| SES # | TOPICS |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction Overview of the course — the faculty, objectives, format, and requirements. First lectures: Knowledge use in theory and practice, perspectives from inside and outside academia. (PDF) |
| 2 | Models of knowledge production and decision-making The rational policy/planning model, muddling through, deliberation and social learning. |
| 3 | Agendas and the policy process The importance of agenda-setting and other "pre-decision" processes in policymaking. The Kingdon model and its critics; the role of narrative. |
| 4 | Frames and persuasion Storytelling, metaphor, and frames. Alignment among frames, institutional context, and policy and political streams. (PDF) Guest: Jal Mehta, Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| 5 | Paradigms and fads Design and urban form, urban utopias, popular culture and the Good City. (PDF) Guest: Lawrence Vale, MIT |
| 6 | Diffusion of innovation Creating and diffusing innovation, "structured" diffusion, replication and mimicking. (PDF) |
| 7 | Case of anti-poverty policy and research The Moving to Opportunity experiment as a social policy case, political and fiscal context, images of ghetto poverty, the Hurricane Katrina media effect. (PDF) Guest: Jeffrey Liebman, Harvard Kennedy School of Government |
| 8 | Science in environmental policy disputes Science-intensive disputes, "experts for hire", joint fact finding. Guest: Lawrence Susskind, MIT and the Consensus Building Institute |
| 9 | Action learning and practice Action learning, embedded or "social" learning, theories of practice, communities of practice (knowledge networks). (PDF) |
| 10 | The politics and use of evaluation research Truth tests and utility tests, demonstration theory of social change, media and public consumption. (PDF) |
| 11 | Research writing for non-academic readers Research briefs, communication channels, writing support, editing styles. (PDF) |
| 12 | Student briefs and knowledge-in-use cases. |
| 13 | Course review. |