Group Homes for Problem Youth:

No abstract available for this article.     

Social Skills Training with Adolescents:

No abstract available for this article.     

Nudge Nudge, Think Think: Two Strategies for Changing Civic Behaviour

This paper reviews two contrasting approaches governments use to engage the citizen to promote better public policy outcomes: nudging citizens using the insights of behavioural economics, as summarised by Thaler and Sunstein (2009) or giving citizens the space to think through and debate solutions, as indicated by proponents of deliberative democracy. The paper summarises each approach, giving examples; then it compares and contrast them, illustrating their relative strengths and weaknesses. The paper concludes by suggesting that the approaches share some common features and policy-makers could useful draw upon both.     

Unpacking a Wicked Problem: Enablers/Impediments to Regional Engagement

A case study approach is applied to review Local Government Authorities (LGA) regional engagement in the Australian context. We address the question ‘What are the key LGA enablers/impediments to regional engagement?’ by applying Leydesdorff's (2000) proposition that triple helix type network systems exhibit patterns of complex behaviour if the interaction factors that trigger enablers are reflexively declared. The three strands of the LGA triple helix network system are institutions, industry and government. In this case study the LGA's overall management of its regional stakeholder relationships resulted in impediments that limit strong regional engagement. Importantly, the findings inform practitioners, policy‐makers and research audiences of the nature of impediments and, by inference, the nature of enablers in LGA triple helix network systems.     

Dilemmas of Policy Innovation in the Public Sector: A Case Study of the National Innovation Summit

Policy innovation is a significant challenge for the public sector. This article illustrates its magnitude through a case study of the National Innovation Summit. The article concludes that the Summit represented an elaborate process of search and engagement that sanctioned an outcome that was, in most respects, largely pre‐determined. Its outreach and deliberations served the political purpose of mobilising industry and media attention and communicating the government's commitment. But there is no evidence that it exercised any substantive influence on policy development. The obstacles confounding any other outcome are considerable. Strategic thinking is inhibited by various organisational factors including lock‐in to a present successful strategy, the constraints on policy choices associated with multiple veto points and the need to maintain medium term fiscal and policy discipline across a wide range of agencies and claimants. The article explores ways these inhibitions might be overcome.     

利用网络平台创新高校思想政治教育

虚拟网络技术与应用在高校的飞速发展,给高校思想政治教育工作带来机遇和挑战。高校思想政治工作者要利用网络平台创新网络心理教育方法、网络文化建设、网络监控方法等,从而切实加强高校学生思想政治教育工作。     

教师在教学中如何激发学生学习兴趣、改进教学方法

有效激发学生的学习兴趣,挖掘学生的创新能力,培养学生的创造性思维,使学生成为社会所需的人才,是现代教育的根本任务。而教师为完成教学任务所采用的教学方法,在教学活动中同样起着至关重要的作用。随着社会的发展,教学方法的改革与创新直接影响到教学的效果。因此,在激发学生学习兴趣的同时,不断改革与创新教育的教学方法至关重要。     

How to Make Using Two-Way Mechanisms Routine: Testing a Preliminary Model

ABSTRACT

Consistent or continuous use of two-way engagement mechanisms is key to effective citizen participation. This article examines how to make the municipal manager’s use of two-way engagement mechanisms more consistent when they prepare local budgets. To test the model, self-administered mail surveys were compiled from two American states—New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The findings address the role of individual intentionality. The municipal manager’s attitudinal willingness, his perceived ease or difficulty, the trust she receives from elected officials, and the capacity to coordinate effectively are significantly related to his consistent use of two-way engagement mechanisms. However, district representatives and pressures channeled through media scrutiny are not able to compel a municipal manager to routine use of such mechanisms.     

Using Creative Assignments to Help Students Integrate Their Learning in a Campaigns and Elections Class

The ability to integrate learning—to make connections across classes or even within a single class—is integral to students becoming better learners, and to growing their capacity to perform as civic actors. We discuss an upper-level Campaigns and Elections class in which the course structure and assignments were set up to encourage students to integrate their learning. As part of the class, students played the role of state party committees during the 2016 presidential election, at first making arguments to devote more national party resources to their state campaign and then reporting back to the national party on how the election went in their state, and what the party must do to maximize its future success. Through coding of student final exam essay questions, we explore the degree to which students were able to achieve the integrative learning goals we had set for them, and examine factors that might help predict which students achieved these learning goals. We conclude by generalizing from our experience to discuss best practices for achieving integrative learning in our courses.