo War Crime Trials: most famous set of war crimes trials of top Japanese officials
The Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces of World War II, most notably for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. In 1945 and 1946, the trials were held at the Palace of Justice in the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. The choice of locations was not coincidental. Nuremberg had been the home of the Nazi party. Holding the trials in Nuremberg held symbolic importance for the Allies who had defeated the Nazis.
The first and best-known of these trials was that of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Held between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946, the IMT tried 23 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich. One of the defendants, Martin Bormann, was tried in absentia, while another, Robert Ley, committed suicide within a week of the trial’s commencement. Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels were not included in the trials because all three committed suicide several months before the indictment was signed. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT); among the second set of trials were the Doctors Trial and the Judges Trial.
Creation of the Courts
In 1945, all three major wartime powers—the United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union—agreed on the format of punishment for those responsible for war crimes during World War II. France was also awarded a place on the tribunal.
Some 200 German war crimes defendants were tried at Nuremberg, and 1,600 others were tried under the traditional channels of military justice. The legal basis for the jurisdiction of the court was defined by the Instrument of Surrender of Germany. Political authority for Germany had been transferred to the Allied Control Council which, having sovereign power over Germany, could choose to punish violations of international law and the laws of war. Because the court was limited to violations of the laws of war, it did not have jurisdiction over crimes that took place before the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939.
The Nuremberg Trials Begin
The IMT opened on November 19, 1945, in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. The first session was presided over by the Soviet judge Nikitchenko. The prosecution entered indictments against 24 major war criminals and seven organizations: the leadership of the Nazi party, the Reich Cabinet, the Schutzstaffel (SS), Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Gestapo, the Sturmabteilung (SA), and the “General Staff and High Command,” comprising several categories of senior military officers. These organizations were to be declared “criminal” if found guilty.
The indictments were for participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of a crime against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace; war crimes; and crimes against humanity.
The accusers successfully unveiled the background of developments leading to the outbreak of World War II, which cost at least 40 million lives in Europe alone, as well as the extent of the atrocities committed in the name of the Hitler regime. Twelve of the accused were sentenced to death, seven received prison sentences (ranging from 10 years to life in prison), three were acquitted, and two were not charged.
Throughout the trials, specifically between January and July 1946, the defendants and a number of witnesses were interviewed by American psychiatrist Leon Goldensohn. His notes detailing the demeanor and comments of the defendants were edited into book form and published in 2004.
The Tokyo War Crimes Trial
Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the global community began to investigate allegations of Japanese war crimes. These investigations culminated in a series of war crimes trials, most famous of which was the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. The international community accused Japan of crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes. Accusations and evidence circulated to show that beginning with the Japanese conquest of Manchuria, the Japanese forces regularly abused prisoners of war, employed forced labor, destroyed towns and cities, slaughtered civilians, raped, looted, and tortured civilians. Tens of thousands of testimonies, documents, and eyewitness accounts were investigated. Among the most heinous charges were the Japanese involvement in human experimentation, such as with the infamous unit 731, the Bataan Death March, and the destruction of the Chinese city of Nanking. Using the IMT in Nuremberg as a model, courts began to assemble in Tokyo in the spring of 1946. In April 1946, the trials of many top-ranking Japanese officials began.
The primary target of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial was the former Japanese prime minister Tojo Hideki. He was accused of, and later convicted of being instrumental in many of Japan’s most heinous behaviors during World War II.
In the fall of 1948, the Tokyo War Crimes Trials ended. Twenty-three defendants were convicted, seven of whom were sentenced to death by hanging. Each of the defendants was found guilty of committing war crimes, and particularly, crimes against humanity. Out of respect to the Japanese culture, Douglas MacArthur, who proceeded over the trials, did not allow photos to be taken of the execution of the Japanese war criminals. Several additional, smaller war crimes trials occurred throughout Japan in the succeeding years.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Boundless U.S. History
“An International System”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/an-international-system/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Boundless World History
“Impact of World War II”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/impact-of-war-world-ii/
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.926489
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Neil Greenwood
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91149/overview
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Marketing in Action
Overview
Marketing in Action
Outcome: Marketing in Action
What you’ll learn to do: identify evidence of marketing in everyday life
In this section, you’ll get a chance to explore the concept of marketing further and see how it’s at work in the world around you. It may surprise you to discover how much the term encompasses . . .
The specific things you’ll learn in this section include:
- Recognize marketing activities in daily life
- Explain the differences between marketing, advertising, branding, and sales
Learning Activities
The learning activities for this section include the following:
- Reading: Marketing in Action
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Outcome: Marketing in Action. Authored by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Marketing in Action
Marketing is all around you. Enter a store, walk down the street, visit the Internet, or glance through your closet. Whether you realize it or not, some aspect of marketing is likely at work in each of these activities.
In the following scenarios, consider the lengths to which marketers go to identify, satisfy, and retain you as a customer. See if you can draw examples from your own experience that demonstrate marketing in action.
Scenario #1: Life on the Streets
You’re walking down an urban street and, on impulse, you head into a trendy-looking clothing store. Right away, you pick out the obvious signs of marketing: shop signs, posters, window displays, sale notices, product displays, and brand names. Then come the less obvious, “environmental” things: the interior design, colors, aromas, the background music, announcer messages, the pricing structure, the way store clerks approach you–or leave you alone. All these details are part of a coordinated marketing strategy aimed at creating an ideal environment to separate you from your money. You may or may not be aware of how this is happening, but rest assured it is at work.
Scenario #2: Virtual Reality
Suppose you’re taking a short break from studying and doing a little online browsing—there’s news to read and Facebook to check. And you need to find a birthday present for your aunt . . . What kinds of marketing are ready to intrude?
What jumps out at you immediately are the ads on the Web sites you visit: Facebook, Instagram, email, even your Google results. Annoyingly, you have trouble finding the X to close a pop-up banner ad that has taken over your screen. But that’s not all.
Before you’re allowed to navigate to an article you want to read, you’re invited to take a “very short” user feedback survey. Back to your aunt: you head to Amazon.com to read a couple of customer reviews of the book you have in mind for her. Amazon recommends several other books, and one looks ideal. You compare prices at other booksellers, but Amazon beats them, so you place your order. In the end, you find exactly what you want, and it will be shipped that day. Thank you, marketing!
Scenario #3: In My Room
Now imagine you’re back at home, hanging out in your room. How is “marketing” invading your personal space?
In the privacy of your own home, the presence of marketing might seem less obvious, but it’s definitely there. Pouring yourself a bowl of cereal, you see the back of the cereal box is inviting you to enter a sweepstakes contest. When you switch on the TV, a few ads slip by, even though you’re watching shows recorded on your DVR. Between programs, logos and messages from broadcasting networks tell you about other shows you don’t want to miss. As you’re becoming more attuned to the presence of advertising, you start to notice how all the characters in your favorite sitcom are drinking Pepsi products. Is that just a coincidence? Probably not.
You look at the clock and realize it’s time to change for work. Opening your closet, you notice the logos on your favorite shirts. Not only do you love how those clothes fit, but you recognize an emotional connection: those clothes–and brands–make you feel confident and attractive. How’s that for invasive marketing?
Marketing Is Everywhere
The purpose of this course is not to start making you suspicious or even paranoid about the influence of marketing in your everyday life.
In fact, marketing can play an important and beneficial role by connecting you to information, people, and things. It can make you aware of things you care about but wouldn’t otherwise encounter. When marketing is working well, the new information it brings to you also aligns with what you’re already interested in doing or exploring.
At times, marketing might feel more like an assault than an assist. Visual images on posters or billboards scream for your attention. Sponsor announcements persistently remind you which organizations are making your entertainments possible. Sleek product designs beckon you to try on clothing or try out gadgets. Sales promotions create a sense of urgency to spend now or lose out.
The right balance between “helpful” and “annoying” varies, depending on who you are and what type of relationship you have with the entity doing the marketing. When the balance starts to get off-kilter, it’s a clue that something isn’t working as well as it should in the marketing strategy and execution.
Marketing Activities
Marketing encompasses all the activities described above. It covers an entire spectrum of techniques focused on identifying, satisfying, and retaining customers. For people new to the concept of marketing, it can be easy to confuse marketing with some of the powerful and visible tools that marketers use.
Marketing vs. Advertising
Advertising uses paid notices in different forms of media to draw public attention to a company, product, or message, usually for the purpose of selling products or services.1 While advertising is a common and useful tool for marketing, it’s just one of many tactics marketers may use to achieve their goals.
Marketing vs. Branding
Branding is the process of “creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind.”2 Brand is a powerful tool for shaping perceptions about a company or product in order to attract and retain loyal customers. Marketing processes and activities build brands, and branding is an important strategic consideration in any marketing effort. At the same time, marketing refers to a broader scope of activity than just branding.
Marketing vs. Sales
Sales refers to the process of actually selling products or services, leading up to the point where the exchange of value takes place. Effective marketing aligns well with the sales process and leads to increased sales. While marketing and sales are intertwined, the scope of marketing is generally considered broader than just supporting sales. Marketing helps identify prospective customers and prepare them to enter the sales process as informed, receptive, qualified sales leads.
This course will explore all these marketing activities in much more detail to give you a clear picture of how these tools can be employed to support an organization’s broader marketing goals.
Notes
- "Advertising." The Free Dictionary. Accessed September 10, 2019. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/advertising ↵
- "Branding." Business Dictionary. Accessed September 10, 2019. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/branding.html) ↵
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Marketing in Action. Authored by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
- Urban Outfitters. Authored by: Mike Mozart. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/16158377327/. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Miller Hall. Authored by: Chris Metcalf. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laffy4k/524581047/. License: CC BY: Attribution
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENT
- Amazon.com Screen Shot. Provided by: Amazon. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Fair Use
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.954284
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03/22/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91149/overview",
"title": "Statewide Dual Credit Principles of Marketing, What is Marketing?, Marketing in Action",
"author": "Anna McCollum"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91162/overview
|
Using the Marketing Mix
Overview
Using the Marketing Mix
Outcome: Using the Marketing Mix
What you’ll learn to do: explain how organizations use the marketing mix to market to their target customers
Now that we know what tools are available to create value, how can we use them most effectively? In this section we’ll cover a number of examples; later in the course we’ll discuss the role of the marketing mix in the planning process and in a range of specific applications.
As you begin to understand each of the individual components of the marketing mix, remember that none of the four Ps operates independently to create value for the customer. For instance, a higher price will create higher expectations for the quality of the product or service, and may demand a higher level of customer service in the distribution process. Heavy promotion of a product can create greater awareness of the value that is expected, increasing the importance of the product delivering value. The right mix of components supporting the value proposition becomes very important.
Learning Activities
The learning activities for this section include the following:
- Reading: Finding the Right Marketing Mix
- Case Study: Chobani
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Outcome: Using the Marketing Mix. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Reading: Finding the Right Marketing Mix
How does an organization determine the right marketing mix? The answer depends on the organization’s goals. Think of the marketing mix as a recipe that can be adjusted—through small adjustments or dramatic changes—to support broader company goals.
Decisions about the marketing-mix variables are interrelated. Each of the marketing mix variables must be coordinated with the other elements of the marketing program.
Consider, for a moment, the simple selection of hair shampoo. Let’s think about three different brands of shampoo and call them Discount, Upscale, and Premium. The table below shows some of the elements of the marketing mix that impact decisions by target customers.
| Discount | Upscale | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Cleansing product, pleasant smell, low-cost packaging | Cleansing product, pleasant smell, attractive packaging | Cleansing product, pleasant smell created by named ingredients, premium packaging |
| Promotion | Few, if any, broad communications | National commercials show famous female “customers” with clean, bouncy hair | Differentiating features and ingredients highlighted (e.g., safe for colored hair), as well as an emphasis on the science behind the formula. Recommended by stylist in the salon. |
| Place | Distributed in grocery stores and drugstores | Distributed in grocery stores and drugstores | Distributed only in licensed salons |
| Price | Lowest price on the shelf | Highest price in the grocery store (8 times the prices of discount) | 3 to 5 times the price of Upscale |
A number of credible studies suggest that there is no difference in the effectiveness of Premium or Upscale shampoo compared with Discount shampoo, but the communication, distribution, and price are substantially different. Each product appeals to a very different target market. Do you buy your shampoo in a grocery store or a salon? Your answer is likely based on the marketing mix that has most influenced you.
An effective marketing mix centers on a target customer. Each element of the mix is evaluated and adjusted to provide unique value to the target customer. In our shampoo example, if the target market is affluent women who pay for expensive salon services, then reducing the price of a premium product might actually hurt sales, particularly if it leads stylists in salons to question the quality of the ingredients. Similarly, making the packaging more appealing for a discount product could have a negative impact if it increases the price even slightly or if it causes shoppers to visually confuse it with a more expensive product.
The goal with the marketing mix is to align marketing activities with the needs of the target customer.
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Finding the Right Mix. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Introducing Marketing. Authored by: John Burnett. Project: Global Textbook Project. License: CC BY: Attribution
- Vast Array of Hair Care Products. Authored by: Sea Turtle. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-turtle/3541657734/. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Case Study: Chobani
In 2005, Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya bought a yogurt plant from Kraft Foods in Johnston, New York. Ulukaya had a vision of a better product: the thick, rich yogurt he had enjoyed in Turkey but couldn’t find in the United States.
The Target Customer
Chobani started out making private-label regular yogurts for other large companies, but Ulukaya believed he could make a better yogurt than the competition. And, he had a good idea of the customers he wanted to target:
We aimed at people who never liked yogurt. We couldn’t blame them, because what was available was not what the rest of the world was eating.
Further, the company chose not to target only women, a favorite target segment for the U.S. yogurt industry. Ulukaya believed that both men and women would appreciate the fresh ingredients and high protein that Chobani offered.
The Chobani Product
The recipe for Chobani is thicker and creamier than regular yogurt, with twice the protein and none of the preservatives and artificial flavors found in conventional yogurt. What’s in the yogurt—five live and active cultures, including three probiotics—is as important as what’s not, and Chobani turned this competitive advantage into the yogurt’s slogan: “Nothing but Good.” Ulukaya described the philosophy behind the product:
We look at our yogurt as pure, healthy, simple, and something that you enjoy tasting. That is very, very important for us.1
The Chobani Place
Existing Greek yogurt lines were most often sold in expensive specialty stores. Ulukaya hoped to sell his yogurt brand to a wider customer base through mass-distribution channels of grocery store chains. After more than a year developing Chobani’s trademark taste, in October 2007 Chobani’s first shipment included five different flavors—blueberry, peach, strawberry, vanilla, and plain—which were sold to a single Long Island grocery store. From there the company expanded regionally and then nationally to grocery store chains. The demand for broader distribution was fueled by the promotion campaign.
The Chobani Promotion
Chobani worked to develop a two-way dialogue with happy customers.
We’re on all the major social media platforms. The growth of Chobani really started virally, where one person would try it, tell five friends who each told five friends, and it really became a brand people loved to discover on their own and tell other people about. In the online landscape, we just had really great success at being able to talk to our fans. I think one of the great things about our company is our relationship with consumers; it’s really a lot of fun to hear what they have to say and take it to heart.2 —Nicki Briggs, a registered dietitian and head of the company’s communications team
Ulakaya also became a darling of the business press, which was persuaded by his philosophy that anything is possible with hard work. He was a frequent guest on national investment news programs and speaker at business conferences.
The company capitalized on the healthy and ambitious aspects of its brand, and in 2012 Chobani became the official yogurt of the U.S. Olympic Team. As a sponsor, Chobani followed athletes from U.S. Olympic training centers to the London Olympic Games.
Since then Chobani has also visibly committed to supporting local farmers and strengthening economic growth in the communities where it is located, which contributes to its reputation as a healthy brand.
You can view the transcript for “Shepherd’s Gift” here (opens in new window).
The Chobani Price
When Chobani entered the market, prices for the traditional offerings in the market clustered around 65 cents per cup. Premium Greek yogurt cost $1.34 per cup. 3
Chobani priced its product at roughly $1 per cup. This decision was based on the expectation that the product would be successful. Ulakaya set the price assuming economies of scale—that the company would gain efficiencies as sales increased—instead of trying to recover the early costs. The price factored in the higher cost of premium ingredients, which also supported the product and promotion goals. 4
- https://www.sba.gov/offices/district/ny/syracuse/success-stories/chobani-selected-sbas-2012-national-entrepreneurial-success-year ↵
- http://usbusinessexecutive.com/food-drink/case-studies/chobani-yogurt-healthy-products-nourishing-growth ↵
- http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/04/26/behind-the-hype-costs-and-benefits-of-greek-yogurt/ ↵
- http://www.businessinsider.com/the-success-story-of-chobani-yogurt-2013-5#ixzz3l6bHLWtN ↵
Licenses and Attributions
CC licensed content, Original
- Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Chobani Unboxing 05. Authored by: Brad P.. Located at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bpende/4349120979/. License: CC BY: Attribution
All rights reserved content
- Chobani founder turns centuries old Greek yogurt into billion dollar craze. Authored by: Dan Moseley. Located at: https://youtu.be/7TY6JxR15og. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
- Shepherd's Gift. Provided by: Chobani. Located at: https://youtu.be/jjurtKY13bc. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:23.979442
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03/22/2022
|
{
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"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91162/overview",
"title": "Statewide Dual Credit Principles of Marketing, Marketing Function, Using the Marketing Mix",
"author": "Anna McCollum"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91154/overview
|
Putting it Together
Overview
Putting It Together
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is a powerful tool that serves a variety of functions for organizations, individuals, and society. Let’s take a moment to revisit some notable examples of marketing activity from earlier in the module. What’s happening to make each of these examples effective?
Marketing sells products.
Marketing informs organizations about what people want, and it informs people about products and services available to feed our wants and needs. From overt advertising to covert “recommendations” about things you might like based on other things you’ve purchased, marketing shows us different choices and tries to influence our buying behavior.
As you view its site, Amazon.com gleans information about you and what you’re shopping for. Then it suggests other products that might interest you: items similar to what you viewed, special deals, and items other people bought who were shopping for the same things as you. The genius of this technique is that it’s marketing masquerading as helpful information sharing.
Marketing changes how you think about things.
Effective marketing shapes people’s perceptions of the world around them, for better or for worse. Marketing can cause you to think differently about an issue, product, candidate, organization, or idea. When you are attuned to marketing forces and practices, you can exercise better judgment about the information you receive.
So, you think you know what big pharmaceutical companies are all about? With this ad below, using a strong dose of emotional appeal, Pfizer wants you to think again.
You can view the text alternative for “Best Commercial EVER!!!” (opens in new window).
Marketing creates memorable experiences.
Some of the most imaginative marketing is not a message or an image. Instead it’s an entire experience that gives people a deepened understanding, enjoyment, or loyalty to whomever is providing the experience.
This IKEA event created a slumber party atmosphere for avid fans of the home furnishing store, inviting them to stay in the store overnight and live temporarily in the store display. It’s a great way to encourage people to interact more deeply with your product.
You can view the transcript for “IKEA BIG Sleepover” (opens in new window).
Marketing alters history.
Marketing has been known to unleash attitudes and forces that alter the course of history. Today, marketing plays a pronounced role in political campaigns, policy debates, and mobilizing citizen support for public affairs initiatives.
This 1984 ad for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign capitalized on widespread anxiety among Americans about national security during the Cold War. Some strategists credit this piece with shifting middle-of-the-road voters decidedly into the Reagan camp.
You can view the transcript for “Reagan 1984 Election Ad (Bear in the woods)” (opens in new window) or the text alternative for “Reagan 1984 Election Ad (Bear in the woods)” (opens in new window).
How does marketing affect you?
Pause for a moment to consider your immediate environment and your activities for the day. Where do you encounter evidence of marketing? How does it influence the choices you make? What impact does it have on your attitudes and perceptions? Why are various marketing activities effective or ineffective at reaching you as a customer or consumer?
Throughout the rest of the course, take this challenge:
See marketing, and learn.
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
- Putting It Together: Marketing Role. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTION
- People Start Pollution. Provided by: Ad Council. Located at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:People_Start_Pollution_-_1971_Ad.jpg#/media/File:People_Start_Pollution_-_1971_Ad.jpg. License: Other. License Terms: Fair use under United States copyright law
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENT
- IKEA Big Sleepover. Provided by: IKEA UK. Located at: https://youtu.be/YMJD53fxihU. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube license
- Commercial - Reagan 1984 Election Ad (Bear in the woods). Authored by: jpspin2122. Located at: https://youtu.be/KQNBNiXGMiA. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
- Best Commercial EVER!. Authored by: loveallaroundyou. Located at: https://youtu.be/OAlyHUWjNjE. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
- Screen Shot of Amazon Unicorn Recommendations. Provided by: Amazon. License: All Rights Reserved. License Terms: Fair Use
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:24.003969
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03/22/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/91154/overview",
"title": "Statewide Dual Credit Principles of Marketing, What is Marketing?, Putting it Together",
"author": "Anna McCollum"
}
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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84532/overview
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Education Standards
Variability in Precision Agriculture OER pdf
Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 3
Overview
Overview:
Students will discover why “variability” is the driving factor behind precision agriculture.
Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 3
Teacher Resources:
- Powerpoint Slides
- Activities
- Students will research one of the era’s of farming (Agriculture Revolution, Ridge and Furrow Farming, Industrial Revolution and Technological Revolution)
- Discussion Questions:
- What type of equipment/technology is utilized?
- What new inventions happened during this time period?
- How did new equipment/technology/inventions change farming practices?
- Discussion Questions:
- After seeing several examples of variability in a field, the students will come up with other examples of how field can be variable.
- Discussion Point: “What are other examples of temporal variability in a field?”
- Discussion Point: “What are some farming methods to manage variability in a field?”
- Students will research one of the era’s of farming (Agriculture Revolution, Ridge and Furrow Farming, Industrial Revolution and Technological Revolution)
Resource Websites:
Precision Agriculture
Lesson Three: Variability in Precision Agriculture
Overview:
Students will discover why “variability” is the driving factor behind precision agriculture.
Objectives:
The student will explore different types of variation in a field and how precision agriculture technology can help manage the variability.
Materials Needed:
internet
Activity:
A powerpoint presentation, with notes, will explain field variability. Several discussion slides are a part of the powerpoint.
- Students will research one of the era’s of farming
- Discussion Questions:
- What type of equipment/technology is utilized?
- What new inventions happened during this time period?
- How did new equipment/technology/inventions change farming practices?
- Discussion Questions:
- After seeing several examples of variability in a field, the students will come up with other examples of how field can be variable.
- Discussion Point: “What are other examples of temporal variability in a field?”
- Discussion Point: “What are some farming methods to manage variability in a field?”
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oercommons
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2025-03-18T00:39:24.034522
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Carmel Miller
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{
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"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84532/overview",
"title": "Introduction to Precision Agriculture - Lesson 3",
"author": "Lesson"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66543/overview
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Excel Basics Lesson 2 Packet Data
Excel Basics Lesson 2 Packet Key
Excel
Overview
- Intro to Stats Lesson 1 Video
- Complete Intro to Stats Lesson 1 Packet - note you will need to use excel and online lesson data
- Class Study Session for Help or a Workday - Complete Intro to Stats Lesson 1 Packet Practice Exam
- Intro to Stats Lesson 1 Exam (10 pts)
- Intro to Stats Lesson 2 Video
- Complete Intro to Stats Lesson 2 Packet - note you will need to use excel and online lesson data
- Submit Intro to Stats Lesson 2 Packet excel work in blackboard submittal area (5 pts)
Excel Lesson 1
Excel Basics Lesson 1 Packet
Assignment 1.1 – 1.11 will be done in one excel workbook. When complete with Excel Basics Lesson 1 & 2 Packet Submit to Blackboard > Excel Basics > Excel Basics Lesson 1 & 2 Packet Submit – There are videos that walk you through each assignment. Watch each section, pause the video, complete the task.
Navigate to Blackboard > 1. Excel Basics > Lesson 1 > Excel Basics Lesson 1 Video – This is the video for this unit.
Navigate to Blackboard > 1. Excel Basics > Lesson 1 > Excel Basics Lesson 1 Packet– Open all documents and excel files. This is what you will need to start with.
Assignment 1-1: Excel as a Calculator
- When you open Data Set #1 – Excel Basics, the only sheet available will be titled “Calculator” the Excel file will look like this
- Right-click on cell A1 and select the Insert option. Choose Shift cells down, then select OK.
- In Cell A1, type in “Using Excel as a Calculator”
- Highlight cells A1:C1, then click on the Merge & Center button in the Alignment section of the Home Ribbon, then click on the Left Align button
- In cell A3, rewrite 2+4 as a formula, type in =2+4, then hit enter. The cell should return the answer of 6. Double-click on cell A3 to see the formula that you entered.
Assignment 1-2: Cut, Copy, Paste Tutorial
Make sure you can do the following in excel:
- CTL + C (Copies)
- Copy the contents of cell A2
- CTL + V (Pastes)
- Paste the contents from the clipboard into Cell B2
- CTL + Z (Undo)
- Undo the pasting of the contents into Cell B2
- CTL + X (Cuts – Adds to the clipboard, essentially does the same thing as copy, except when you paste it to a new location, it cuts the original)
- ESC gets rid of selections
Note: When you right click and paste there are different paste options
Assignment 1-3: Order of Evaluation
Make sure you understand PEMDAS and that parenthesis are important in excel
Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction
- In cell A5 the contents are 2+4*7, retype that formula into cell B5 using the = sign first to tell excel to do the calculation, excel should return 30
- If you wanted Excel to do the addition first, you need to put a parenthesis around the 2+4, see the contents of A7
- In cell B7 plug-in the formula needed to make the addition occur first. Excel should return to you 42.
Assignment 1-4: Basic Graph
- Add a new sheet to the Excel file. Rename Sheet2 “Basic Graph”
- Insert the following info beginning in cell A1
- Highlight all data and insert a column chart
- Change the title of the chart to “Basic Graph”
- Change the layout of the graph to “Layout 9”
- Change the fill of the chart to yellow
Assignment 1-5: Introduction to Formulas
- Add a new sheet to the right of “Basic Graph”
- Rename the new sheet “Formulas”
- Enter the following information
- Insert one row above row 1 and enter title “Bills” in the new A1 cell
- “AutoSum” the values in the B9 cell
- In cell B12 type what a colon means in a formula
- In cell B13 answer the following: Is a parenthesis needed after an operation function like SUM? Yes or NO
Assignment 1-6: Basic Tasks in Excel
- Add a new sheet after “Formulas” and name it “Basic Tasks”
- Change the column width to “20” and the row height to “25”
- Enter the following data beginning in cell A1
- “Sum” the values in cell B4
- In cell A6 type the formula for “3+3”
- Apply “Accounting” format to all numbers through row 5. *Note: Accounting format with TWO decimals will be used for all assignments
- Enter the following data beginning in cell D1
- Center all data in columns D and E
- “Autofill” information in columns D and E through row 10
- Use “Quick Analysis” to find the average of D and E and create a table.
- Using the table, “Sort” the rain column from “Largest to Smallest”
*Remember these operations are found under the “Home” tab in addition to “Quick Analysis”
Assignment 1-7: Basic Formatting (No Sheet Creation)
Be able to accomplish the following in excel.
- Change color of cells
- Change border of cells
- Clear selected cells
- Change row and column height and width
- Select whole sheet
- Merge and center cells
- Middle, top, and bottom Align
- Be able to make whole sheet into accounting format
- Increase decimals. WE WILL USE TWO DECIMALS ALWAYS
- Right click and bring up “Format Cells” menu
Assignment 1-8: Number Formatting
- Add a sheet behind “Basic Tasks”. Rename this sheet “Numbers”
- Enter “15.66” into cell B2
- Apply accounting format to this cell with two decimal places
*NOTE: All numbers will be in this format when doing excel
- In B5 enter “99.99” and in cell B6 enter “9.9”
- Format B5 and B6 in accounting format with NO dollar signs.
- IN B8 enter “11.29”. In B9 enter 0.88.
- Format B8 and B9 as percentages.
- In cell A1 find 1129% of 2000 using a formula. In cell A2 find 88% of 2000 using a formula.
Assignment 1-9: Force Printing One Page
- Create a new sheet behind “Numbers” and rename it “Print”.
- Enter the following data
- “Auto Fill” from A1 and A2 through A37
- “Auto Fill” from A1 and B1 through Q1
- Change view to “Page Layout” than back to “Normal”
- Under “File” “Print” be able to find the option to “Fit Sheet on One Page”. Select this option. Do NOT print.
- Be aware of the use of “CTL + Arrows”
Assignment 1-10: Practice Basic Formulas
- Create a new sheet after “Print” and rename it “Practice”
- Enter the following information with accounting formatting beginning in A1
- In B8 use a formula to average the salary of all professors.
- In C8 use a formula to find the median salary of all professors.
- Beginning in A10 enter the following data with all prices in accounting format:
- Find the amount paid in tax for cells B11 through B14. Assume a tax of 5%. Use a formula in B11 then autofill the formula through B14
- Figure price with Tax in cells C11 through C14 by entering a formula in C11 and auto filling it through C14. There are multiple correct formulas.
Assignment 1-11: Referencing Worksheets in Formulas
- Create two sheets after “Practice”. Rename the first “Overview” and rename the second “Business A”.
- Change the tab color of “Business A” to Red and the color of “Overview” to blue.
- On the “Business A” sheet enter to following data beginning in cell A1. Make sure it is in accounting formatting.
- Auto Sum the totals of column B in B4.
- Create a copy of worksheet A using the “Move or Copy” option when right clicking the sheet. DO NOT RENAME IT. (If it places the new sheet before business A this is fine you don’t have to move it)
*Useful when duplicating blank balance sheets and other statement sheets.
- Change the dollar values on the new sheet you just created to:
January: 1,000,000
February: 10
March: 10
- On the “Overview” sheet enter the following data starting in A1:
- On the “Overview” sheet in column B reference the total dollars made for each business in the months of January- March from sheets Business A and Business A (2).
- Change the March total of Business A (2) to $1,000,000 and observe how it changes the total on the overview sheet.
When you are all completed, check your excel file with the copy of my completed file that I will post to BlackBoard > 7. Excel Basics > Data Set #1 - Excel Basics – Answers
Excel Lesson 2
Excel Basics Lesson 2 Packet
Assignment 2.1 – 2.5 will be done in one excel workbook. When complete with Excel Basics Lesson 1 & 2 Packet Submit to Blackboard > Excel Basics > Excel Basics Lesson 1 & 2 Package Submit – There are videos that walk you through each assignment. Watch each section, pause the video, complete the task.
Navigate to Blackboard > 1. Excel Basics > Lesson 2 > Excel Basics Lesson 2 Video – This is the video for this unit.
Navigate to Blackboard > 1. Excel Basics > Lesson 2 > Excel Basics Lesson 2 Packet– Open all documents and excel files. This is what you will need to start with.
Assignment 2-1: Freeze Panes
- When you open “Excel Basics Lesson 2 Packet Data” go to the first sheet called “Cell Ref 1”
- Click “View” at the top of the page
- Click “Freeze Panes”
- Freeze the top row
- Now scroll down
Assignment 2-2: Absolute Cell Referencing
- Display sheet “Cell Ref 1”
- We will calculate the Revenue (how much money was made) for each calf if sold at weaning weight using the provided price.
- To do this we need to take the weaning weight in pounds multiplied times the price in $/lb. NOTE: Price for cattle is given in cwt or hundred weight. This is the price for 100 pounds of a calf. To find the price per pound we need to divide the cwt price by 100. Do this in cell L2. (It may round to $1.50 but this is just what is displayed. Excel keeps the real number)
- Repeat this step in L5 for the price of calves if fed to gain 200 pounds above weaning weight (around 725 lb average)
- Now we will calculate the revenue. To do this we enter the formula “=E2*$L$2”. The dollar signs lock the column L and the row 2 values so if we drag the formula to fill other cells the L2 cell is locked and does not move. The best way to enter formulas is to type the “=” sign then click the cells you wish to multiple rather than typing the letters. Try reentering the formula doing this. When you click L2 hit the F4 button once to automatically insert $ signs.
- Now we will drag the formula down to the calculate all values for all calves (called “auto filling” the formula. To do this place your cursor in the lower right-hand corner of the cell until you get a black + sign. Then left click and hold and drag to the end of the table. Values will calculate. If you click on any random “Revenue at WW” value, then click in the formula box up top, you will be able to see what cells are used in the formula. This is helpful to check to see if your formulas auto filled correctly.
- Next, we need to calculate the “WW + 200” to do this we will add 200 pounds to the weaning weight. This can be done by entering a formula in cell “G2” that is “= E2+200”. This can then be auto filled for all values repeating methods in step 6.
- Next we need to calculate “Revenue of WW + 200”. Repeat procedures from step 5 and 6 with the appropriate values to complete this.
Assignment 2-3: Cell Referencing (Not Absolute)
In assignment 2-2 you completed absolute cell referencing. This involves locking both the column (letters) and the row (numbers). However, you do not have to lock both. At times you may only want to lock the row or column using one $ sign.
- Display sheet “Cell Ref 2”
- We care going to calculate the revenue if we sold calves at WW (weaning weight) for 2020, 2021, 2022. To do this we use some of the steps from assignment 2-2. Please complete letter a using operations done in assignment 2-2.
- Find the price average per pound from the price average per cwt
- To calculate revenues for multiple years we need to autofill formulas down AND over. Because of this we do not lock the row and column of the price – we will enter a formula in cell “J2” and fill over to “K2” and “L2” so we do not need to lock the columns. However, when we fill down, we do not want the price to move down so we must lock the row. Based on this the formula entered in “J2” will read “=G2*O$3”
- Now auto fill the formula over to columns “K” and “L” and down to the end of the data.
Assignment 1-4: Basic Graph
Any of you that have cattle know that often calves are sorted and solid in different groups based on weight. To calculate the revenues in this type of scenario we can use the “IFS” formula in excel.
- Display Sheet “If”
- In this sheet we want to calculate the revenue of calves sold at pricing, but we have three prices. The first step is to convert the prices to $/lb instead of cwt. Do this in column H
- In order to calculate revenue quickly with this data type “=IFS(“ in cell “J2” and then click the “fx” symbol in the formula bar.
- In an “IFS” formula a test is conducted on the selected cell (Logical_test1). If the test is passed then it can calculate the value (Value_if_true1). If the value doesn’t pass the test it goes on to a second test. If this second test is passed, the value is calculated. If the second test is failed, it goes to the third and so on. There is another function called “IF” that is used if there is only two values, however we have three prices so we must use “IFS”
- The first logical test enter “D2<501” and in value if true1 enter “D2*$H$3” This is saying that if the weight of the calf is less that 501 pounds then use the price for calves from 400-500 pounds to find the formula.
- The second logical test enter “D2<601” and in value if true1 enter “D2*$H$4” This is saying that if the weight of the calf is less that 601 pounds then use the price for calves from 500-600 pounds to find the formula. (Note that “IFS” tests one at a time, so if it passes the first test it will calculate an answer and never get to test two)
- The third logical test enter “D2>=601” and in value if true1 enter “D2*$H$5” This is saying that if the weight of the calf is greater than or equal to 601 pounds then use the price for calves from 600-700 pounds to find the formula.
- The final formula reads “=IFS(D2<501,D2*$G$3/100,D2<601,D2*$G$4/100,D2>=601,D2*$G$5/100)” without the “fx” function this is super hard to enter unless you have done this formula a lot.
- Now drag down the formula to calculate revenue for all the calves.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.092970
|
05/08/2020
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/66543/overview",
"title": "Excel",
"author": "Kenan Layden"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116418/overview
|
Lang101 Workbook. Linguistics Exercises & Activities for Starters
Overview
Lang101 Workbook offers 460 commented exercises and activities, designed for absolute beginners to the study of language or for anyone curious about (why) language matters. It features empirical observation of 20 typologically distinct languages, including English and other languages you’re familiar with. As a companion tool to our textbook The Language of Language, Part 1 of the workbook contains 360 exercises and activities corresponding to the textbook's 12 chapters (30 per chapter), and 100 synthesising cross-chapter exercises. Part 2 contains commented answers to all exercises.
Topics include the nature of scientific investigation; the structure of words, sounds and sentences; typical vs. disordered uses of language; child language, language learning and language play, as well as politeness, persuasion and humour.
Linguistics workbook designed for multilingual users of English
If you’re curious about (why) language matters, about what linguists do and how they think, and if you’re tired of introductory linguistics books that in fact introduce you to the linguistics of English, try Lang101 Workbook and its companion textbook The Language of Language, for a change.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.112664
|
Justin Sherry
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116418/overview",
"title": "Lang101 Workbook. Linguistics Exercises & Activities for Starters",
"author": "Full Course"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/121571/overview
|
Handy Remix of OER Item Sharing
Overview
The GEN 101 Companion Guide will be used to support GEN 101 faculty and students. Students will be able to reference the textbook after they finish GEN 101 which is not the case with the current textbook.
Project Planning
My OER Goals & Purpose: To create ancillary materials for GEN 101 that will support student learning and success.
My Audience: GEN 101 students and GEN 101 Faculty. Students who have completed GEN 101.
My Team: GEN 101 Team
Existing Resources: We had a grant funded GEN 101 OER pilot project last year and created many ancillary materials that were well received by faculty and students. We were the first team to create these materials. We planned to remix or create a textbook, but our school is not a ZTC school, so we were unable to do that. However, we are requesting more open-access materials be included in the next textbook version.
New Resources: College Success Concise - Open Textbook Library, and I would also like to create more ancillary materials focused on mental health and supporting formerly incarcerated students.
Supports Needed: This concise book models the format of our course, so the plan is to remix it so that our students can have a resource after they complete the course.
Our Timeline: GEN 101 will get a new textbook next year. My team has agreed to write the case studies (we will license them), and I would like to have this concise text to be finished as a companion guide for students to use after they finish the GEN 101 course.
OER Item
The GEN 101 Companion Guide will be finished in 2025.
Add your OER item here including the course name and number and any aligned learning outcomes.
To add content in this section:
- Add any text, images or videos by using this editing pane.
- Include any external links in this editing pane by using the hyperlink button above or the command "Control" + "K"
- Attach any documents or files to this section by using "Attach Section..." paperclip image below, then choose the correct file from your computer and save.
Please check any sharing settings to external links (like Google Docs) to ensure others can access your resources.
Reflection
I will complete this section when I finish the remix for the project.
Please reflect and share any observations and insights you noticed as a result of this OER Item, such as changes in your own practice, impact on colleagues or student engagement and impact.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.128988
|
11/01/2024
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/121571/overview",
"title": "Handy Remix of OER Item Sharing",
"author": "Teresa Handy"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73142/overview
|
The Basics of Quoting (MLA)
Overview
This is a YouTube video containing the three-part requirements of quoting an author from a book.
The Basics of Quoting (MLA)
This video instructs you on the fundamentals of how to properly quote an author according the requirements of the Modern Language Association (MLA).
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.141279
|
Optimism One
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73142/overview",
"title": "The Basics of Quoting (MLA)",
"author": "Lesson"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87156/overview
|
MATH 125C Finite Mathematics
Overview
This textbook was prepared as an OER text for DS 21 Finite Mathematics. Topics include matrices, linear programming, counting techniques, sets, probability, statistics, mathematics of finance, Markov chains, and game theory. Applications will be emphasized.
Topics include matrices, linear programming, counting techniques, sets, probability, statistics, mathematics of finance, Markov chains, and game theory. Applications are emphasized.
This textbook contains chapters from: Business Precalculus (OER), by David Lippman; Applied Finite Mathematics (OER) 2nd edition, 1996, by Rupinder Sekhon and Applied Finite Mathematics (OER) 3rd edition, 2016, by Roberta Bloom and Rupinder Sekhon; and Introductory Statistics, by Barbara lllowsky and Susan Dean.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.153794
|
10/28/2021
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87156/overview",
"title": "MATH 125C Finite Mathematics",
"author": "JoEllen Green"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/77909/overview
|
How to Enter Formulas in the Open Author Editor
Overview
Open Author Editor gives an opportunity to write beautiful equations and symbols easily in your document.
This posting contains several examples of how to enter formulas with TeX/LaTeX commands in the Open Author Editor.
Mathematics in TeX
How to enter formulas?
Using 'Mathematics in TeX' , hit the icon in the toolbar and type a formula using TeX syntax, for example for the quadratic formula we type
x= \dfrac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a},
and click OK :
\(x = {-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac} \over 2a}\)
Display mode and Inline mode
The same quadratic formula can be entered in between dollar characters
$$ \$\$ ~your ~ formula~\$\$ $$
or like this
$$ \backslash [ ~your ~formula ~\backslash] $$
or like this
$$ \backslash ( ~your ~formula ~\backslash) $$
The first two formulas are in the display mode and are centered; they can be pulled to the left using \hspace{50 in}.
The third formula is in the inline mode and left-aligned.
For example, this
$$ \backslash(x= \backslash dfrac \{-b \backslash pm \backslash sqrt \{b^2-4ac\}\}\{2a\} \backslash)$$
gives us the result very similar to 'Mathematics in TeX'
\( x= \dfrac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a} \)
The option $$ \backslash [ ~your ~formula ~\backslash] $$
in some cases gives better quality than 'Mathematics in TeX'.
Compare
\[ \int_a^b f(x) dx \]
and
\[ \lim_{x \to a} f(x)=f(a) \]
with this
\(\int_a^b f(x) dx\)
and this
\(\lim_{x \to a} f(x)=f(a) \)
Boxed and enlarged formulas
A formula can be framed (or boxed)
$$ \backslash( \backslash boxed \{~x= \backslash dfrac \{-b \backslash pm \backslash sqrt \{b^2-4ac\}\}\{2a\} \} \backslash)$$
with the result:
$$ \boxed{x= \dfrac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}}$$
and enlarged
$$ \$\$ \backslash Large \{ a \backslash times ~b \} \$\$ $$
with the result
$$\Large { a \times b } $$
Using fonts
There are dosens, if not hundreds of fonts available. Place the font name like this
$$\$\$ \backslash fontname \{your ~text\} \$\$ $$ or like this
$$ \backslash[ \backslash fontname \{your ~text \} \backslash]$$
in the display mode, and like this
$$\backslash( \backslash fontname \{your ~text\} \backslash) $$
in the inline mode.
Foe example:
\mathit
\[\mathit{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}\]
\(\mathit{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}\)
\mathsf
\[\mathsf{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}\]
\(\mathsf{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}\)
\mathrm
\[ \mathrm{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ} \]
\(\mathrm{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ} \)
\mathcal
\[ \mathcal{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ} \]
\(\mathcal{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ} \)
\mathfrack
$$ \mathfrak{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}$$
\( \mathfrak{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ}\)
Matrices
Matrices can be displayed very well, for example
$$ \$\$ M= \backslash left[\backslash begin \{array\} \backslash\backslash a\& b \& 1 \backslash\backslash c \& d \& 2 \backslash end\{array\} \backslash right] \$\$$$
with the result
$$M=\left[\begin{array} \\ a & b &1 \\ c & d & 2 \end{array} \right] $$
Using colors
This example shows how to chage the formula color to green
$$\$\$ \backslash color \{green \} \{ a+b=c \} \$\$ $$
$$\color{green} { a+b=c } $$
Text in the math mode
A text can be embedded in the math mode like this:
-the display mode
$$ \backslash[ \{ \backslash text \{ \text { Actually Nothing Else } \}\} \backslash] $$
-the inline mode
$$ \backslash( \{ \backslash text \{ \text { Actually Nothing Else } \}\} \backslash) $$
with the following results:
-the display mode
\[ \text{ Actually Nothing Else }\]
-the inline mode
\( \text{ Actually Nothing Else } \).
Otherwise tildas ~ are needed to sepate words
$$\backslash[\{word 1~ \sim word 2~\sim word 3 \}\backslash]$$
with the result
\[{word 1~word 2~word 3 }\].
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.176663
|
03/07/2021
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/77909/overview",
"title": "How to Enter Formulas in the Open Author Editor",
"author": "Igor Baryakhtar"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89654/overview
|
Line Variety Project
Overview
This lesson covers "Line Variety" for the start of Basic Drawing. There is a rough draft version and a final draft version for the lesson.
Art 120 Basic Drawing
This is a project outline on what to do for our first lesson in our basic drawing course. All informaiton is posted in the attachment.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.193069
|
01/30/2022
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89654/overview",
"title": "Line Variety Project",
"author": "Diana Isho"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/109907/overview
|
Richins-OER Faculty/ID Process
Overview
OER Fundamentals are invited to remix this course planning template to design and share their OER project plans, course information and syllabus, and reflection.
EAC OER Faculty/ID Process
This document details the process faculty at Eastern Arizona College (EAC) go through when designing an OER course with an Instructional Designer
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
Project Planning
My OER Goals & Purpose: What have you discovered during this OER Series and what are you planning to accomplish next? I have discovered OER resources and I plan to accomplish finishing EAC's fully OER course before the end of the year.
My Audience: Who are you designing this OER item for and what are their learning needs and preferences? OER Faculty at EAC.
My Team: Who else might support your OER item and what are their roles and responsibilities? OER Director. They can encourage faculty to utlize the process
Existing Resources: What existing resources can you utilize for your OER item? You can curate these resources in our Group Folders.
New Resources: What new resources will you need for your OER item's next steps? Desiging a curriculum guide or curriculum map.
Supports Needed: What additional supports do you need to complete your OER item? Do you need to gather more research and data to inform the design of your OER item? N/A
Our Timeline: What deadlines do you have for your OER item deliverables? None
OER Item
OER Faculty/ID Process for creating an OER course at EAC
Reflection
By streamlining this process both faculty and the ID know what is expected when designing an OER course at EAC.
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.213554
|
11/03/2023
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/109907/overview",
"title": "Richins-OER Faculty/ID Process",
"author": "Hailey Richins"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/65800/overview
|
Rectilinear Motion_Part 2
ENGINEERING MECHANICS
Overview
Topic : Rectilinear Motion
DYNAMICS OF PARTICLES
Displacements, Velocity and acceleration, their relationship – Relative motion – Curvilinear motion – Newton’s laws of motion – Work Energy Equation– Impulse and Momentum – Impact of elastic bodies.
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Source: Engineering Mechanics by Dr.N.Kottiswaran
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.231137
|
05/01/2020
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/65800/overview",
"title": "ENGINEERING MECHANICS",
"author": "jones praveen j"
}
|
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/79155/overview
|
Presentations Slides pptx
Current use of Technology in Teaching Introductory Statistics by Igor Baryakhtar
Overview
Igor Baryakhtar's Presentation at Virtual NEMATYC 2021 Conference, 4/08/2021.
The technologies that support learning of introductory statistics are reviewed. Advantages and disadvantages of using Graphing calculator TI 83 / TI 84, StatCrunch (Pearson's web- based statistical software), Apple Numbers, Microsoft Excel, R language and software is discussed. Tablet implementation of Introductory Statistic Open Education Resources based course is described.
Presentation Slides
Igor Baryakhtar
Middlesex Community College and MassBay Community College
|
oercommons
|
2025-03-18T00:39:24.250507
|
04/11/2021
|
{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/79155/overview",
"title": "Current use of Technology in Teaching Introductory Statistics by Igor Baryakhtar",
"author": "Igor Baryakhtar"
}
|
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