Faculty Contact Information:
Jan Cameron
email jan@prof2u.com
Students are very welcome to contact me before enrolment to discuss this class. | |
Consultation:
| 24 / 7 via the WebTycho class, or via email | |
Required Texts and Readings:
Congressional Internet Caucus. (1998-2002). Briefing book outline: E-Government. Retrieved December 11, 2002 from http://www.netcaucus.org/books/egov2001/.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington D.C.: Author. | |
Supplementary Readings:
| Most of the readings are included in the Congressional Internet Caucus above. Other URLs will be published in the weekly Conferences. In addition, all graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
| A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the PA Webboard (http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~pa). Public Administration Review, the lead journal in the discipline, is especially useful for this course. | |
Course Description:
| This course introduces the basic concepts of using innovative technologies in public service environments and brings together key elements of the public administration and management information systems programs. Students will review strategic management models used to develop e-government projects, employ the best online resources, and obtain proficiency in a critical area of public service. | |
Course Goals:
As the primary course for the Certificate in E-Government and an elective in both the M.P.A. and the M.S. in Management Information Systems, this course introduces:
- The theory and practice of e-government,
- The mandate for e-government,
- The practicalities of transforming government services from the traditional models to the delivery of local, national and global public services via the World Wide Web and the Internet, and
- The challenges and opportunities inherent in such transformation.
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the basic concepts of e-governance and the use of information systems in government,
- Summarize issues and policies pertaining to e-democracy and the US and global digital divide,
- Analyze case studies in e-government,
- Apply strategic planning models to the development of e-government projects,
- Present summaries of issues and policies around citizen access and the provision of governmental e-services,
- Understand the human and technological resource issues,
- Be aware of the legal, ethical and privacy implications of e-governance,
- Analyze and critique literature related to e-government, and
- Understand and critique principles of government website design.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 92%
B 80% – 91%
C 70% – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog,. Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
Participate in on-line classroom discussions 20%
Write a graduate level paper 25%
Prepare and present a Group Project 20%
Complete two written examinations 35% | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to engage in all on-line discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class.
Write a graduate level paper: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. The research will take the form of a Literature Review of an area of the syllabus of your own chosing. Plan on committing approximately 100 hours over the duration of this course to produce a professional level deliverable. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.
Prepare and present a Group Project: You will be asked to work as a whole class to produce a framework for the evaluation of e-Government web sites. The class will then split into Study Groups to evaluate some group-specific sites using the class framework, produce a comparison report and then evaluate the usefulness of the framework.
Complete two written examinations: The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to pass the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam. | |
Course Schedule:
Week 1 Aug 29 - Sep 4
Introduction
Week 2 Sep 5 - 11
Realizing the Promise of Digital Government
Week 3 Sep 12 - 18
The Mandate for E-Government
Week 4 Sep 19 - 25
Public Demand
Week 5 Sep 26 - Oct 2
Elements of Transformation
Week 6 Oct 3 - 9
Civic Engagement
Week 7 Oct 10 - 15
Challenges and Opportunities
Oct 16 - 23 MID TERM BREAK
Week 8 Oct 24 - 30
MidTerm Exam
Week 9 Oct 31 - Nov 6
Challenges and Opportunities (cont)
Week 10 Nov 7 - 13
Security
Week 11 Nov 14 - 20
Records Management
Week 12 Nov 21 - 27
Digital Divide
Week 13 Nov 28 - Dec 4
Mirror, Mirror on the Web
Week 14 Dec 5 - 11
Submission of Group Work
Exam Review
Week 15 Dec 12 - 17
FINAL EXAM
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Academic Policies:
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The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Code of Civility
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
Although I have taught part-time for UM for over a decade, until the end of 2004 my “day job" was as the Practice Director of a Health Center within the British National Health Service. I also had a strategic I.T. role within the Primary Care Trust (the parent organization), acting as an I.T. advisor both to them and to the other General Practices in the area. In addition, I am a director and company secretary of a small independent Healthcare business. I have been involved with the planning and practice of e-government as it relates to the health service for nearly 5 years.
My MBA (Warwick) was undertaken mainly by Distance Education whilst in full-time employment - which I hope helps me to empathize with students taking DE classes! My first degree was in Mathematics and Computer Science which was funded by a full IBM scholarship. | |