Texas Government

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2306 Texas Government Syllabus
Dallas College – El Centro Campus

Contacting your instructor
Instructors typically respond to emails from students with 24 hours however over the weekend
and holiday periods responses maybe delayed. Find out more about contacting your instructor.

Instructor Contact Information
Name: Bennett Cunningham

Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Via Microsoft Teams, appointment only.
Division Office and Phone: 214-860-2000

Course Information
Course Title: Texas Government

Course Number: GOVT 2306
Section Number: 52201

Semester/Year: Spring 2021
Credit Hours: 3

Class Meeting Time/Location: Online
Certification Date: March 27, 2021
Last Day to Withdraw: April 28, 2021

Course Prerequisites
College level ready in Reading and Writing.

Course Description
Origin and development of the Texas Constitution, structure and powers of state and local
government, federalism and inter-governmental relations, political participation, the election
process, public policy, and the political culture of Texas.

Student Learning Outcomes
State mandated learning outcomes from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ACGM
Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual. Upon completion of this course, students will
be able to:

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• Explain the origin and development of the Texas Constitution.
• Demonstrate an understanding of state and local political systems and their relationship to

the federal government.
• Describe separation of powers and checks and balances in both theory and practice in

Texas.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Texas

government.
• Evaluate the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in Texas.
• Analyze the state and local election process.
• Describe the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
• Analyze issues, policies, and political culture of Texas

Texas Core Objectives
The College defines essential knowledge and skills that students need to develop during their
college experience. These general education competencies parallel the Texas Core Objectives for
Student Learning. In this course, the activities you engage in will give you the opportunity to
practice two or more of the following core competencies:

1. Critical Thinking Skills – to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis,
evaluation and synthesis of information

2. Communication Skills – to include effective development, interpretation, and expression
of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication

3. Empirical and Quantitative Skills – to include the manipulation and analysis of
numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions

4. Teamwork – to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work
effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal

5. Personal Responsibility – to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and
consequences to ethical decision-making

6. Social Responsibility – to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global
communities

Required Course Materials
Governing Texas, 4th edition: The class textbook is online in the “Learning Materials” tab on
Blackboard. You can find this tab on the left side of your screen. Click on it and look for
“Governing Texas, 4th edition.” The book is free of charge.

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IMPORTANT: Your learning materials for this course are being provided to you at no cost. This
course is part of the Dallas College program called IncludED. Your textbook and most supplies
will be provided to you free of charge. A student of this institution is not under any obligation to
purchase a textbook from a university-affiliated bookstore. The same textbook may also be
available from an independent retailer, including an online retailer.

Graded Work
The tables below provide a summary of the graded work in this course and an explanation of
how your final course grade will be calculated.

Summary of Graded Work

Assignments Points Notes

Assessments: 100 points each 400 points Assessments on Blackboard.

Research Paper 200 points Turn in on BlackBoard.

Discussion Board Participation:
100 Points for each Forum (A, B, C, D)

400 points Discussion Posts on Blackboard.
See below for details on Discussion
Board Posts.

TOTAL: 1000 points

Final Grade

Percentages/Numerical Letter Grade

900-1000+ A

800-899 B

700-799 C

600-699 D

0-599 F

Description of Graded Work

Assessments: All assessments will be conducted online using Blackboard. Each assessment will
consist of questions related to the topics for the corresponding weeks. To be successful on each
assessment, you must read the assigned chapters from the class textbook, review the discussion
board, watch all of my posted videos, and read all assigned material for that week. Assignments
will be posted and sent out via class announcements. You are responsible for checking the
announcements page on Blackboard for any assignments and study material. There will be 4 open
book assessments for this class. Assessments will be posted the Friday before the due date at 5am

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and must be completed by the immediate Sunday at 11pm. Each assessment is worth 100 points
and must be completed in a certain amount of time. Remember, all the assessments are timed and
will be posted for you to take online for several days. Please plan your time carefully. There is
no final exam in this course.

Important: You MUST take the “Syllabus Quiz” for DC certification purposes before Saturday
March 27th or you will not be certified for this class. This quiz is NOT graded and only counts for
certification purposes. It is available under the Assessment Tab on Blackboard.

Paper: Write a research paper on how federalism impacts the lives of current Texans and Texas
government in the 21st century. You must critically discuss and analyze the impact using 3
examples (One of which must be the February 2021 electrical grid problems in Texas). The
paper must be a minimum of 5 pages and maximum is 10 pages. Make sure you support your
conclusions in your paper. You must use and cite at least three sources (Wikipedia and our
course materials are not valid sources.) Citation guidelines are posted online, click here. You
may use any college-recognized type of citation format. Your paper must be typed / word
processed, double-spaced, size 12 font, Arial or Times New Roman script, 1-inch margins
(default setting), numbered pages, and be free of grammatical errors. In addition, your paper must
include a cover page, a citation page and a bibliography. The due date is Sunday April 25th at
11pm and the paper must be submitted on Blackboard. The paper is worth 200 points.
The cover page and bibliography page does not count toward the 5-page minimum requirement
for this research paper.

Discussion Board Posts:
Per the DC Guidelines because of the Coronavirus, we will not meet in-person but instead we will
be doing our work online. We will be working on a Discussion Board via Blackboard. There are
4 discussion forums (A,B,C,D) – each with multiple threads. Each forum will have a critical
thinking topic and I will post threads in this forum for you to comment and discuss. Each of your
responses and postings must be 5-10 sentences long. Your work for each Discussion Board is
worth up to 100 points, a total of 400 points for your fall session grade. You are must post at least
4 times for each forum (A, B, C and D). The more substantive posts you write, the more points
you will earn. You can complete your work anytime during before the “due date” so I can grade
your work for you. Please do NOT be disrespectful in the Discussion Board. The topics and
questions are meant to be provocative – so please be nice and choose your words carefully.

Microsoft Teams Meetings – We Can Check in!
Normal office hours will be every Tuesday at 9am for about 45-60 minutes beginning on
Monday March 23rd . A link is posted on the Announcements page in Blackboard to join
Microsoft Teams.

It’s a good idea to bookmark this link as it will not change for our class. These meetings are a
great opportunity to “put a name to a face”, discuss issues important to Texas government, and
set out a good plan for your week. This will be an instructional lecture – to help you better
understand the course and answer questions. Please reach out to me if you ever want to check in

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live with me and I will send you a Microsoft Teams link and we can chat live. You may need to
download Microsoft Teams before you can go online – so please download before the meeting –
it’s free. These Monday Microsoft Teams lectures will be recorded and posted on Blackboard
(Using YouTube.com – Which is Free to ALL Users) in case you missed them or needed them
for review.

Optional Quizzes: From time to time – I may offer optional quizzes to help you boost your
grade. These quizzes are not mandatory but a great way for you to earn extra points – and test
your knowledge. Your score on these optional quizzes will be added to your aggregate point total
in this course to calculate your final grade.

Attendance and Your Final Grade
Because of Covid-19 and remote learning, I am not requiring attendance this session as a basis
for your grade. You are adults and college level students who should discipline your own study
schedule. To that end, my advice is to attend all online Microsoft Teams meetings. I found that
the most successful students in my class regularly attend these meetings.

Late Work Policy
You have ample time to complete all the assigned work. I am certainly willing to work with you
through any extenuating circumstance on a case-by-case basis. Generally, here is the late policy
for my class:
Policy on Late Research Papers: A 10% penalty for each day it is late. Papers will not be
accepted after the second day.
Policy on Missed Discussion Boards: No Credit.
Policy on Missed Assessments: No Credit.

Other Course Policies
There are frequent updates posted in the course announcements area on Blackboard and
sent out via e-mail. This is the primary avenue of communication for this course. It will
include reading assignments and study material. Please check your email at least twice
per day for this course.

Technology Requirements:
• Internet access (free access available in campus computer labs)
• Active E-mail account (check at least three times per week)
• Basic use of a personal computer (word processing and internet browsing).

Software Requirements (free versions of these programs are available for download
on e-campus and inside the course):

• Microsoft Office or Open Office (word processor and presentation viewer)
• Windows Media Player
• YouTube

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• Microsoft Teams
• Adobe Acrobat Reader

Technical Support:
If you should have any technical difficulties, send an e-mail to [email protected] or
call 972-669-6402.

Course Etiquette
• E-mail – Please allow 24 hours for a reply via e-mail. There may be periods

where it may take longer to get a reply (such as weekends and holidays). Again,
please be patient and allow me time to get back to you. For any technical issues
with e-campus or your computer, please contact the school technical support
team.

• Communication Dialogue – Personal attacks, racial or ethnic slurs, outbursts or
other inappropriate forms of written communication will result in immediate
removal from the class and possibly from the college. Think about what you are
writing before you hit the send or submit button. Be kind.

• DC has an Honor Code in place. This is your education – cheating, plagiarism or
unethical conduct will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Institutional Policies
Institutional Policies include information about tutoring, Disabilities Services, class drop and
repeat options, Title IX, and more.

Course Schedule

Dates Assignments

Week 1 – Intro & History of Texas
Government
Monday March 22nd – Sunday March 29th

• Read Chapters 1,2 and 3

Note: Certification Day Deadline
Saturday March 27th no later than 11pm.

ALL STUDENTS MUST HAVE
SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE

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Dates Assignments

ONLINE “SYLLABUS QUIZ” BY THIS DATE
TO BE CERTIFIED IN THIS CLASS.

Week 2 – Local Government
Monday March 30– Sunday, April 4th

• Read Chapter 4, 5
• 4 Posts to Discussion Board (A) by Sunday

April 4th at 11pm.
• Assessment #1 – Due by Sunday April 4th

at 11pm.

Week 3 – State Legislature / Plural Exec.
Monday, April 5th – Sunday, April 11th

• Read Chapter 7 and 8

Week 4 – Judicial System
Monday, April 12th – Sunday, April 18th

• Read Chapter 9
• 4 Posts to Discussion Board (B) by Sunday

April 18th at 11pm.
• Assessment #2 – Due by Sunday April 18th

at 11pm.

Week 5 – Local Government and Public

Monday, April 19th – Sunday April 25th

• Read Chapter 10 and 11
• Research Paper Due by Sunday April 25th

Week 6 – Public Policy
Monday, April 26th – Sunday May 2nd

• Read Chapter 12
• 4 Posts to Discussion Board (C) by Sunday

May 2nd at 11pm.
• Assessment #3 – Due by Sunday May 2nd at

11pm.

Week 7 – Crime and the Future of Texas
Politics
Monday, May 3rd – Sunday May 9th

• Read Chapter 13 and 14

Week 8 – Study !
Assessment #4 Posted on Monday May
10th at 5am and Due NO LATER than
Wednesday May 12th at 11pm.

• 4 Posts to Discussion Board (D) by
Monday May 10th at 11pm.

• Assessment #4 – Due by Wednesday May
12th at 11pm.