Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
System
Graduate School of Public Affairs
The Graduate School of Public Affairs will expand their Cascade Center
Electronic Hallway System in order to position the School as
the primary source of internet-based, public-policy case development and
dissemination. The School will offer case teaching/case writing workshops
to provide UW faculty--as well as faculty from schools of public policy and
management in the Pacific Northwest and in the entire US--the opportunity
to advance their case teaching skills and to develop their own cases for
possible contribution to the Electronic Hallway System. Editorial
capacity will be developed so that GSPA and the Cascade Center can provide
quality control for case review and publication.
| Contact: |
Mark W. Johnson Associate Director, Cascade Center Graduate School of Public Affairs mwj@u.washington.edu |
| Allocation: | $200,000 |
| Date Funded: | September 1998 |
PROGRESS REPORT
The support of Tools for Transformation dollars has enabled the Electronic Hallway to reach out and improve the quality of teaching in the field of public administration, not only at the University of Washington, but nationwide. The transformational activities within UW are led by the addition to our faculty of the premier case teaching and writing expert in public policy and administration. The Hallway’s new capacity to produce cases as well as improve the quality of teaching in our masters and executive programs represents a critical ingredient to the Evans School strategic plan goals.
This additional capacity promises to enhance the school’s visibility and quality as a regional and national leader in public affairs education. The teaching and writing workshops, along with the quality of new cases to be presented in our peer-reviewed Electronic Hallway Journal, promise to further raise the influence and prestige of the Electronic Hallway system, which already benefits untold thousands of students and public servants. The investments we have made by combining Tools funds with our Pew Charitable Trusts grant have already produced impressive results.
The successes of our recent activities are best summarized by our subscriber levels and download statistics.
Subscriber Levels
Since January 1999, 840 new subscribers have been added to the Electronic
Hallway, a 78% increase. This increase is due to four factors:
Download Statistics
Increased connection levels, in conjunction with new material added to the site,
are fueling demand for cases. The Electronic Hallway has distributed almost
4000 teaching cases, exercises, and role-plays this year.
Recent activities of the Electronic Hallway include:
Case Teaching and Writing Workshops
In an effort to increase the supply and availability of teaching cases, the
Electronic Hallway sponsored two case teaching workshops in 1999. The first was
a one-and-a-half day session serving University of Washington faculty members.
This workshop was attended by 29 faculty members and case writers from the
campus. In June we sponsored a week-long workshop in which faculty from around
the country received extensive training on case teaching and case writing.
Attended by 31 faculty members from universities nationwide, including three
from the Evans School and one from the UW College of Forest Resources, the
demand for this workshop was high and feedback from participants was
overwhelmingly positive. Among the participants were two of three Evans School
new faculty hires. With Tools for Transformation support, we were able to
attract John Boehrer, one of the nation’s foremost faculty development and case
method experts to the Hallway staff. In advance of his full-time involvement
commencing in the fall of 1999, he was able to run these workshops for us. We
have already begun marketing the next week-long workshop, to be held in June
2000.
Conferences
The Electronic Hallway has pursued an aggressive marketing strategy. One of the
cornerstones of our effort is to make a strong showing at major conferences. In
the first half of 1999 these activities have included:
John Boehrer’s involvement will allow the UW to have high visibility with these and other groups, further enhancing our exposure nationally in the profession. The expanded capacity he represents is helping us to serve the public health and health administration markets, where we have gained much from our relationship with Mary Richardson, and other colleagues at the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
Electronic Hallway Journal
This exciting new project for the Hallway directly supports our goal of raising
the quality of cases in the field by providing a peer-reviewed venue for
publication of outstanding cases. John Boehrer’s presence gives us the added
senior editorial capacity to make this effort a success. So far we have
received eight highly credible cases for peer review, and plan to include two
additional “classic cases” that will serve as examples of journal-level quality
addressing timeless dilemmas of public management. In 1999, in preparation for
launching the first online issue, we have
Summary
With the availability of the Tools funds, we have been able to fill a critical
gap in our input stream for quality material for the Hallway project. By hiring
John Boehrer, we gain in a single stroke one of the most important resources for
raising the quality of teaching in the school, gaining visibility and
credibility as a result our electronic journal, and having the capacity to work
with other schools like Public Health. In particular, gains in teaching
quality help enormously with the expanding executive and mid-career market,
which we anticipate will represent a growth area. The editorial and related
help that he and other staff resources bring will allow us to bring more current
material into UW classrooms as well as make it available nationwide.
The results are already evident in the progress on our basic membership and case use numbers, and in the opportunities made available to Evans School and other UW faculty. We expect even more to emerge as the coming year unfolds.
Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
