First syllabus units go online today

We’re delighted to share that ‘Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age’ (TPSDA) has now published the first parts of our free, open access syllabus.

TPSDA was born from a widespread feeling amongst practitioners, faculty, public servants and students, that public servants need new skills and competecies to deliver government services in the Digital Era.  

In an effort to provide this support, the syllabus we publish today is a set of free, open access ‘teach the teacher’ materials designed to help educators provide master’s level students the skills needed to thrive as public servants today.

You can access the units here, as well as preview the units to be published in the coming weeks.

The first two units published are:

Unit 1 - What is Digital Era Government?

Unit 2 - Components of Digital Systems

The full syllabus will contain nine units - the rest are being published in the coming weeks.

Some Highlights 

First, we’d like to celebrate the fact that over 20 digital government specialists from 10 countries have put time and energy into making these what they are. That makes this an unparalleled international collaboration, and one that has built bridges between universities and governments when none existed before. You can learn about who deserves credit for their contributions on our authors page.

Next, we want to celebrate the fact that each unit we are publishing is being backed by two teaching breakdowns. One each from Prof Ines Mergel at the University of Konstanz in Germany and David Eaves at the Harvard Kennedy School in the United States.

These breakdowns provide details and videos about how these units are taught in two different contexts, on different continents. We’re very grateful to David and Ines for being willing to share their teaching approaches with such honesty and transparency.

Get involved

Today we’re also launching a new support offer for people interested in teaching at a masters level, using some or all of the new syllabus. If that might be you, please take a look at what we offer.

We’re also announcing a special support service for course directors, deans and other university decision-makers who may wish to see our syllabus material integrated into teaching, but who will not be doing the teaching themselves. Again, if that’s you, please share your details with us here and we’ll be in touch.