APPLICATIONS OPEN

Join our free online Educators’ Workshop on 16 October 2024 at 2-6.30pm CET to learn more about how to teach our Digital Age Syllabus and Competencies for Public Leaders. This workshop has been designed for those who teach students who are likely to end up in local government jobs - for example professors of urban studies, urban planning or local government management. Deadline for applications is 14 October 2024.

What is it?

These workshops provides practical training to university professors, lecturers and teachers to support them in teaching a range of key digital-era skills that will be essential for helping their students thrive in a changing digital-era public sector, and especially in modern local government jobs.

This masterclass has been designed for educators who teach students who work in local government or who are on career paths to becoming local government officials. This means that it is especially useful to professors and lecturers who teach on programmes related to urbanism, urban planning, local government management or related topics, though it is not limited to them.

If you teach students who are likely to end up working in local government, then this workshop is for you!

The training is a free supplement to the open access syllabus and teaching materials that we co-created with a community of academics and government practitioners in ten countries. These teaching materials are now in use across 50 different universities globally (and counting!) and translated into five languages.

Who is running the workshop? 

We are Professor Amanda Clarke, Professor Dr. Ines Mergel, Professor David Eaves, Tom Steinberg and Pontus Westerberg - the leadership team behind Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age - an open-education nonprofit with the mission of equipping the world’s public officials with modern, digital-era public service skills.

Who should apply?

The workshop is open to professors, educators and teachers teaching students who are working in or likely to work in local government.

It is suitable for two types of people:

1. Educators who teach urban studies, urban planning, urban management-related course but who do NOT consider themselves to be digital specialists and who want to develop the confidence to teach the fundamentals.

2. Educators who DO consider themselves to be digital specialists, for example teaching courses on smart cities, urban analytics or city science who are looking to broaden their teaching beyond the sub-specialism which they feel comfortable within or looking to teach a broader set of digital skills .

As an educator who is already a digital specialist, why should I attend?

If you are already a digital expert, you almost certainly have specialisations in which you are an authority. This expertise is a huge asset when teaching within the comfort zone of your primary specialty. Nevertheless, local government officials and urban planners need to have a certain minimum level of knowledge across a wide range of digital-era subjects, from data ethics to modern project management practices.

With our training and free open-access syllabus, we can give you the skills and confidence to teach digital government fundamentals outside your focus area. This will help you train graduates with a wide range of key competencies to help them succeed in local government roles.

As an educator who is a specialist in non-digital topics, why should I attend?

As a professor or lecturer you will already be aware that the digital revolution has been challenging and transforming cities. But how are you supposed to adapt your teaching to keep up with the digital era? And how are you supposed to work out what digital knowledge is essential vs optional for most people graduating with a city-related degree?

That’s where we come in. We’ve taken the burden of working out what the core digital era competencies are that all public servants need to possess. And we’ve developed a range of free, accessible training materials, and masterclasses to help you learn how to teach the fundamentals in this new domain.

Join us for a Workshop and feel your teaching confidence grow, enabling you to add digital components to your public policy and public administration teaching with confidence.

Cost and eligibility

The Workshop is FREE for applicants teaching in universities, thanks to support from the Public Interest Technology Infrastructure Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Schmidt Futures.

We welcome applicants from all countries. While the syllabus is available in five languages, the sessions take place in English, and attendees will need strong English language skills to participate fully.

Due to limited numbers, applicants are not guaranteed a place and will be selected based on the following criteria:

1. A strong interest in teaching using our free and open-access syllabus materials in the coming year.

2. Diversity of participants - including ensuring a spread of attendees from multiple countries.

3. The relevance of the applicant’s experience to the successful teaching of current and future local government officials.

I teach in a government academy, not a university - can I apply?

No, not this time, sorry. This specific Workshop is focused on the needs of University educators. However, on 27 November we will be running a workshop for educators in government training academies. Please sign up!

If you have any questions before you apply, please email mailbox@teachingpublicservice.digital.