At the end of the term, participating faculty are asked to report on their experiences using the New York Times as a tool in their classes. This is a collection of comments from these participants about using the paper in teaching.

These ideas can be applied to any popular media as a means of expanding student understanding.

To view the comments, click on the Search link to the left and search by discipline using the course identifier (e.g., PSY or ENG for English). Those not familiar with WKU's system can find our abbreviations at http://www.wku.edu/coursecatalog/index.php?subcategoryid=108

Background

As part of the American Democracy Project, Western Kentucky University provided newspapers, free of charge, to about fifty faculty in the fall semester of 2004. Each semester since from 30 to 50 faculty have used the New York Times in their classroom.

Co-sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the New York Times, the American Democracy Project is a multi-campus initiative for introducing civic engagement into the undergraduate curriculum.

At Western in the first term, on average, almost 900 newspapers were distributed daily to students in eighty-two classes, totaling almost 95,000 newspapers distributed over the course of the first year. This program was the largest, most accountable and among the first NY Times college programs in our region.