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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TEACHING ROUNDTABLE
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Teaching & Learning ResourcesThis is an attempt to present a helpful list of public administration teaching and learning resources on the Internet. The list includes several categories. These are as follow: |
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RESEARCH METHOD RESOURCES
Center for Social Research Methods http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/ This website is for people involved in applied social research and evaluation. You'll find lots of resources and links to other locations on the Web that deal in applied social research methods. Some highlights of what is available: the Knowledge Base -- an online hypertext textbook on applied social research methods that covers everything you want to know about defining a research question, sampling, measurement, research design and data analysis. Selecting Statistics -- an online statistical advisor! Answer the questions and it will lead you to an appropriate statistical test for your data. The Simulation Book -- A previously unpublished book of manual (i.e., dice-rolling) and computer simulation exercises of common research designs, for students and researchers to learn how to do simple simulations
Communication Research.Org http://www.communicationresearch.org/methodology. htm This site provides a comprehensive list about quantitative research methods on the Internet.
Discuss Sampling Methods http://www.mis.coventry.ac.uk/%7Enhunt/meths/index.html When organisations require data they either use data collected by somebody else (secondary data), or collect it themselves (primary data). This is usually done by SAMPLING, that is collecting data from a representative SAMPLE of the population they are interested in
Electronic Resources for Research Methods: http://informationr.net/rm/ Site designed, developed and maintained by T.D. Wilson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Sheffield, UK. Last updated 18th February, 2005
Guide to Good Statistical Practice, http://www.rdg.ac.uk/ssc/publications/guides. html: The Statistical Services Centre produces a series of guides on good statistical practice, intended primarily to give help to research and support staff in development projects.
Methods in Behavioral Research: http://methods.fullerton.edu/ This Web site is organized by the chapters in the book. Each chapter lists Web resources that you can access to enhance learning about and teaching research methods
Introduction Research Design and Statistics: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed230a2/notes.html Professor Philip B. Ender’s Class notes. Department of Education, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles
Qualitative Research Resources, collected by Don Ratcliff http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/dratcliff/qualresources/
Questionnaire Design and Survey Sampling: http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/stat-data/Surveys.htm The contents of this site are aimed at students who need to perform basic statistical analyses on data from sample surveys, especially those in marketing science. Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of statistics, such as descriptive statistics and the concept of hypothesis testing
Research Methods Knowledge Base by William M. Trochim, Cornell University: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/ The Research Methods Knowledge Base is a comprehensive web-based textbook that addresses all of the topics in a typical introductory undergraduate or graduate course in social research methods. It covers the entire research process including: formulating research questions; sampling (probability and nonprobability); measurement (surveys, scaling, qualitative, unobtrusive); research design (experimental and quasi-experimental); data analysis; and, writing the research paper. It also addresses the major theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of research including: the idea of validity in research; reliability of measures; and ethics. The Knowledge Base was designed to be different from the many typical commercially-available research methods texts. It uses an informal, conversational style to engage both the newcomer and the more experienced student of research. It is a fully hyperlinked text that can be integrated easily into an existing course structure or used as a sourcebook for the experienced researcher who simply wants to browse.
Research Methods Resources on the WWW, developed by Mary Sue Stephenson, the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia. http://www.slais.ubc.ca/resources/research_methods/ : This includes comprehensive categories for the links related to the foundation of research methodology and specific methods-both qualitative and quantitative.
Research Methods WWW Tutorial http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/jfm/main.htm This tutorial is designed to provide a bit of extra material on a variety of topics that couldn't be covered in greater detail during class
The Research Process, http://www.ryerson.ca/~mjoppe/ResearchProcess/ The following pages were created to allow hospitality and tourism managers to familiarize themselves with some of the basic quantitative and qualitative research techniques, concepts and terminology. The objective is to provide this information in an easily accessible format and non-technical language, and link it to references for more in-depth information and other research sites. To the extent possible, industry examples have been used to illustrate points. This project is ongoing insofar as the site will be expanded over time to cover more research methods and statistics. The undertaking was made possible with the generous support of the Ontario Hostelry Institute, AMEX Canada and Ryerson Polytechnic University. The research process involves six distinct phases, although they are not always completely linear, since research is iterative (earlier phases influence later ones, while later ones can influence the early phases). Perhaps one of the most important characteristics of a good researcher is the unwillingness to take shortcuts, to rush through the research. It is important to keep an open mind to recognize changes that must be accommodated to ensure the reliability and validity of the research.
Resources for Methods in Evaluation and Social Research, http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/ This page lists FREE resources for methods in evaluation and social research. The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web
Scott’s Research Library http://kerlins.net/scott/edresearchmethods.html: Educational research methods resources. This site is composed of three sub-categories: statistical resources, surveys resources, and general methods and qualitative resources.
Social Research Updates: http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/ Social Research Update is published quarterly by the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey
Student and Teacher Research Help and Guide http://kancrn.kckps.k12.ks.us/guide/ question.html: This guide is designed to assist students and teachers in understanding the research process, how to design a research study and how to prepare a research report. This guide was prepared by the staff at KanCRN and by members of the 1998-1999 Internet in Instruction class in Kansas City Kansas.
Survey Research http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/survey.htm This site provides information about survey overview. It also contains links to focus group research, sampling, time series analysis, etc.
Survey Research Library, Colleges of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University Illinois at Chicago http://www.srl.uic.edu/
The Survey System http://www.surveysystem.com/index.html The Survey System is the most complete software package available for working with telephone, online and printed questionnaires. It handles all phases of survey projects, from creating questionnaires through data entry, interviewing or email or Web page Internet surveys to producing tables, graphics and text reports that make you look good. Unlike spreadsheets, databases or general purpose statistics packages, The Survey System was designed specifically for questionnaires; so our software saves you time
Topics in Statistical Data Analysis: Inferring from Data http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/stat-data/Topics.htm This site offers information on statistical data analysis. It describes time series analysis, popular distributions, and other topics. It examines the use of computers in statistical data analysis. It also lists related books and links to related Web sites
STATISTICAL RESOURCES
Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan) Online directory of government statistics. http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html
http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index.html UNICEF plays a leading role in strengthening methodologies for the measurement and assessment of key indicators related to monitoring progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, the goals of A World Fit for Children and other global commitments. UNICEF has stimulated the dialogue between users and producers of data and thereby heightened debate on the issues, contributing to intensified action on key problems affecting children and women. On these key indicators, UNICEF produces statistics globally and by country and provides a tool for generating customized statistical tables. The statistical tool includes economic and social data from 195 countries and territories, with particular reference to children’s well-being. These statistics are derived from UNICEF’s flagship publication, The State of the World’s Children 2005
ONLINE TEACHING FORUMS OR TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES PORTALS
Teaching Politics Techniques & Technologies devoted to increasing the quality of teaching and learning about politics in higher education settings is published by William J. Ball, Dept. of Political Science, The College of New Jersey. All of the material on Teaching Politics is copyrighted by its author (or other entity, as indicated) but is free to the public.
http://www.apsanet.org/teach/index.cfm A key component of APSA's mission is to support political science education and professional development of its practitioners. Teaching is a vital component of our discipline. In numerous ways, the Association seeks to generate a greater understanding of cutting-edge pedagological approaches, techniques, and methodologies than can be effectively applied in the political science classroom.
APSA Teaching Programs and Services: Office of Education and Professional Development Conference on Teaching and Learning Committees and groups dedicated to teaching Website teaching resources Effort to recruit political scientists from teaching-intensive institutions for leadership roles in APSA governance
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching http://www.celt.iastate.edu/about/homepage.html
A center for the enhancement of learning and teaching was first established by the Iowa State University Faculty Senate in 1993. Then known as the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), the center had a small staff and focused on development for full-time faculty. Following an external review in 2000 and a needs assessment survey the following year, the Center increased in size and expanded its audience to include non-tenure track faculty and teaching assistants as well as tenure-line faculty. In July 2004, we reorganized as the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CELT). This name change reflects not only our emphasis on student learning but also the added components of the Center's work: Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), increased emphasis on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, instructional design, and effective practice in using Learning Technologies. CELT also works collaboratively with other campus initiatives related to enhanced learning, such as Learning Communities, Student Outcomes Assessment, Academic Success Center, ISUComm, the Faculty Senate Curriculum committee, and classroom design.
http://www.teachingprofessor.com/ For 19 years, The Teaching Professor newsletter has been the leading source of information and inspiration for educators committed to creating a better learning environment
TEACHING TECHNIQUES
Collaborative Teaching and Learning Technique Bernstein, Jeffrey L. Joseph Ohren, and Laura Shue 2003 A Collaborative-Teaching Approach to Linking Classes and Community V. 9(2) The Potential benefits of academic service-learning are manifold, but service-learning is not used to its potential. In this paper, the authors discuss an innovative approach to the use of academic service-learning, that of collaborative-teaching. They address some possible reasons why faculty members do not use service-learning projects more, and we demonstrate how a collaborative-teaching method helps to expand the reach of this kind of project. The collaborative-teaching approach to academic service-learning helps to make this kind of project possible in a wide range of circumstances and benefits both students and the community partners involved with the project For more information about collaborative learning http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/cl1/CL/default.asp Collaborative Learning (CL) encourages active student participation in the learning process. It encompasses a set of approaches to education, sometimes also called cooperative learning or small group learning. CL creates an environment "that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing",1 and reaches students who otherwise might not be engaged. Finally, CL is one teaching strategy among many, each of which can play a role to make learning an active and effective process Distance Learning and Converged InstructionGoodsell, T.C., and Armstrong p. J. 2001. "Teaching State Public Policy: Distance Learning and Converged Instruction" Journal of Public Affairs Education V.7(1) Distance learning technologies may be regards as the means to accrue instructional economies, but more importantly they create opportunities for enriching the higher education learning experience in imaginative, mixed-media ways. This article describes an experimental course on State Public Policy taught at Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration in which spatial, temporal, pedagogical, and study-practice distances were transcended by a coordinated strategy of converged instruction. The course design sought to establish a multiple yet focused set of connections between students disbursed throughout the state on the one hand and the policy making process in the state capital on the other, thereby immersing the class in the realities of intense legislative-session politics and policy. Fore more web addresses of distance learning programs, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/aspa/unpan000084.pdf
Fishing, Storytelling, and Appreciative Inquirey, University of Tennessee Cunningham, Bob, Lori Riverstone, and Steve Roberts. 2005 Scholars, Teachers, Practitioners, and Students: Learning by Fishing, Storytelling, and Appreciative Inquiry V.11(1) 45-52 http://www.naspaa.org/initiatives/jpae/pdf/Scholars.PDF Learning with the public affairs community can be improved by focusing on the medium and frame, as well as on the message. Stories, plays, videos, and other art forms offer media through which complex information can be shared among scholars, teachers, practitioners, and students. Appreciative inquiry provides a frame that builds on organizational and individual strengths rather than looking for and seeking to correct problems. In addition to generating useful information for research purposes, appreciative inquiry assumptions contribute to a learning culture by empowering the practitioner or student. Sharing information in a participative environment facilitates the adoption of new frames to conceptualize reality for all who are involved.
Freedonia ProjectMartha J. Dede, 2002 Building a Public Personnel System for the city of Freedonia: A New Approach to Teaching Human Resources Management in an MPA program" Journal of Public Affairs Education V.8(4) This article introduces the Freedonia Project to the reader. The project was introduced in a required MPA human resources management course in Spring 1999 as a innovative mechanism to facilitate learning about how American public personnel systems work. The project, a semester-long simulation that calls for students to build a public personnel system from the ground up, introduces nonspecialists to the functional aspects of public human resources management and makes explicit the high degree of interdependence between and among them. These functional areas are 1) position classification and compensation 2) recruitment/examination/ selection 3) employee training and development 4) performance appraisal/promotion/discipline 5) labor relations and collective bargaining 6) equal employment opportunity/diversity
Kohlberg's Pedagocial ApproachJurkiewicz, Carole L. 2002 The Influence of Pedagogical Style on Students' level of Ethical Reasoning Journal of Public Affairs Education V8 (4) This approach to elevating levels of moral reasoning, based on the influence of group processes and leader behaviors, was used with MPA and MHA students enrolled in ethics courses over the past decade. Pre-and Post-tests of students using the defining issues test revealed consistent significant.
Praxis ApproachMartha J. Dede, 2002 the Praxis Journal: Integrating Theory and Practice" Journal of Public Affairs Education V8 (4) To reduce a student resistance to the study and perceived utility of theory, the author developed a course in organization theory and behavior, grounding it in a praxis approach to both teaching and learning. This approach takes the form of a semester-long praxis journal assignment that asks students to apply theories to events, situations, or conditions, in their own organizations and to analyze those in the effort to better explain and or to better understand the vagaries of organizational life.
Problem-Based Learning (Univ. of Delaware) "How can I get my students to think?" is a question asked by many faculty, regardless of their disciplines. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that challenges students to "learn to learn," working cooperatively in groups to seek solutions to real world problems. These problems are used to engage students' curiosity and initiate learning the subject matter. PBL prepares students to think critically and analytically, and to find and use appropriate learning resources. -- Barbara Duch
Project-Based LearningMiller-Millesen, Judith
L. and David H. Mould. 2004 Project-Based Learning in Nonprofit
Management Education: Results from an educational Partnership Between the
United States and Kyrgyzstan V.10(3) 247-258 This article details the experience of undergraduate and master’s level students(both in the United States and abroad) participating in a cross-cultural, educational, project-based program that was designed to provide nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, with information on how NGOs could better meet their goals and address specific social needs. The problem-based learning approach used in the program is consistent with key goals of nonprofit management education and is also responsive to student demand for practical, relevant education.
Service Learning Project Bushouse, B. and Morrison S. 2001 “Applying Service Learning in Master of Public Affairs Program” Journal of Public Affairs Education V.7(1) This paper uses a case study of service learning in a nonprofit management course to explore how service learning can be adapted for MPA programs. The main argument of the paper is that client-based projects must be combined with reflective exercises to best link theory and practice. The nonprofit management course examined in this paper required students to work on a semester-long management –related project for a nonprofit organization. Students were encouraged to reflect in class and in journal assignments in a way that would link project experience with class readings and professional experience and ambitions. The paper presents lesions learned in adapting service learning to client-based projects in an MPA course. For more information about service learning program, http://www.compact.org/faculty/programs.html
Team-Based Learning (University of Oklahoma) http://atlas.services.ou.edu/idp/teamlearning/index.htm Two features distinguish Team-Based Learning from other forms of teaching with small groups and make it an especially powerful form of teaching and learning Whitaker, Gordon P. and Maureen Berner. 2004 Learning Through Action: How MPA Public Service Team Projects: Help Students Learn Research and Management Skills Journal of Public Affairs and Education V.10(4) 279-294 Experiential learning has become increasingly common in graduate public affairs programs. This article presents a student-led classroom/field model that integrates public service team projects into two first-year core MPA courses and has been effective in challenging full-time adult students to learn and use research and management skills. The authors describe the public service team projects and the role that they play in student learning, and they present students’ accounts of how the projects contributed to their learning and clients’ accounts of the value of these projects to public service organizations.
Graduate Department of Public Administration
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