The Extra Credit Project: Turning a Bane Into a Blessing

Abstract

of arena as a principal investigative focus. This approach highlights the role that interested stakeholders may play in policy making. Although Plenary Review does not guarantee improved learning or seminar outcomes (nor can any legislature or agency), the most obvious benefits of this approach to teaching policy analysis have occurred in student learning and development. It has often been remarkable how rapidly students have developed a grasp of the subtleties of policy design and implementation. The analytical focus of evaluating policy across a wide range of criteria, including the political, social, economic, institutional, and moral dimensions serves to open up the partisan positions with which participants typically begin their seminars. The interaction between the ordinary knowledge, values, and beliefs of students and the more specialized technical information provided by experts and agency documents has led to more informed and pragmatic policy evaluation. Students do not typically acquire this depth or range of information and insight from classroom lectures alone. Student development has been as important as student learning. While participants learn a great deal about substantive policies, they also learn to develop and define issues, visualize problems, break issues into component parts, and employ relevant concepts in analysis. Moreover, they learn skills of leadership, interaction, and debate. The student role is proactive rather than passive; many class members have reported that Plenary Review proved to be one of the most engaging intellectual experiences of their academic careers. While there have been some frustrations in the process, students generally are weaned from dependent roles as readers/gatherers to more mature roles as evaluators/advocates.