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Political Science

Contact Info

347 Schaeffer Hall

319-335-2348

timothy-hagle@uiowa.edu

Twitter: @ProfHagle

Spring 2025 Office Hours

Tue & Th: 4:45-6:15

Mailing Address

Dept of Political Science

341 Schaeffer Hall

20 E. Washington Street

The University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Posted evaluations for Fall 2024 courses (POLI:3101 and POLI:3121)

Posted updated Prelaw FAQ for UI students

Posted evaluations for Spring 2024 courses (POLI:1120 and POLI:3120).

Posted syllabi for Fall 2024 courses (POLI:3101 and POLI:3121)

New Book, Riding the Caucus Rollercoaster 2024, published in paperback and for Kindle devices.

Posted updates to 12 papers in Iowa Voting Series for 2022 election data

New Book, Supreme Court Agenda Setting: The Warren Court, published for Kindle devices and computers with Kindle reader.

Published updated and expanded edition of Prelaw Advisor in paperback and for Kindle readers

My books

$9.99 Kindle ebook

POLI:3101/30:116 American Constitutional Law and Politics

New Questionnaire Responses

This page contains the responses to the new questionnaire that I used for courses taught from the Fall 2015 semester on. 

Prior to the Fall 2015 semester I had used my own questions for my teaching evaluations.  I did this because I didn't think the standard questions on either the old SPOT or ACE forms got at things I wanted to know regarding the students' thoughts on the course.  I also objected to the way the questions were structured.  By that I mean that all the questions were phrased in positive terms and were on a six-point strongly agree to strongly disagree scale.  Well-constructed surveys don't structure the questions in that way.  In part, this is so that the person responding to the survey doesn't just automatically pick agree or disagree for everything, but must read and think about each question. 

The process for administering teaching evaluations was moved online beginning with the Fall 2015 semester.  Unfortunately, this meant that all instructors were forced to use a set of standard questions.  Although instructors could add questions of their own, there were significant limitations in the form and format of such questions.  As a result, the new questionnaire for my courses included three standard questions asked of all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences courses, 11 questions required by the Political Science Department, and 10 of my own questions.  The response set for all these questions ranged from 6 = strongly agree, to 1 = strongly disagree. 

Some of the Department questions were similar to those I had used on my old questionnaire.  That allowed me to limit my added questions to only 10 while still covering most of the items contained on my previous questionnaire.

A Note on This Course: This course is the main one I use to prepare students for law school.  It is also my most difficult course.  That's largely because all the material in the course comes from reading Supreme Court opinions.  If students have not had a prior law-related course, and particularly one in which they read some court opinions, they will have a lot of catching up to do.  I recommend students have had one of my other courses (POLI:3120 or POLI:3121) before this one.  Students can do well in this course without having had those other courses first, but it will likely take a bit more work.  Of course, doing that work is the key.  I warn students about this at the start of the semester, but some don't "get the message" until late in the semester.

Reminder: The response set for all the questions below is 6 = strongly agree to 1 = strongly disagree.

N is the number of students who submitted the evaluation.  The number in the (6) to (1) columns indicates how many students selected that option.  The Mean is the mean score for that semester.  The Dept Mean is the mean score for all instructors for that question across all courses.

CLAS Core Questions

These three questions are asked of all courses offered in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Given the variety of subject matter and course structures they have to be pretty vague.  That makes me wonder a bit about their usefulness.

The instructor was effective in teaching the course materials.

I'm not sure how the student is to interpret "effective" here.  In my Instructor Questions I as whether the student learned a lot in the course, but even with that wording it's still a matter of how much effort the student puts intot the course.

Fall 2019: The reports I have access to changed and no longer include a tally of the individual responses, only the mean. There were only 25 in the class by the end of the semester, and one of those had been MIA since the first week or so.  As a group, this class had the poorest performance in the past few years.  The first test was particularly troublesome for many.  Lots of nagging on my part got some to work harder and improve, but I'm sure plenty were still disappointed.

Fall 2018: There were 36 in the course, so the response rate was about the same as last semester.  This semester I mentioned it once in class but didn't nag them about it.  Apparently, the response rate is generally low since the U went to the online version and there is talk about doing something different in terms of course evaluations.  We'll see.

Fall 2017: There were 31 in the course, so the response rate was down again this semester.  I reminded my class about this a couple of times and they get automatic email reminders, but it's still lower than when I gave the evaluations in class.

Fall 2016: There were 29 in the course, so the response rate was a little beter this semester.

Fall 2015: There were 30 in the course, so only 11 responses seems a little low, though this was also the first semester the evaluations were given online.

The work assigned by the instructor was worthwhile and helped me learn the course material.

The "work assigned" for this course is having read the cases in advance of class so they can participate in a discussion of the cases.  Students can't just show up to take notes.  (Well, they can, they just aren't supposed to.) If students aren't prepared for class and aren't participating in the daily discussions then they will likely have more trouble on the paper and tests.

Fall 2015: For the last few semesters there's been a trend of the students not having read the materials before class.  Even the students who are the assigned speakers for the day, and who are supposed to carry the discussion, haven't been very well prepared.  That can make the worth of the class seem less valuable.

The instructor supported student learning in this class.

Again, I know these questions have to be vague, but "supported" doesn't seem very clear to me.

Fall 2019: Course mean below Dept. mean as in 2018.  This is particularly odd given all the nagging I had to do to keep many of them from doing poorly given the results of the first test.

Fall 2018: That the mean for the course is a little below the Dept. mean strikes me as a little odd given that the course mean was above the Dept's in the prior two questions.  

Political Science Department Questions

Class time is used efficiently.

Course requirements are clear.

Concepts are presented in a manner that helps me learn.

As noted above, the approach in this course is a version of what's known as the Socratic Method that's often used in law schools.  The purpose of using that method is to get students ready for law school.  It is, however, unlike what students have probably experienced in other classes.  At a basic level they have to have read the material and briefed the cases (i.e., taken notes on them) in advance of class.  That process can be a difficult adjustment for some students, especially if they aren't putting in the work necessary.  Students often like very clear answers to things and the discussion-based approach is more about thinking about the issues raised in the cases.

Adequate time for questions was provided.

The discussion-based approach in this course means the class time is almost all questions and answers.  Although the questions are often mine, students usually have plenty of time to ask additional questions about the cases.

Fall 2018: Again, an oddly low mean. This class seemed pretty willing to ask questions and I don't recall having to cut off discussion to get through the day's material.

Fall 2015: The score here seems a little low.  It was almost like pulling teeth to get the students to respond to my questions in class.  That meant that there was plenty of time for them to ask questions if they wished.

This instructor communicates at a level appropriate to my understanding.

Fall 2015: The low scores here are a bit puzzling.  Then again, I suspect several students in the course were not prepared for the difficulty level of the class (though I warned them about this at the start of the semester) and some just weren't doing the work necessary.  Reading cases is difficult until you get the hang of it. 

Help is available outside class if I have questions.

These days it seems I'm never far from a computer or my smart phone, so I'm able to respond to student's questions via email pretty much any time.  I haven't had a TA for this course for some time, however, so that might affect students' responses to this question.

This instructor's oral communication skills are adequate for the course.

Students in my lecture courses sometimes complain a bit that I speak too fast.  This shouldn't be a problem in this course as it's mostly me asking the questions about the readings and waiting for responses from the students.

Assignments and exams allow me to adequately demonstrate what I have learned.

The wording of this question strikes me as a little odd.  It's not a matter of the student demonstrating what he or she has learned, but whether the assignments and exams demonstrate whether the students have learned what the instructor wants them to learn.  It's an important difference.

Fall 2019: Although not the lowest mean, this semester's class had the lowest first test scores in several semesters and I chewed them out about it, so they might not have been overly happy about the exam part.

This instructor encourages mutual respect among students of diverse backgrounds.

Fall 2018: I'm not sure why there was a drop in the mean for this semester.  I don't recall anything that might have been a specific problem to upset anyone.  

The content of this course is valuable.

I would recommend a course taught by this instructor to other students.

Fall 2019: I'm not surprised with the drop in the mean for this semester given the difficulty so many had on the first test.  Even on the paper assignment many just didn't seem to be putting in the effort and were unhappy with the difficulty of the course.

Instructor Questions

The next 10 questions are ones only I ask so there isn't a Department Mean for them.

One of the things I tried to do with my Old Questionnaire questions was to get the student to also think about how much effort he or she put into the course.  The questions below are adapted from my old set but it wasn't always a perfect fit given response set I had to use.

I attended every class period.

This question relates to my old question 1.  The hope here was that the student disagreed more the more classes he or she missed.  Coming to class is obviously a good thing.  Whe the evaluatiosn were given during one class period the scores probably overestimated attendance because those in class for the evaluation were likely the ones who attended more often.  It's hard to say how the online version, where students have a two week period in which to fill out the evaluation, will affect responses to this question. 

F 2019: I've mentioned for some other questions that as a group this class did worse on the first test than any for the prior few semesters.  Many of them also stopped coming to class regularly in the second half of the semester.  I don't know, of course, whether those who filled out the evaluations were mostly those who were still attending or those who weren't, but I regularly commented the last few weeks how few were in class on any given day.  

I was always well prepared for class (did the readings, etc.).

This question relates to my old question 2.  For this course the students were to have read the day's cases in advance so they could discuss them in class.  We usually have assigned speakers for the day who are to carry the discussion, but other students can and should participate, especially when there aren't assigned speakers for a particular day. 

F 2019: Given the performance of the class as a whole, I would think this score should be lower as it was more difficult than usual to get the students to answer questions about the material.

I was very interested in learning the course material.

This question relates to my old question 10.  About 95% of the students who take this class (and POLI:3120 and POLI:3121) in the regular session are either planning on or thinking about attending law school.  As such they certainly ought to be interested in the material. 

I learned a lot in this course.

This question relates to my old question 11.  It's always interesting when students disagree with this question.  Because of the restricted response set it's not clear why the student doesn't think he or she learned much.  Already knew it all?  Didn't try very hard?  Didn't like my approach? 

I was challenged by this course.

This question relates to my old question 13.  This class uses a form of the Socratic method that the students will see if they continue on to law school.  (One former student termed it "Socratic light.")  It also involves reading Supreme Court opinions, which can be challenging if the student hasn't read them before.

The amount of material covered in the course was appropriate.

This question relates to my old question 15.  The old version of this question had a scale on which students could respond from too much to too little.  The forced response set here doesn't let me know why a student thinks the amount of material covered wasn't appropriate. 

Fall 2019: I can't say I'm surprised that the mean here is lower than the prior semesters.

The instructor was well prepared for class.

This question relates to my old question 7.  I never come to class without being fully prepared for the daily topic.  Just the same, I sometimes get one or two students who think I was unprepared.  It would be nice to know what they thought was missing.

The instructor answered questions in class very well.

This question relates to my old question 8.  I probably shouldn't have used "very well" here and used the more bland "appropriate."  Still, it seems my score was pretty good.

The instructor presented the material fairly, not giving too much emphasis to one point of view or another.

This question relates to my old question 15.  Now that I have tenure I sometimes tell students my political inclinations in the first or second class period.  I also tell them that for purposes of the course, it doesn't matter whether they either agree with me or with the opinions of the authors that we read.  What does matter is that they understand the arguments.  Occasionally a student or two will make some mention of this in the written comments, but they rarely provide specific examples.

The study questions helped me understand course concepts and material.

This question relates to my old question 15.  A several years ago I began including an extensive (600+) set of study questions in the course pack.  My inspiration for such a large set was my high school government teacher (Mr. Griggs) who always gave us such lists prior to tests.  The basic idea of such a large list was that if one could work through all the questions he or she should do well on the test.  Another purpose of the questions is to give the students more examples of the kinds of questions I want them to be thinking about as they go through the material.  I also recommend that students get together in groups to discuss the questions (which contain many hypotheticals).  For this course the study questions also provide an outline for the course given that the lectures aren't organized based on a textbook.  Even so, some students complain that there are too many to do them.  There aren't, as evidenced by the number of students who do them, but you certainly can't wait until the weekend before the test to start on them.  Although I repeatedly warn students about this, . . .