Using Video to Teach British Politics

Abstract

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching a comparative politics course is getting students to “feel” the politics of a nation they have not visited. Students may be able to repeat what they have learned from a comparative politics text; but such rote learning does not guarantee understanding. Students need to place material in context. Indeed, this quite visually-oriented generation needs to “see” material for reinforcement.For the teacher of British Politics (or of a Western European course emphasizing Britain), a unique and affordable resource is available. C-SPAN visited London in November and December of 1988. The interviews they completed with British politicos is available through Purdue University's video archives.I used a series of these tapes to supplement my lectures in a Summer 1989 course I taught on Contemporary British Politics. While I made no attempt to measure it, my feeling is that these tapes (together with the usual textbook assignments and numerous copies of articles from British newspapers) gave the students, a much better understanding of British politics than that normally evidenced in such courses taught in American colleges. For American students, it was almost like “being there”; they witnessed the House of Lords in action; they saw the Queen's Speech at the Opening of Parliament; and they had the functional equivalent of class visits with some notable British political figures.