Public Administration Curriculum Research Articles

Competency-based Curriculum Mapping as a Tool for Continuous Improvement for Master of Public Administration (MPA) Programs

ABSTRACTCurriculum mapping (CM) is an assessment tool used to articulate and revise an academic curriculum. Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) accredited graduate programs in public policy, public affairs, and public administration are required to demonstrate a competency-based curriculum development and assessment methods. This article provides the rationale and approach used to generate a competency-based Master of Public Administration (MPA) curriculum and describes a systematic approach to incorporating program learning objectives, stakeholder engagement, competency development or revisions by faculty, into competency-based CM. The competency-based curriculum is relatively new for MPA programs. While there are many potential benefits and challenges, this article focuses on the utility of flexible mission-oriented curriculum design and its ability to link competencies to assessment strategies for MPA programs.

No MPA Left Behind: A Review of Information Technology in the Master of Public Administration Curriculum

This report describes the current state of information technology (IT) in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) curriculum. Data were collected through a review of graduate program information contained on MPA program websites. Findings are that the majority of programs do not offer IT concentrations, core courses, or electives. While IT courses have been adopted in a limited capacity, there are opportunities to improve their adoption in order to satisfy public workforce demands. Such integration could be done using existing courses, promoting faculty skill development, or utilizing expertise found in other academic disciplines.

An Ostrich Burying Its Head in the Sand? The 2009 NASPAA Standards and Scope of Information Technology and E-Government Curricula

This article examines the scope of information technology and e-government (IT/e-government) in public administration curricula following the 2009 Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards. We ask, are we preparing public administration students for the realities of governance in the digital world? We surveyed NASPAA principal representatives and analyzed the NASPAA database of Master of Public Administration (MPA) program selfstudies. The analysis shows that MPA curricula do not give IT/e-government adequate importance, especially in schools accredited under the 2009 standards. The stark findings hold important lessons for public administration education. If curricula continue to systematically underrepresent IT/egovernment, we will train a workforce unprepared for the digital world. The NASPAA competencies should acknowledge IT/e-government as a dominant theme in present-day governance. If not, those of us in public administration education will be like an ostrich burying its head in the sand as technological advancements pass us by.

Special issue on the teaching–research nexus in public administration curricula

Research and teaching are the main substantive activities of university staff members. How are both areas connected to each other? What is the role of research in teaching? How can research be used to improve the quality and impact of teaching? This is exactly what this special issue of Teaching Public Administration is about. Everybody will agree that one of the core tasks of teaching staff at the public administration departments of universities consists of conducting and publishing research, as well as teaching students about the discipline. However, research and teaching do not always seem to match. Life inside the classroom seems to be becoming increasingly detached from the research that is being undertaken by the teachers themselves. However, students could greatly benefit from a stronger connection between research and teaching. First of all, a connection between or the integration of research and teaching may help students to become research-minded and to perform actual research more adequately. Methods courses and dedicated research assignments are, of course, essential, but more inclusive integration of research into teaching may help students to gain a better feeling for which methods could or should be used when, and for how data may be interpreted. Secondly, a research orientation in teaching may help students to become more critical and reflexive. On an academic level, ‘knowledge’ should not be taken for granted, but its base, presuppositions and meaning, should be subject to debate. Students should socialize in a culture in which such debate, and their creative participation in it, is self-evident. The purpose of this special issue is to bring together contributions that deal with issues on incorporating research into teaching programs. [...]

Research and teaching PA

Research and teaching are core business of academic institutions. The research context is thought to be fruitful for teaching and learning, and students may contribute to research. But how exactly does the interplay between research and teaching take place and how, in what respects and under which conditions, does this contribute to the quality of research and teaching? The article makes an inventory of functions of research in teaching in public administration curricula. It elaborates on conditions and mechanisms for effective realization of these functions, based on the contributions to this special issue, literature and our own insights and experiences. We evaluate and reflect on different functions and modes of linking research and teaching and to explore relevant conditions for their use.

Sustainability in the Business and Public Administration Curriculum

Sustainability in the Business and Public Administration Curriculum

Public Administration Education and Training in Nigeria: Problems, Challenges, and Prospects

This article describes the evolution of public administration education and training in Nigeria through an exploratory method of inquiry. It traces the practice of public administration through the British superstructure and the indirect system of local administration created in the 1900s, which ended in 1960 when the country gained independence from Britain. As a multiethnic nation, Nigeria has experienced various forms of government and administrative reforms that not only affected the evolution of public service, but continued to pose serious challenges for universities and other institutions charged with public administration education and training. On the basis of lessons learned from public service reforms and pedagogical approaches and methods, the analysis concludes by offering recommendations for improving the public administration curriculum in Nigeria.

The Role of SALGA in Training Municipal Councillors for Development: Using the “Knowledgeable” Experts

The change in municipal administration of South Africa acknowledged the challenge of skills development in the administration of local governments. This led to the establishment of many legislative frameworks of providing good governance to South African local governments. It is a hard fact and reality that the implementation of such legislative frameworks plus their complexities in practice requires a professional administrative system and political system that is conscious and aware of the understanding of the complex local government environment systems. While the local government is considered a significant sphere to carry out the government’s mandate of service delivery, it is significant that the sphere should have more skilled and expert administrators and politicians in order to deliver services to local communities effectively and efficiently. Training was seen to be provided through the initiatives of SALGA (South African Local Government Association) which carries a mandate to see the skills and capacity development of municipalities in the country. The effectiveness of financial resources spent on the training of municipal councillors was often queried, depending on the level of the stakeholders involved as beneficiaries of training programmes and the impact of the training provided by the “experts” contracted as service providers. This article will therefore argue that the one size fits all approach used to empower municipal councillors through training and the use of the business minded “knowledgeable experts” produced by the main stream Public Administration curriculum by South African universities which often neglect critical local government content may not be beneficial to municipalities and their councillors, and as such may lead to government financial resources not being effectively utilised. This article therefore questions and challenges the relevancy of the general mainstream Public Administration curriculum as a solution to address local government capacity skills problem. The article will therefore analyse the status of local government in South Africa, capacity building through training programmes as a means aiming at empowering municipal councillors, their effectiveness and impact, challenges facing local government education (curricula) and suggesting a policy change and workable solution to improve the status quo. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n14p633

Simulation-Based Learning Environments to Teach Complexity: The Missing Link in Teaching Sustainable Public Management

While public-sector management problems are steeped in positivistic and socially constructed complexity, public management education in the management of complexity lags behind that of business schools, particularly in the application of simulation-based learning. This paper describes a Simulation-Based Learning Environment for public management education that includes a coupled case study and System Dynamics simulation surrounding flood protection, a domain where stewardship decisions regarding public infrastructure and investment have direct and indirect effects on businesses and the public. The Pointe Claire case and CoastalProtectSIM simulation provide a platform for policy experimentation under conditions of exogenous uncertainty (weather and climate change) as well as endogenous effects generated by structure. We discuss the model in some detail, and present teaching materials developed to date to support the use of our work in public administration curricula. Our experience with this case demonstrates the potential of this approach to motivate sustainable learning about complexity in public management settings and enhance learners’ competency to deal with complex dynamic problems.

Faculty Research-Driven vs. Community-Driven Experiential Learning in the Quantitative Public Administration Curriculum

This paper contributes to the literature on public administration experiential learning pedagogy in three ways. First, it outlines two alternative approaches to experiential learning in the quantitative classroom (a community-driven approach and a research-driven approach). Second, the paper evaluates the comparative benefits and trade-offs of these two approaches through analysis of data resulting from a semester in which students were randomly assigned to each of the two described conditions in a master’s-level public management statistics course. Third, the paper provides some general principles for incorporating faculty research endeavors into the public administration experiential learning classroom. While the empirical analysis found no demonstrable difference in learning outcomes, the project format did appear to significantly affect the nature of the student experience. Students in the community-driven condition felt that this interaction would help them professionally, felt a greater sense of ownership of the final project, and ultimately believed that their work was a more valuable contribution to the world than did their faculty-based research counterparts. However, the faculty research-driven model also has benefits. In addition to the economizing benefits of using students to help power faculty research, bringing research into the classroom may help students to perceive instructors as innovators and knowledge creators and may improve students’ overall impressions of the professor.

The Heart of the Profession: Understanding Public Service Values

When NASPAA adopted new accreditation standards in 2009, it effectively placed public service values at the heart of the public administration curriculum. The efficacy of this approach is directly tied to the use that administrators make of public service values in the field. To explore whether and how public service values influence administrative behavior and decision making, this study used survey and qualitative interview data from a sample of 52 Midwestern state and local public administrators. Additionally, it used grounded theory methodology to develop a theoretical model that explains the link between public service values and the administrative behavior and decision making of practitioners. Data and conclusions drawn from the interviews, along with the results from a survey of administrative values, led us to conclude that administrators utilize a combination of ethical, professional, democratic, and human values to maintain legitimacy. In the public administrative context, legitimacy was understood by administrators to include personal credibility, professional competence, respect for democratic principles, and the ability to maintain positive relationships with citizens and colleagues. The article concludes with suggestions for further incorporation of public service values into the public administration curriculum.

Public policy and obstacles to the virtual agora: Insights from the deliberative e-rulemaking project

Cyber-optimists anticipate that electronic media will serve as an extensive public space, a virtual agora, that will re-engage the public with politics and the policies that affect everyday life. For three years we were involved in a U.S. National Science Foundation funded project designed to enhance the participation of citizens in government agency rulemaking processes using online public deliberation and Natural Language Processing technologies. Despite a promising approach in an important arena for direct and regular public engagement, the project was met with serious obstacles in trying to secure a partnership with a government agency or interest groups. This led us to consider the policy process literature for insights regarding the obstacles we faced. That literature, a mainstay in the public policy and public administration curriculum in the U.S. and an attempt to capture how policy makers actually make decisions, heavily focuses on institutional actors and their adversarial relationships. Yet, it provides for hardly any role for the public to participate in what ideally should be a democratic process. Important components of the literature imply that institutional actors should discourage direct public engagement. The analysis seeks to clarify leverage points and contexts that could be used to promote online public engagement as a regular component of government processes.

The Return of Public Relations to the Public Administration Curriculum?

There are increasing indications that public relations is slowly returning to the public administration curriculum. This was a common topic in early public administration literature, but by the second half of the 20th century it had largely disappeared from widely used textbooks. Now, with the increased power of the news media and other rapidly growing and changing alternative communications venues that define this information age, public relations is again relevant for future public managers. This article summarizes research results about these trends, based on a survey of the literature. It presents the historical and contemporary normative case for including public relations in the MPA curriculum, and synthesizes these results to provide suggestions for pedagogic approaches.

Introduction of Government Process Modeling with Rockwell Arena Software

Students in a core Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) course were taught to model and simulate selected business processes of government agencies and nonprofits with Rockwell Arena software. Each student or pair was asked to document an existing government process, in order to model and simulate a variation of the process, with a goal of improving service quality and/or lowering costs. Students found it challenging to make the transition from a simple model, taught as an example, to modeling and simulating real processes on the computer. Experiences are reported and suggestions are provided to others who may want to use Arena software to introduce process modeling into the Public Affairs and Administration curriculum.

Teaching Organization Theory from a Constitutional Perspective: A New Twist on an Old Flame

Over the past 30 years, organization theory has become an increasingly important component of public affairs education. Many of our graduate programs typically require, or at least highly encourage, students to enroll in courses relating to organization theory and organization behavior and change as one way of preparing them for the many complexities of public sector management. The purpose of this article is to highlight the practical relevance and intellectual significance of teaching organization theory from a constitutional perspective. This focus highlights the argument made by constitutional school scholars (Rosenbloom 2007) that all areas of public administration curriculum should be grounded in constitutional tradition.

Human Rights Theory as a Means for Incorporating Social Equity into the Public Administration Curriculum

Advancing social equity is, or should be, a primary focus of public administrators. Yet it is not an integral part of the curriculum of public administration programs, nor is it a prominent feature of the NASPAA standards. Almost 40 years ago, the Minnowbrook I scholars proposed an activist role for public administrators in achieving social equity, which came to be known as the New Public Administration (NPA). Despite the efforts of George Frederickson and others at that conference, the NPA has progressed slowly and haltingly. Through advocating privatization and market models, the NPA—such as it is today—has come to substantially deemphasize the significance of social equity.How can social equity be made a central part of the public administration curriculum? What is needed, in our view, is a theoretical base that goes beyond Rawls’ Theory of Justice or Kant’s Deontology. Philosophy alone cannot provide the tools that public administrators need for this task, nor is it sufficient to examine social equity simply within the confines of a given level of government policymaking, whether it concerns local or national policy. Public policy decisions today have global implications, and social equity must take an international perspective as well. This article proposes that a complex of research and advocacy literatures that we will characterize as human rights theory offers a unique opportunity to the public affairs curriculum by providing a basis for education in social equity, incorporating a global perspective and coherent ethical decision-making models.

Positioning public administration curriculum to add value: the case for “transferrable skills”

Public administration (PA) as an area of academic study and intellectual pursuit has long suffered from a lack of distinctiveness. While there is benefit inside struggle, and acknowledging that the field has advanced, there is progress remaining to be made. Focusing on the development of a skill base among Public Administrators that adds value to current vocational settings and positions the practitioner to be professionally lithe (through skills that are transferable to other public settings, quasipublic settings, and private industry) is personally and professionally healthy. To this end, mastery of statistical process control, process improvement, lean service/manufacturing, six sigma, and project management will optimally position the PA practitioner to add organizational value while concomitantly maximizing vocational flexibility

Teaching Courses on Managing Diversity: Using Learning Contracts to Address Challenges and Model Behavior

Managing for diversity is widely recognized as an increasingly important component of public administration curricula. Students must be prepared to function effectively in a workplace characterized by greater diversity among coworkers and the publics served. Despite the recognized need for courses on managing diversity, many faculty feel ill-prepared to determine course content and teach such courses. This article provides practical and normative justifications for the use of learning contracts in diversity courses. From a practical standpoint, learning contracts are an effective means of meeting the needs of diverse students and increasing course relevance while reducing the burden on the instructor to completely retool and develop a new area of expertise. The author asserts that learning contracts should be used because they are an appropriate instructional strategy for the adult learners who comprise public affairs programs and they provide a means for the instructor to model a behavior that demonstrates valuing diversity as an asset. The author presents a step-by-step guide to learning contracts tailored for use in diversity courses, provides examples of learning contract provisions developed by students in courses on managing diversity, and shares feedback received from students about the process.

Reenacting, Retracing, and Rediscovering History: Making a Connection in the Public Administration Curriculum

The study of public administration is an amalgamation of discoveries from many disciplines, including organizational management, political science, psychology, and sociology (Dahl, 1947; Denhardt, 1989). Curiously, one discipline that is inadequately represented in a complex and multidisciplinary approach to examining public administration is history. This article discusses how history manages to receive minimal attention in the curriculum and why it should gain greater prominence in the classroom, and it suggests teaching mechanisms to assist in recovering and enhancing the significance of our history in advancing our understanding of public administration.

Getting the Message Across: Rationale for a Strategic Communications Course in the Public Administration Curriculum

Strategic communication in the public sector is a topic not often examined, yet it is a key factor in the successful implementation of public policy and the successful leadership of public sector organizations. This paper examines the importance of strategic communication skills to public administrators and how these skills may be manifested in the curricula of public administration schools and programs. Via a survey of master of master of public administration (MPA) programs, a review of MPA Web sites, and a review of relevant literature and resources, this investigation finds a lack of communication courses in MPA programs. The authors develop a rationale for including communications courses in MPA program curricula, discuss curricular options, make recommendations on course delivery and content, and offer a sample communication course syllabus and sample course descriptions.