PA 388K: Advanced Topics in Public Policy - Communications for Public Affairs
Day/Time: Monday, 2-5; Instructor: David J. Eaton, Ph.D.
(Note: This course will be offered only on-line/virtually)
This class focuses on improving each student’s capacity to influence policy outcomes through communication. The class is concerned with outcomes: does the communication influence the intended target of the message. This class does not per se seek to improve each student’s word choice, spelling, sentence structure, or first and final paragraphs, as UT-Austin provides resources through the Texas Writing Center (see https://uwc.utexas.edu/) and the Sanger Learning Center (https://ugs.utexas.edu/slc/study/writing) for tutoring any graduate student in writing in English. Prior to the first class on August 30, 2021, each student will propose a topic and the reader/consumer for the communications assignments.
This class seeks to enable each student to gain confidence in communicating via diverse modes (writing, speaking, video, social media) on a policy topic of your choice. This class allows each student to develop a portfolio of written and/or video deliverables as a communicator. Each student will prepare a ‘draft’ letter of reference about themselves for their ideal job and a 500-word information statement about a policy topic of their choice. Each student will then have a choice to prepare 3 brief supplemental communication options on the same policy topic from a set of 8 different communications choices: an advocacy paper/essay; prepared brief ‘public’ testimony; an empirical analysis using descriptive or quantitative data; an infographic; an editorial or ‘op ed;’ a very brief video documentary; a short social media campaign (the student’s choice of social media); and a brief fundraising proposal. The instructor has provided a rubric (a statement of typical expected contents) for each type of communication to answer the question of ‘what ought to be the content?’ The instructor has pre-recorded a discussion on his expectations and a set of accompanying power-points and in some cases either a YouTube video or a pre-recorded lecture by a person who has prepared each style of communication.
A key element of the course is for each student to identify the intended audience, that real person who is the target of the argument and content. Other students will ‘peer review’ a student’s communication to identify what prose achieves its goals for convincing the intended target audience, what prose does not work well, and what prose ought not be included. Each peer-review will have access to a pre-defined rubric to assure a focus on the impact of the communications. To allow students to experience different communication modes, students will write/photograph a new communication mode every two weeks. In the off-week, students will (a) peer review in writing each other’s work and (b) present orally a summary of their own bi-weekly deliverable in class.
For the final four weeks of the term the class will shift to discussing conflict and negotiation: how each student handles conflict; how a person can work with a ‘high conflict individual’ in a work setting; so-called ‘hard,’ ‘soft,’ and ‘win-win’ negotiations (all with a policy focus); supplementary complex policy negotiations; and a multi-party policy negotiation. One-on-one and group negotiations will be ‘staged’ before all class members (everyone will have a such opportunities), so all can see the process, learn from each other and the instructor to improve student confidence as negotiators and as persons who can manage conflict in a professional setting.
Reading assignments for this class are modest because there are pre-recorded lectures and other video/multi-media reference materials to review prior to classes and the writing/communication and peer review expectations are substantial. Grades will reflect whether a student can complete class deliverables on time, including for the first ten weeks, meeting the two-week cycles for (a) preparing a new communication mode and (b) peer-reviewing the work of other students. Any student who submits all assignments prior to the deadlines, uses the defined rubrics, completes all peer reviews timely, and attends classes regularly will merit a B grade or better.