Dr. Shawna M. Brandle Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award To Teach American Government In Japan

Dr. Shawna M. Brandle

Dr. Shawna M. Brandle

Dr. Shawna M. Brandle Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award To Teach American Government In Japan

BROOKLYN, NY – Dr. Shawna M. Brandle, an associate professor in the History, Philosophy & Political Sciences department at Kingsborough Community College, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award. A scholar trained in international relations and comparative politics, Brandle will lecture at Doshisha University in Japan as part of a project using open pedagogical practices, including open educational resources (OER), to teach American Government and related political science courses beginning this fall.

“My initial use of OER began with the concern that the high cost of textbooks was keeping my students from being able to do the work for our class,” explained Brandle. “Since that initial exploration, I have adopted more open pedagogy into my classes.”

“Student choice is a key operating principle in my classes.  I offer 180 possible points of learning activities, from which students get to ‘choose their own adventures.’ For example, those drawn to write essays find opportunities for that, while tests are available for those who prefer them to longer written assignments.  As much as possible, I strive for all assignments to be authentic, so students can see themselves as knowledge creators and not just passive consumers.”

In addition to her own use of OER and open pedagogical practices, Brandle has helped instructors convert their courses to OER at Kingsborough and across the City University of New York (CUNY). She has also done extensive research on student perceptions of OER, OER in political science, and representations of historically marginalized groups in American Government textbooks, publishing the results in PS: Political Science and Politics and The Journal of Political Science Education. Additionally, she has participated in several initiatives of the American Political Science Association (APSA) to develop teaching practices and resources for the discipline.

“I am very excited about the prospect of teaching about American government outside of the United States. American politics occupies an outsized place in political science in the U.S. It is considered to be one of the primary subfields of political science, even though it probably should be considered as one case study under the subfield of comparative politics,” she notes. “It will be very interesting to teach and think about U.S. government from a global perspective with students from far outside the U.S.”

“The teaching Fulbright Fellowship in Japan is also the perfect opportunity for me to test the effectiveness of my open pedagogical practices,” she added. “While I have found open pedagogical practices to be very successful at Kingsborough, it will be fascinating to explore how these practices translate to a Japanese university classroom, where teaching is more lecture- and exam-based. What will students respond to? What will we collectively decide needs to be adapted?  What new things will the class come up with, that I can take with me to try out back on my home campus?”

Brandle is not the only one excited about the chance to live in Kyoto for the semester. She will use her off-time to travel and explore all that Japan has to offer along with her family, including her two young daughters, who already have a long list of things to see, do, and eat.

While she has no expectation of becoming fluent quickly, she is currently learning the language and hopes to master the basics by the time she arrives in Japan. “I have a 90-day Duolingo streak and I’m working through a Japanese language-learning OER,” she shared. “I try to take online classes at least once a year, as it reminds me how online learning can feel from the student’s perspective, so a Japanese language class will be doubly helpful.”

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