Teaching Collaborative Governance Online: Aligning Collaborative Instruction with Online Learning Platforms

Abstract

This article focuses on the value of aligning course content and delivery in online instruction. It expands our conceptualization of online learning platforms and multiple instructional roles in the context of teaching collaborative governance. The School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona has developed a Collaborative Governance Program for graduate and professional students to learn how to work together more effectively across institutional, geographic, economic, and social boundaries in different policy domains. In this article, we present the two basic pedagogical building blocks that support the program’s online instruction—collaborative capacity and collaborative learning—and describe how the program is integrating multiple online learning platforms with multiple instructional roles. We conclude by discussing how to generalize from these experiences and how the program is working to evaluate the effectiveness of these instructional approaches.

Keywords:

• Collaborative governance
• online learning
• collaborative learning
• learning platforms
• instructional roles

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kirk Emerson

Kirk Emerson is professor of practice in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on collaborative governance, interagency cooperation, and conflict management, particularly related to climate change, public lands management, and border security.

Andrea K. Gerlak

Andrea K. Gerlak is director of academic development with the International Studies Association at the University of Connecticut and senior policy scholar with the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona. Her research examines the causes of—and innovative solutions to—some of our world’s most pressing water problems.