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Please note that our syllabus has now moved and can be found on our website here:

https://www.teachingpublicservice.digital/en/syllabus-index

This page is no longer being maintained.

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<aside> 🛠 See other units in the syllabus

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Introduction & How We Got Here

What is this page?

This is a detailed breakdown of how David Eaves, a Lecturer at the University College London's Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP), teaches the contents of Unit 1 of the open access syllabus developed by Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age. Read how part two of Unit 1 is taught here.

This page is part of a series of twenty-five classes that David developed originally for the Harvard Kennedy School's master and executive education programs, where he taught for eight years, and are now taught at UCL's master and applied learning programs.

We believe presenting diverse ways to teach the syllabus will help others adopt and teach the material in various contexts. See here how Konstanz University's Prof Ines Mergel teaches the same unit.

Who is this page for?

This page was developed for university faculty who teach public administrators or master's levels students in public policy and public administration. This material may also be suitable for teaching to upper year undergraduates.

Class Overview

This first class has two main sections. In the first part, David gives a brief overview of his course (originally called DPI-662 Digital Government: Technology, Policy, and Public Service Innovation). The second part is dedicated to situating digital government in the broader history of the public administration. It explores how past innovations have shaped the evolution of bureaucracies and why the resulting institutional forms impede the rapid adoption of new technologies .

This Class' Learning Objectives

<aside> 📖 By the end of this class students should be able to:  Situate the emerging 'Digital Era' of government theory and practice as just the latest in a wave of government practices, and explain the key values-based difference between the current wave and the last.  Define what is meant by digital for the purposes of this syllabus.  Understand why it is hard to advance changes in digital transformations in governments.

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How this class relates to the Digital Era Competencies

<aside> 💡 As an introductory lecture, this class does not focus on one specific competency, but rather lays the ground for the course and touches upon each of the eight competencies.

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Assigned Reading and Practical Resources

As they work through the readings in advance, students should have in mind the following questions to help them prepare for class:

• What are the previous dominant management theories for government? How do digital technologies reinforce or challenge these ideas?
• What are the types of challenges do governments face as they engage in digital transformations? Relate challenges you've experienced in your own work to the readings.

Required Readings