Instructor: Dr. Dean S. Caldwell
Address: HC 72, Box 269 C, Jasper, Arkansas  72641
Email: puad530t2@caldwellu.com

Welcome to Public Policy Analysis. The U.S. is involved in a general election this year. Much of the rhetoric in the election campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate and many state races deal with policy issues. Questions are being asked such as: Is security sometimes more important than individual rights? How can we improve the education system in the United States? Should health care coverage be provided for the poor? Is the death penalty good policy? When do environmental protections infringe on personal property rights? These questions all deal with public policy. We will consider these and many more questions in this class. When you finish with this class you will have some of the tools needed to analyze policy issues and you will have thought about and discussed some of the most important issues facing our society.

The Plan of Action. There are two distinct sections to this class. The first section concentrates on looking at concepts, theories , and models of Public Policy. The second section looks at specific policy areas. Each student will be expected to develop their own policy specialty during the second section of this course. 

Developing a Policy Specialty. During the second half of the course each student will be required to develop a policy specialty. Four or five policy groups will be formed to help group members with the broad policy topics that you have in common. It is not required that you participate in your policy group but the group will be there to help you if you need it. Each student will read two books, of their choice, that deal with a specific policy specialty. All students will have the opportunity to use their knowledge in on-line conferences with all the other students. This will be an excellent chance to develop an expertise in a subject that you are curious about.

The Broad Policy Topics: I have selected four broad policy areas that will be emphasized during the last half of the class. These policy areas are not set in stone. If you have some other general policy area that you would like to have emphasized, and we can find several other students that want to specialize in that policy area, we can add that policy area. These four policy areas are based on the assumption of 16 to 20 students in the class. If the enrollments are significantly larger or smaller than this we will add or subtract policy areas.

The Four Policy Areas I have Chosen are:

1. Homeland Security

2. Health Care in the U.S.

3. Education

4. Environment

Let me know if you want to specialize in any other broad policy area.

Consultation with Lecturer:

The e-mail address for this class is: <puad530t2@caldwellu.com> please use this e-mail address instead of the e-mail address that appears in WebTycho. I teach several classes using WebTycho so separate e-mail addresses help me to keep the classes better organized. You can also call me (in the U.S.) at:  870-446-5378 (home) or write to me at: HC 72, Box 269 C, Jasper, Arkansas  72641.

Please do not hesitate to contact me, I enjoy helping students learn.

The WebTycho online environment.

The WebTycho environment is an exciting way to learn, once you learn the basics of getting around in WebTycho. If you have not taken a WebTycho course before, be sure to take the Tour 101 and to do all the activities listed for the first week of class. If you are new to WebTycho, let me and the other students know, we will help you get started, but very quickly you will become a pro at using WebTycho.

Some areas to make sure you have covered are:

1. Make sure you have the right textbooks (check in the course materials

section)
2. Be sure you have adequate access to a computer with good on-line access
3. Approach any difficulties you may have in the WebTycho online environment

with patience and humor. You can get help from the help and support page, from
other students, and from me.

I will do the bulk of my responses to your postings Monday thru Thursday mornings. I will also be checking for urgent postings and do minor amounts of responding throughout the rest of the week. I will respond to the conference for the previous week in the "Announcements" section at the beginning of the following week. I do not normally respond to individual postings in the weekly conferences but I do continuously monitor and thoroughly read the conferences. Help each other learn in these conferences. I try to give you individual feedback as much as possible. Those that do particularly well in the conferences or those that do not do well are more likely to hear from me.

When e-mailing me please include the message you are responding to in your e-mail. All assignments and attachments through WebTycho should be sent Word, HTML, RTF, or plain text. Keep copies of everything you send me or others and keep copies of all graded assignments. Please do not post attachments in the conferences for this class. Attachments in the conference area break up the flow of reading the conference submissions and attachments are more subject to passing viruses to other members of the class.

I will use the tychousa server because there is a replication lag between the tychoger and the tychojpn and tychousa server that can mean that something posted on one server may take as much as two days to appear on the other servers. If you use the tychousa server also, it will mean you will get things from me sooner and I will get your postings sooner. The exam will be posted on the tychousa server.

I am interested in developing ways to use chat rooms, computer phone services, or internet video to have more direct contact with students. I would welcome your ideas for experimentation with different ways to maintain contact.
 

Course Goals/Objectives
 

Goals and Objectives for Public Policy Analysis (PUAD 530)

After completing this course the student will have an understanding of:

~ What Public Policy is

~ How Policy fits in with the American system of government

~ How agenda setting and decision making affect policy formation

~ The role of budgeting in the policy process

~ The importance of policy evaluation

~ The broad policy issues in at least four areas of policy specialty

~ One policy area in depth

~ How policy fits in with American society

Course Materials
 

Textbooks required

Dye, T.R. (2002). Understanding Public Policy, 10^th ed., Prentice Hall, N.J. ISBN 0-13-026008-8

Anderson, J. E. (2000). Public Policymaking, 4^th ed., Houghton Mifflin, Boston ISBN 0-395-96104-1

Supplemental reading:

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.   -- Explanation: The APA citation style, or variations on it, has become the standard for most professional journals, regardless of discipline. Maryland in Europe Graduate Programs has adopted a policy to require this style guide for all student papers. For PA students, the book is now required reading in PUAD502 - Qualitative Research Methods and supplementary reading for all other courses. This policy is meant to enhance student writing, encourage standard scholarly citations in all student papers, and discourage plagiarism.

If you have already taken PUAD502, you have probably been introduced to the basic concepts of the style guide but you may not have bought the 5th Edition. If
you are nearly finished with your degree program, you might be able to "fake it" through your last few courses without the book. If you are relatively new to the
program, I recommend you buy the book and start using it for every class.

A working copy of a document titled "The APA Way: A tutorial for the Master of Arts in Administrative Management - Public Administration", dated April 2002 is
available at http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~kboyd/APA-PA.htm. The document is under revision and will be updated periodically.
 

Grading Information

Grades will be determined by the following combination oftests, book reviews, and class participation:

Grades will be computed using the percentage of 1000 points a student earns: 90% and up = A, 80% to 90% = B, 70% to 80% = C, less than 70% = F.

The Exam:  There is a lot of information to learn in this class. There are many terms and concepts you need to know. The exam is an opportunity to show me that you have learned about these terms and concepts. I may not ask directly for a definition of a term on the exam but I may ask a general essay question where you will have to use the term or concept in an appropriate way to get full credit for the answer. So learn the terms and concepts so you can get a good grade on the final. I try to construct the exam in such a way that it can be used to prepare for the Comprehensive Exams. 

The exam will comply with the University of Maryland University College, Graduate Programs, Europe, policy for distance education exams. This means that the exam will be a take home exam that needs to be answered within a limited time of when it is available. The exam will be available on January 24th and needs to be returned by Midnight January 26th. Notice that this exam is the end of week 8. If you have time conflicts, let me know ahead of time.

The Policy White Paper:  Will be a summary of your policy specialty area. It needs to be 5 to 7 pages in length and should have at least 5 sources (articles, books, quality internet sources, etc.) in addition to the two books you have read. In the White Paper I expect you to summarize the present state of your policy area, what major controversies will shape policy in your policy area, what political forces will affect your policy area, what social forces will affect your policy area, and predict what will happen with your policy area in the future. Of course, a bibliography of any sources you use is required. The white paper is due by midnight March 3rd.

Book Reviews: You will be required to read two books in your policy specialty and post a book review for each in the WebTycho classroom. This review needs to be a critical review and should include: 1. A brief synopsis of the book, 2.Your critique of the knowledge contained in the book, 3. Your critique of the way the author of the book covered the policy area, 4. Your critique of the sources the author used in the book, and 5. A conclusion that summarizes the what a reader learns from the book.  The conferences in weeks eight and twelve are set aside for these book reviews. Your book reviews need to be completed by midnight Sunday of weeks seven and eleven in time for those conferences. The first book review is due 19 January and the second book review is due 16 February.

I will grade the book review you post and other students will be commenting on your book review, so make it good. The book review should both describe the approach of the authors and critique what the authors say. Select a book you will enjoy reading and that you will learn about your policy specialty from. Try to choose either unbiased books or choose two books that contrast in their views.
Class Participation

Every student is expected to post a main topic in response to the conference each week and to respond to at least two other student's topics each week. Other on-line activities may be required at times throughout the term. This is the minimal amount of participation that is acceptable; many of you will get enthusiastic about the class and participate far more than this minimal standard. Informal participation in the break area and by e-mailing other students is encouraged.

Three factors go into the class participation grade:

1. frequency - I figure the average number of times you participate each week (maintopic + responses + asides). If the average times of participation is over 3 per week you can get at least 90% (270 points), as long as the consistency and quality are good. Higher participation rates contribute to higher grades.

2. consistency - you need to fully participate in at least 12 of the 14 weekly conferences to receive full credit for participation.

3. quality - As I read each conference each week I make a notation of those that have particularly good quality. Quality includes showing knowledge gained from the course content section and the textbook, use of sources outside the text and the course content, good use of examples, communicating your ideas clearly, and showing that you have thought about the topic. There are only a few students that get this notation each week. If I have noted your quality it will raise your grade. I also note it if the quality is not adequate. A positive attitude toward learning and helping others learn adds to the quality factor in your grade.
 

Some of you are used to having weekly assignments that are graded. Consider the weekly conference to be your weekly assignment. The responses from other students, along with my evaluation of the conference each week, is the equivalent of your grade. You will not receive a weekly individual evaluation from me unless you do particularly good or you do not do good enough for that week. As long as you follow the guidelines above you will get a good grade on class participation.
 

Project Descriptions
 

The Policy White Paper:  Will be a summary of your policy specialty area. It needs to be 5 to 7 pages in length and should have at least 5 sources (articles, books, quality internet sources, etc.) in addition to the two books you have read. In the White Paper I expect you to summarize the present state of your policy area, what major controversies will shape policy in your policy area, what political forces will affect your policy area, what social forces will affect your policy area, and predict what will happen with your policy area in the future. Of course, a bibliography of any sources you use is required.

Book Reviews: You will be required to read two books in your policy specialty and post a book review for each in the WebTycho classroom. This review needs to be a critical review and should include: 1. A brief synopsis of the book, 2.Your critique of the knowledge contained in the book, 3. Your critique of the way the author of the book covered the policy area, 4. Your critique of the sources the author used in the book, and 5. A conclusion that summarizes the what a reader learns from the book.  The conferences in weeks eight and twelve are set aside for these book reviews. Your book reviews need to be completed by midnight Sunday of weeks seven and eleven in time for those conferences. 

Course Schedule
 
 

Additional Information
 
 

Academic Policies
Academic Policies are not course specific and are therefore created and housed separately from this syllabus. You may access and print Academic Policies from the Syllabus sub-menu in your classroom.