The Syllabus

Here you can access the full open access ‘teach the teacher’ materials we have developed for use by MPP and MPA lecturers, professors and program directors. For more on the purpose and history of this syllabus, see here. To read about its authors see here.

Unit 1 - What is Digital Era Government?

The purpose of Unit 1 is to get students to recognise what is different about governing in an era filled with pervasive digital technologies.

Bonus: Contains teaching breakdowns from real classes in Germany and the USA

Unit 2 - Components of Digital Systems

Unit 2 is about understanding that government digital systems are made up from components, and that the choice of which components to use is critical. It also lays out the idea of 'Government as a Platform'.

Bonus: Contains teaching breakdowns from real classes in Germany and the USA

Unit 3 - Iteration

Unit 3 is about using practices and technologies of the digital era to rapidly and continually improve government services and policies.

Bonus: Contains teaching breakdowns from real classes in Germany and the USA

Unit 4 - User-focus & design

In Unit 4 students learn why public servants need to be focused on users and their needs. Instructors will help students understand when and why they will need to apply design methods to solve problems.

Bonus: Contains teaching breakdowns from real classes in Brazil, Germany and the USA

Unit 5 - Data Part I - Uses & Opportunities

The purpose of Unit 5 is to help statistically literate students to identify opportunities to use data to solve real world government problems, and to anticipate the practical challenges they will face when doing so.

Bonus: Contains teaching breakdowns, including an interview with the former Chief Analytics Officer for the City of New York, Dr Amen Ra Mashariki.

Unit 6 - Data Part II - Harmful Uses

The purpose of Unit 6 is to help students to be aware that digital era governments create and manage data as a function and by-product of almost every activity, and that this data can harm people in both intentional and unintentional ways.

Bonus: Contains a guest lecture breakdown from Bruce Schneier

Unit 7 - Working in the open

The purpose of Unit 7 is to help students understand what it means to ‘work in the open’ in government, and to explain the many different interpretations and manifestations of ‘openness’ that are applied in modern governments.

Unit 8 - Overcoming Legal, Financial & Organisational Barriers

The purpose of Unit 8 is to help students to anticipate the most common barriers they will encounter within real government bureaucracies when trying to deploy skills and practices introduced throughout this syllabus.

We have developed these materials as open access teaching materials. We welcome and encourage your re-use of them, and we do not ask for payment. The materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

If you are using any of our syllabus materials, please credit us on your course website using the following text:

We are proud to use the Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age syllabus in our curriculum and teaching. Developed by an international community of more than 20 professors and practitioners, the syllabus is available open-source and free at www.teachingpublicservice.digital