Introduction
to Public Policy (POL 374)
Department
of Government – Eastern
Summer
2007 – Sections 50880 & 51562
_______________________________________________________________
One of my pet peeves is students who do not read my syllabus. This is
especially true for online classes, since written materials are the only means
of communication between the instructor and students. You are responsible for
all information contained within this syllabus.
Jerry Thomas
Department of Government
Eastern
117 McCreary Hall
Office Phone: 622-4380
Office hours: 10:00–11:00 and 2:00–4:00 (TR) and by appointment
E-mail:
jerry.thomas@eku.edu
Web:
http://people.eku.edu/thomasje//index.htm
Welcome to Introduction to Public Policy (POL 374).
I use the same syllabus for two different sections of this course. In
most instances, you will not need the course section, but if you do, please
check your official record in EKUDirect if you have questions about the section
for which you are registered. The two sections are 50880 and 51562.
This course is an online course and will run from June 25, 2007 until
July 27, 2007.
This course can count toward the political science major, political
science minor, and public administration minor. This course might also satisfy
other general education requirements. If you have questions about these
requirements, please see your academic advisor.
In this course, we will spend considerable time in the beginning
discussing theoretical aspects of public policy including defining what it is
and how policy is made. Then, we will take a survey look at many different
policy areas such as environment, immigration, health care, education,
abortion, queer issues, and crime. This is an introductory course, so we will
not have time to delve deeply into any one of these policy areas; however, you
will choose a specific policy area that interests you for your research paper.
Much of the information you’ll learn in the first part of the course is
like eating your vegetables. You may find some of it a little dry, but these
concepts are necessary before we can have meaningful, intelligent discussions
of other topics that you will find more interesting. Please make a concerted
effort during the first part of the course to grasp the basic principles and
terminology; this will serve you well later in the course.
Students must obtain the readings. You will not be able to pass this
course if you do not read the assigned material. This is an online class, but I
will not be posting lecture notes, nor will I be providing one-on-one
tutorials. It is up to each student to read. I cannot stress this enough. Also,
this is a summer course, so there is an entire semester’s worth of readings
compacted into five weeks. You should expect to do a great deal of reading
during this relatively short period.
Required Texts
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Chris Kofinis. 2004. The Art of the Game: Understanding American
Public Policy Making. Thomson
ISBN: 0-534-52904-6
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. 2006. Freakonomics (Revised and Expanded
Edition). Harper Collins Publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-06-123400-2
Optional Text
Dye, Thomas. 2008. Understanding Public Policy, Twelfth
Edition. Prentice Hall Publisher.
ISBN: 0-13-613147-6
(We will use chapter 2 from this text. I will try to make
this available through electronic reserve. If electronic reserve is not
possible, students will need to get a copy of chapter two from this text.)
All texts are available at the EKU campus bookstore, University
Bookstore
Taking an online course is very different from taking a traditional
college course. You must have self-discipline in order to be successful. You
should anticipate spending at least as much time on this course as you would
any other 3-hour class. I encourage you to talk with your classmates through
your group discussion boards or through email. The advantage to taking an
online class is that although there is still a significant time commitment, you
can do the work on your own time – as long as you meet the posted deadlines!
The role of the online instructor is to facilitate your learning.
Computers and the
Internet
This course requires that you be proficient using a computer and the
Internet. All course material will be covered and discussed on-line. There will
not be any person-to-person class meetings. It is imperative that you be
comfortable using a computer and the Internet. I assume that everyone taking an
on-line course has a high level of computer knowledge.
In order to complete and take this course, you must meet all of the EKU Web Course Requirements. You can
find these requirements at: http://www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/bbdocs/webcourses/webcourseprereqs.htm.
Blackboard
You
must be proficient using Blackboard in order to take this course. If you are
uncomfortable using this system, please refer to the on-line tutorials and
other training information listed on the Blackboard site
Please
note that my job is to teach you the principles of public policy – it is not my
job to teach you how to use Blackboard. It you are not comfortable using the
technology, it is your responsibility to get up to speed.
Students
are required to set up their home pages for this course in Blackboard. You can
read more about this requirement in the assignments section below.
I
will conduct every aspect of this course entirely through Blackboard, including
communication, evaluation and testing, discussion, submission of assignments,
and grading.
Since
Blackboard operates through Web browsers, the rules for naming the files that
you submit to me are the same ones that apply throughout the Internet:
In
order to prevent confusion, please include your last name at the beginning of
each assignment name. For example, thomas_assign1.doc would be the name of one
of my documents.
Mac Users – The latest version of
Blackboard has a couple compatibility problems with Safari, which is a browser
applications used on Macs. If you are a Mac user, please pay special attention
to the information posted on the Blackboard help sites concerning these issues.
Microsoft Word
All
files that you submit to me through Blackboard must be in Microsoft Word
E-Reserves
I
may make some readings available through e-Reserves. Please refer to the EKU
library website for how to access these readings. Sometimes the e-Reserve
system will ask you to provide a password. Use “summer07” if you are prompted
for a password. The following link may be helpful if you are unfamiliar with
using electronic reserves in the EKU Library system
If
you are registered with the Office of Services for Individuals with
Disabilities, please make an appointment with me to discuss any academic
accommodations you need. We might also be able to handle your accommodations
through email correspondence or over the telephone. If you need academic
accommodations and are not registered with the Office of Services for
Individuals with Disabilities, please contact the office on the third floor of
the
Since
this is an online class, there is obviously no rigid attendance policy.
However, regular participation is required. You should get in the habit of
doing work for this class on a daily basis. We will be using discussion forums
in Blackboard, and you will be required to react to the comments of your fellow
students in these discussions.
This
is an on-line course, which gives you great flexibility for when you “come to
class.” However, it is imperative that you meet the deadlines that I establish
for the class. I am not inclined to give deadline extensions since assignments
are posted well in advance. I will only consider documented medical excuses and
other similar emergencies if a student misses work.
This
course is designed to give students an overview of the roles of federal, state
and other entities in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public
policy. At the completion of the course, students will be able to:
In
addition to the above objectives, the following EKU General Education
objectives are included in this course. Students will be able to:
s
Becoming familiar with and effectively applying the content and
methods of the political science discipline
s
Examining the ways in which the political science discipline
analyzes and assesses issues of personal and public concern
s
Exercising interpersonal, small group, and research skills
s
Recognize the importance of examining their own value systems
s
Explore culturally and historically diverse alternative approaches
to understanding both human happiness and public and private morality
s
Examine significant issues and controversies that arise in any
effort to understand and justify judgments about human happiness and public and
private morality
s
Examining their own thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions and those
of others
s
Understanding why human problems require careful reflection,
continual research, and provisional resolution
s
Enhancing their critical reading, listening, thinking, and writing
skills in the direction of sustained reasoning
Each
week students will be expected to complete one unit. For each unit there will be required
readings, a quiz, and a discussion forum. There is a research paper due at the
end of the session, and there is a comprehensive final exam.
Quizzes
(25% of grade)
There will be a quiz for each unit. The purpose
of the quiz is to make sure that you are actually doing the readings. It will
not be possible to pass the quiz without having read the material. Each quiz is
timed, but you may take each quiz up to four times to improve your
grade. If you take the quiz more than once, I count the grade from your last
attempt (even if this is not the highest one). I set up my quizzes in
Blackboard so that there is a large pool of questions, and each time a person
takes the quiz, questions are pulled randomly from the pool. This means two
things. First, no two people will get the same quiz. Second, if you take the
quiz more than once, there is no guarantee that you will get the same questions
each time.
Discussion
Boards: Comments and Reactions (25% of grade)
This is the “DISCUSSION” portion of the course
and is required. I will place each student in a group. Each group will be
required to participate in a weekly discussion forum. I will post a discussion
question at the beginning of each unit, and you will have about a week to read
the material and post your comment
While I will not be rigidly counting words,
one-sentence answers are not acceptable. You should also note that being
concise is a skill worth developing. I suspect you will find it difficult to
answer some of the discussion questions in so few words, but you should make
every effort to be as thorough as possible in answering each question but also
staying within the word limits.
Note that every student must post a comment and
a reaction for every unit. Grading for the discussion forum will be based on
your initial comment and your reaction. I have posted a grading rubric on
Blackboard that you can use as a guide for how I will grade your discussions.
Final Exam
(25%)
There is a comprehensive final exam. Your final
exam will be due by noon on the last day of class (July 27). It will be a
cumulative essay exam – open book and open note. I will provide further information and
instructions about the exam. For now, please note the weight of the final exam
and it will be a cumulative essay exam.
Paper (25%
of grade)
Students will choose one public policy area to
research more fully than what we cover in class. The research paper should be 5
– 6 pages in length and should address very specific questions about the policy
area. I will provide more information about the paper early in the course.
Extra
Credit
Extra credit is not available for this course.
Students should make every effort to focus their time and energy on the regular
assignments.
Blackboard
automatically calculates a grade using a points-earned-from-points-possible
method. I do not use this method. I calculate the course grade using a
weighted method as follows. All quizzes will be averaged together to form 25%
your grade. The same is true for your discussion boards (I will average them
together to form 25% of your grade). The final exam makes up 25% of the grade.
The final paper is worth 25% of the final grade.
Quizzes 25%
Discussion Forums 25%
Final Exam 25%
Final Paper 25%
The grading scale for this course is as follows.
A = 90-100 B
= 80-89 C = 70-79 D = 60-69 F = below 60
I will post course grades in Blackboard as we go
along. Final grades will show up in EKU Direct (your official transcript).
Grammar and Spelling
This
is a special note about your writing skills. I am a stickler for grammar and
spelling. You will conduct most of your work for this course, including
discussions, through writing. I expect students to have an excellent command of
the language. Please make a concerted effort to polish your grammar and
spelling in all your assignments, including items you post in discussion
forums. I will take point deductions for excessive problems in grammar,
spelling and mechanics.
Plagiarism,
or presenting another’s works or ideas as one’s own, is a form of
stealing. I reserve the right to examine any source used by students
before giving a grade on a paper, and to give an "incomplete" in the
course if necessary, to allow time to obtain sources. Students should be
prepared to show source material for the purpose of verifying information. I
will not tolerate academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes the
following offenses:
If
a student is found to have committed one of the above offenses, he/she will
receive, at a minimum, a failing grade on the assignment or exam. Students may
also receive a failing grade for the entire course and may face further
academic discipline including being referred to the Academic Practices
Committee of the Department of Government and/or to the University’s Student
Disciplinary Board
Several
plagiarism websites are included in the External Links section on Blackboard
for this course. It is the student’s responsibility to review these websites
and to contact the professor if they have questions about plagiarism.
The
following is an outline for the course. Invariably, we will make modifications
to this schedule as we go along. If I make changes, I will notify you through
an announcement in Blackboard.
Unless
otherwise stated, assignments are due by midnight on the date posted.
TK
refers to Theodoulou and Kofinis, who are the authors of The Art of the Game.
Unit 1 (Week of June
25): Introduction, Basics and Terminology
Note
that there are two quizzes for this week – the Intro Quiz and the Unit 1 Quiz.
Unit 2 (Week of July 2):
How Policy is Made (Models of Public Policy)
Unit 3 (Week of July 9): The Policy Process
Model
Unit 4 (Week of July 16): Policy Arenas
o
Make significant headway on your research papers
o
Begin reviewing for the final exam
o
Begin reading Freakonomics for next week
Unit 5 (Week of July 23): Freakonomics – Looking
at Crime and Other Policy Issues in a Different Way
During the last week of
class, you will be working on you final exam, finishing your final paper, and
participating in the normal unit activities for the week. Your discussion board
reaction, your unit quiz, your final paper, and your final exam are all due at
noon on July 27. It will be impossible to do all of this work in the last week
of class and to do it well if you have not worked on your paper as you go along
and if you have not stayed on top of the readings. Due dates are the last
possible date you can turn in these assignments. I recommend you get some of
them knocked out before the last day of class.
While there are distinct
advantages to taking an online course (such as being able to “attend” class
when it is convenient for you), I do not particularly view online or summer
courses as easier than other courses taught during a full semester. The pace
will be rigorous, but not impossible. We will have to stay focused and
committed for about five weeks. There will be a ton of grading for me to do in
a very short timeframe, so I will be sucking it up right along with you. So ...
Work hard. Have fun. Learn a lot.