Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University at Albany/International and Comparative Public Management (Spring 2022)
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- Course name
- International and Comparative Public Management
- Institution
- University at Albany
- Instructor
- Erzsebet Fazekas
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Political Science
- Course dates
- 2022-01-26 00:00:00 UTC – 2022-05-14 23:59:59 UTC
- Approximate number of student editors
- 18
Do public administrators do the same things all over the world? What can public servants in the United States learn from practitioners in Poland? Why do administrative practices in Korea differ from those in Canada? Are global models implemented differently in different countries? Why are disparities in good governance practices persistent? How have public agencies responded to the COVID-19 pandemic across the world? What does international development tell us about the practice of public management? How do NGOs and multilateral organizations collaborate with governments to deliver public services and tackle international challenges? These are some of the questions comparative public management seeks to answer. Comparative public administration traditionally focused on comparing public bureaucracy—its structure, role, core activities, the recruitment and retention of public employees—across countries, with the United States as one of its ideal models. How this comparative perspective and subject matter have both expanded in the past decades is a key focus of this course. Readings will cover a variety of national and international environments, organizations and policy areas. To reflect the field’s traditional preoccupation with development administration, many readings and cases have a development focus. Most class sessions will include a case analysis that will require active participation.
Wikipedia Assignment
Working in international development or in other internationally focused careers means working in a community of practice where members have unequal access to knowledge. Your job will entail strategically and effectively synthesizing and communicating knowledge to people in an accessible, balanced and inclusive way to fill knowledge gaps. This assignment will prepare you to do that. You will need to identify, expand and update existing Wikipedia articles about course-related concepts, theories, trends, management tools, projects or interventions that need improvement—entries with missing, misleading, incorrect, outdated or biased information. Upon the instructor’s approval, you may write a new article about topics from among the course’s themes and within your research interests. For instance, these Wikipedia articles may be about the public management issues related to specific international humanitarian NGOs or disasters, or comparative assessments of public management tools used across countries to address common policy problems such as obesity, refugee settlement, or concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. All writing projects need to use a comparative lens and be expertly sourced and written. Our class is granted entry to the Wiki Education Program by the nonprofit Wiki Education. You will use their learning platform to complete the assignment. Deadlines and tutorials are on this dashboard. We will discuss the mechanics of the assignment during our first two classes.
Timeline
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 8 February 2022
- In class - Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. Each block below has a label: Assignment, Milestone, or In Class.
Assignments are due by the start of class that week. You can find the deadline (meeting date) under the week's title and in the syllabus. Assignments either require completing training modules that prepare you for the assignment or completing a step of the assignment.
Milestones mark key points in our progress of the assignment.
In Class refers to a discussion we will have in class about a particular stage of the assignment.
This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.
Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.
Resources:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
- Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Get started on Wikipedia
Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)
- Milestones
This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 15 February 2022
- Assignment - Evaluate Wikipedia
- In class - Discussion
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 22 February 2022
- Assignment - Review the rules for health topics
- Assignment - Choose possible topics
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6
- In class - Discussion
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 1 March 2022
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Assignment - Finalize your topic and find sources
- Assignment - Start drafting your contributions
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9
- Milestones
Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.
Week 6
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 8 March 2022
- Assignment - Reading and Drafting
Everyone should be reading and drafting their articles.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 22 March 2022
- Assignment - Compiling Bibliography and Finalizing Your Plan
Everyone should be making tangible progress on their article.
- Post your bibliography on the dashboard's Bibliography section of 5–7 sources (most of which should come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals). Add 1–2 sentences for each source explaining how this work will help you write your contribution. The dashboard will give you the criteria for selecting sources and the template to list and justify your sources.
- Sketch the outlines of your contribution in the sandbox. At the minimum, describe where and how in the article you will contribute. An example:
· I will contribute to the Marketization article by adding a new subsection on marketization strategies to the section Marketization of government branches and I will expand on the subsection Examples by adding examples from countries other than the United States.
Week 8
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 29 March 2022
- Assignment - First Draft
Have the first draft of your Wiki contribution ready in the sandbox. Your first draft does not have to be pretty, concise, or written in perfect English. It should, however, be clear about the contours of the ideas you will contribute. Some alternative strategies:
- You might write 1–2 sentences summarizing the relevant arguments, definitions, or classifications from each work you will use. Your next step then will be integrating these snippets into more coherent statements.
- Draft the topic sentence(s) for each (or one) paragraph you plan to write and a few more sentences with details.
When you are done, sign off on Blackboard (e.g., by saying "I completed the Wikipedia bibliography/plan") to signal your completion of this part of the assignment.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 5 April 2022
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 12 April 2022
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
- Assignment - Peer review two articles
Week 11
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 19 April 2022
- Assignment - Respond to your peer review by April 19
You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.
Resources:
- Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
- Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 26 April 2022
- Assignment - Begin moving your work to Wikipedia
Now that you've improved your draft based on others' feedback, it's time to move your work live - to the "mainspace."
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 13
- Assignment - Continue improving your article
Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.
- Assignment - Polish your work by April 26
Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!
Week 13
- Assignment - Final article by May 3
It's the final week to develop your article.
- Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
- Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!
- Assignment - Reflective essay by May 3
- Milestones
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.