Classes

Online Learning and Education

The Texas Politics Project produces online general education courses for students at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as an online course for credit for other learners via Extended Campus/University Extension. These courses are part of a decade-long effort to produce a variety of public resources available to instructors, students, and lifelong learners, including interactive data visualizations and graphics based on the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll as well as other public resources and original video of interviews and public events with elected officials and other practitioners with firsthand experience in Texas government, politics, and public affairs.

GOV306C: Politics and Government in Contemporary Texas.  The course is designed by Dr. James Henson, Director of the Texas Politics Project, and features video of current and past practitioners from the world of Texas politics and government. The course provides an insiders' view of how politics shapes the institutions of Texas government. 

This course is currently offered as a self-paced course with regular deadlines, and provides an in-depth orientation to the actors, processes, and institutions that make up the political system in Texas with a strong emphasis on the development of applied knowledge. Online learning material produced by Dr. Henson focuses on how politics in Texas shapes the operation of Texas political institutions, with particular attention to the interplay between public opinion, political conflict, and the policy environment in the state. A wide range of political figures from Texas politics' past and present provide lessons and examples in how politics actually works in Texas – including elected officials such as Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus, former governor Ann Richards, former Speaker and Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, and many other state legislators, as well as political journalists, advocates, and other political professionals.

GOV 306C:  Politics and Government in Contemporary Texas is also currently available in a self-paced format for students and life long learners who are not registered at UT-Austin. 

This version of the GOV 306C course brings the quality and production of the UT Austin course to anyone interested in enrolling in a Texas Extended Campus course, from potential transfer students to returning students to lifelong learners. The course counts as GOV 2302 in the Texas core curriculum established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Register for the course via Texas Extended Campus.  For more information about when this course is usually appropriate, see the discussion of common transfer issues at the UT-Austin website and/or talk to one of UT Austin's excellent academic advisors.

GOV 106C: Texas Government is a 1-credit hour, self-paced introduction to Constitutional government in Texas offered through Texas Extended Campus.

This 1-credit hour course is designed for students who lack the Texas component of the core requirement in Texas and U.S. government. If you're interested in enrolling in GOV 106C: Texas Government, register for the course via University Extension.  For more information about when this course is usually appropriate, see the discussion of common transfer issues at the UT-Austin website and/or talk to an academic advisor.