I teach students statistical reasoning so they can evaluate claims that people make about politics and the world. I also co-direct a foreign studies program (FSP) designed to increase intercultural experiences and promote positive intergroup contact.
Dartmouth
Statistical reasoning
I primarily teach two classes at Dartmouth: Quantitative Political Analysis and Experiments in Politics. In Quantitative Political Analysis, I teach students the basics of computational social science, with their work culminating in a quantitative-focused research paper. In Experiments in Politics, I teach students how to design, implement, analyze, and write up the results from an experiment. I work with students to do this throughout the term, intending to publish the paper after the quarter ends. I’ve published two papers with students using this approach so far.
My top-line evaluations (mean) for these classes are provided below. At Dartmouth, scores closer to 1 indicate better evaluations; I’ve reverse-coded my scores for interpretability.
Dartmouth teaching evaluations
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Intercultural experiences
In line with some of my work on discrimination, I generally believe that intergroup contact can reduce negative biases. For this and other reasons, I’m a strong advocate for students pursuing intercultural experiences.
To encourage this, I co-founded and currently co-direct Dartmouth’s Baltic LEAP (language, energy, and politics) foreign studies program (FSP), where I teach Baltic Politics, a survey course of important themes in comparative politics with a focus on the region. The course incorporates local voices, featuring guest lectures from nearby academics, diplomatic staff (including ambassadors), journalists, and policy professionals.
While there are no course evaluations for Baltic Politics, since Dartmouth does not administer them for courses that are part of FSPs, students have provided extensive positive feedback about the overall program. They have called it “truly life changing!,” “by far the most unique experience you will have,” and “honestly … one of the best experiences of my life.”
In a survey conducted 3 months after the inaugural FSP, students indicated their participation in the program (1) influenced their understanding of their own cultural identity and biases, (2) made them take a more global view of things, and (3) helped them better connect with different types of people.
Other colleges and universities
I've been fortunate to teach various courses and workshops about experiments and measurement to a range of students across universities and levels. For example, at the graduate student level, I’ve taught multiple workshops on experiments at Waseda University. I’ve also co-taught two classes on Computational Text Analysis for Legal Practice at the University of Virginia School of Law with Kevin Cope.
In addition, I've taught many short, informal methods workshops at universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. According to the surveys I’ve administered at the end of these workshops, attendees have found them very helpful, with 80% indicating that they were more helpful than other similar workshops.👇
Workshop evaluationsStudent song recommendations
In every syllabus, I ask students to share their favorite songs. Here are their picks.