{"title":"Does Gen-AI have a role in public affairs education? Let’s ask ChatGPT","authors":"Daniel Baracskay","doi":"10.1177/01447394241279361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241279361","url":null,"abstract":"The academic literature has expanded significantly in recent times to consider how Gen-AI is transforming the learning process. However, there still remain gaps in the literature, first in applying selected individual Gen-AI applications to classroom learning, and second in focusing upon specific uses in public administration education. In addressing this gap, this research uses a sequence of assignment scenarios to examine how Gen-AI may be integrated into pedagogical approaches and align with course learning objectives. Using the Gen-AI application ChatGPT– which is a popular choice for students to consult for course assignments– an examination of results generated from program queries point toward both opportunities and challenges from the perspectives of teaching (instructors) and learning (students). The below discussion contributes to the literature by first developing three assignment scenarios (linked to learning objectives) to explore the utility of Gen-AI in the learning process, and second discusses various teaching and learning benefits and challenges which are premised on the need for moderation and carefully planned usage of Gen-AI technology in the classroom. This blending of pedagogical theory and practice suggests a need for instructors to teach students about the implications of technology usage and assignment originality in unison with the actual topical coverage of the content that is being presented.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142182699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minding the gap between public administration curriculum and practice: The studio of public reasoning","authors":"Savaş Zafer Şahin","doi":"10.1177/01447394241279204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241279204","url":null,"abstract":"It has always been a crucial question as to what kind of education should be provided to practitioners working at different levels of public administration, starting from the street level onwards, and what kind of interactions should be used to develop their competencies once in office. However, especially in the last 30 years, as we have entered a period of accelerating technological and institutional transformations, this issue has gained a dimension beyond the discussions on higher education and training for service. In addition to how public administration education will relate to practice as seen in traditional debates, new questions have emerged, such as how this engagement with practice can provide a perspective on institutional transformation, how those working in institutions can perceive their transformation processes more accurately, and ultimately, what kind of interaction can be achieved between those receiving public administration education and those working in public institutions. To answer these questions, an innovative model called “studio of public reasoning” was developed in 2009 for a university in public administration education in Turkey to create a platform for interaction with the external stakeholders of the university through an applied course. This Program has been implemented continuously for 15 years at the same university and more than 1000 students, about 100 public institutions of different scales and about 300 public administrators have benefited from the Program. In this paper, based on this experience, the gains of innovative teaching practices in public administration discipline in interacting with external stakeholders are critically evaluated through interviews with students, academics and administrators to assess whether alternatives are possible in establishing non-hierarchical external stakeholder interaction together with formal higher education for public administration.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142182700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Trump and the bureaucrats: The fate of neutral competence","authors":"Jessica Velasco","doi":"10.1177/01447394241270760","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241270760","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141933586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tinaye Des Kamukapa, Stellah Lubinga, Tyanai Masiya, Lerato Sono
{"title":"Assessing the integration of AI competencies in undergraduate public administration curricula in selected South African higher education institutions","authors":"Tinaye Des Kamukapa, Stellah Lubinga, Tyanai Masiya, Lerato Sono","doi":"10.1177/01447394241266443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241266443","url":null,"abstract":"There is an increasing call to include Artificial Intelligence (AI) competencies in academic disciplines such as Public Administration, which are not obviously related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However, the literature on the integration of AI in non-STEM curricula in South African higher education institutions (HEIs), especially in Public Administration curricula, is limited. To address this lacuna, this research assessed the integration of AI competencies in undergraduate Bachelor of Administration (BAdmin) curricula in three HEIs randomly selected from the six offering such a programme. The chosen qualitative research approach focused on human and technical competencies. The findings show that AI competencies are not adequately integrated into the Public Administration curricula of the assessed HEIs in the form of core modules supporting AI competencies. These competencies are only loosely supported by elective (optional) modules. This general AI competency gap in the Public Administration curricula of the assessed South African HEIs must be bridged to achieve a digital public sector by introducing focused AI competency training into the BAdmin curriculum. This will help to create a public sector workforce equipped to handle the opportunities and challenges presented by AI, and maximise the potential of this transformative technology.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141778825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Training and retraining civil servants in Vietnam","authors":"Ngo Sy Trung","doi":"10.1177/01447394241267221","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241267221","url":null,"abstract":"Each nation employs a variety of specialized policy measures to grow and expand its contingent of civil servants through its political system and civil service features. Among them, training and retraining are deemed to be the most important measures. Although the approaches and contents used for training and retraining civil servants vary, they all strive to create a workforce of employees who are well-equipped to meet the demands of serving the government and the people. The author of this paper examines training and retraining and how they affect the competence of civil servants. Based on the theoretical framework developed, the author conducts a direct survey of 250 local civil servants at the commune level in five provinces, including Dien Bien Province, Lai Chau Province (Northern Region), Quang Ngai Province (Central region), and Tay Ninh Province, Binh Duong Province (Southern region). According to research findings, civil servants underappreciate the training, additional knowledge, and professional training that local authorities deliver. The author offers some recommendations from the study’s findings for local leaders to adjust training and retraining strategies appropriately to improve the quality of civil servants toward better serving the people, including: Developing and implementing a training and retraining program for government civil servants under the competency framework for each job title and position.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141785690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching policy capacity: A collaborative and constructivist workshop","authors":"Bobby Thomas Cameron","doi":"10.1177/01447394241230150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241230150","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents an approach for teaching policy capacity to civil servants based on a workshop that took place in 2018 under the auspices of the Government of Prince Edward Island’s Policy Capacity Learning Series. It argues that workshops which introduce civil servants to the concept of policy capacity can enhance skills-based training and knowledge of the policy environment. Through a learner-focused, collaborative and constructivist pedagogy, the workshop involved a group activity where civil servants constructed a visual diagram of their policy environment by categorizing actors, skills, resources, institutions and concepts according to a policy capacity framework. This article discusses the workshop’s planning and delivery requirements which can be used, adapted and improved by practitioners in other jurisdictions. It also provides considerations for future training and education in public administration.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141062838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experiential learning in the master of public administration classroom: An application of the family-friendly campus toolkit","authors":"Cecilia Idika-Kalu, Aaron Smith-Walter, Jenna Vinson","doi":"10.1177/01447394241252345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241252345","url":null,"abstract":"Public administrators can play a vital role in the articulation of demands emerging from the community and can serve to advance these demands by their position of authority, skills and knowledge to help facilitate the development of programs and projects to address public needs. This article describes the role that a small Master of Public Administration program and several of its faculty and students played to support a project which sought to aid the development of family-friendly policies and programs on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a mid-sized, public university in the Northeastern United States. The article lays out the personal experience of the authors as they relate to their decision to participate in the program, a description of the project and the assistance that MPA students were able to render the initiative, the manner in which integrating the commitment to campus improvement for pregnant and parenting students influenced the content of several MPA courses, and the synergies which developed as students worked to develop skills in communication, focus-group moderation, qualitative data analysis, presentation delivery and report-writing.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140934864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marcelo Vegi da Conceição, Manuel Beja, Ricardo Paes Mamede
{"title":"Fostering university-public administration links through local case studies in executive education","authors":"Marcelo Vegi da Conceição, Manuel Beja, Ricardo Paes Mamede","doi":"10.1177/01447394241249156","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241249156","url":null,"abstract":"The gap between public managers and academics has long been a topic of discussion in the field of public affairs. This article presents a successful strategy to bridge this gap: the creation and use of local case studies in executive education for Portuguese public managers. We found that the creation process, which included interviews with practitioners, allowed them to reflect on their work from the framework of academic theories. As for the use of cases in the classroom, the local aspect of the case studies - set in Portuguese institutions, and shaped by the local values, mores, and norms - fostered the appropriation of the subject matter and enhanced the sharing of experiences and ideas, combining academic theory with tacit knowledge from the field. We discuss examples of the observed benefits, as well as the challenges and possibilities of replicating the strategy in other contexts.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140671884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Can we learn together? Challenges and opportunities of teaching public administration in a binational classroom in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Cristian Pliscoff, Pablo Sanabria-Pulido","doi":"10.1177/01447394241248323","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241248323","url":null,"abstract":"How can Latin American students learn more effectively how different governments address similar public problems? This region shares similarities in terms of culture and history. However, Latin American students study only their public policies and public administration based on the notion that each administrative system has its own particularities. This paper analyzes the results of a comparative learning experience among undergraduate students of two universities in the region, taking advantage of the “virtual” classroom that emerged amid the COVID-19 crisis. In this context, we developed a semester-long group project with students from two universities: Chile and Colombia. The results presented in this paper show that the activity was successful and meaningful for the students. This article intends to present this pedagogical experience and add to the limited literature on the pedagogy of public administration in Latin America, particularly the application of active learning techniques in a public affairs classroom.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140674358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A worthy investment? Investigating alumni perceptions of nonprofit degrees","authors":"Jo’ann Melville-Holder, Amanda J Stewart, Kerry Kuenzi, Marlene Walk, Dylan Russell, Shannon McGovern","doi":"10.1177/01447394241241434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01447394241241434","url":null,"abstract":"As students invest in higher education, an assumption of value creation emerges as training and education are expected to yield career and compensation outcomes. Given the growth of nonprofit management education, we see merit in investigating how alumni perceive their degree in terms of the return on their investment of money and time. This study relies on survey data collected from the (project name redacted for anonymity), and joins the Project’s previous findings to elucidate how nonprofit management education is shaping the nonprofit sector’s workforce. Our findings highlight how nonprofit sector commitment, but not work in the sector, influences how graduate alumni view their degree, and that those carrying a higher financial burden from their degree view their degree less favorably. These findings inform administrators of nonprofit degree programs about how students perceive the value of their education and how that perception impacts nonprofit management education as a pipeline for the nonprofit workforce.","PeriodicalId":44241,"journal":{"name":"Teaching Public Administration","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140301378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}