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A Pragmatic Teaching Philosophy

Patricia M. ShieldsSouthwest Texas State Uniuetsity

I would like to pr€face this discussion by noting that I am luckyenough to t€ach the capstone experienc€ for the Masters of PublicAdministration Prcg&m 4t SouthwestTexas State Univer$ity (SV'D.Th€capstone experienc€ is a process ihat takes two semesters. [n the frstcourse, "Problems in Research Methodology" (PoSI 5335), students findtheir research question, prepare a literature revieq and present apfospectus. In th€ second cour$e,'Applied Research Proiect' (POSI539D, stud€nts write a formal prosp€ctus, collect data, and write th€irApplied Research Prqect (ARP).The Applted Res€arch Project classdoes not meet fofmally and is managed via th€ l11temet. Studentsdefend their paper in an oral exam befor€ a conurittee at th€ end ofthe semesterThe classes are small, usually wlth seven to 18 studentsp€r class,The twosemest$ format and small class size ptovide me withunique opportunities to give students individualized attentio4. Since1992,I have sup€rvised more than 200 Applied R€search Projects.

I use the philosophy ofJohn Dewey,William James, charles sandersPehce, aod Jan€ Addams as the foundation of my individualized teachingphilosophy. since 1990, t have €xamin€d the wotks of these classicalAmerican pragmatists in my life as a scholar.When I began to discove.that their ideas had application for the classroom, my teaching becam€mofe coherent and my students began wiining awards,

Thercfore, within the larger fram€work of Classical AmericanPragmatism,' I filst approach teaching with a spftit of critical optrmism.second,I take as a point of depanure fiat a research paper is a form ofinquiry and that inquiry involves transformations.As a t€acher, one ofmy iobs is to facilitate the tmnsfomations of inquiry by developingteaching tools.Third,I treat the class as a conrmunity of inquiry Fourth,I focus on pragmatic consequences. Fifth,I broaden my own and thestudents' horizons by bridging dualiti€s such as theory/practice.Afldfu1ally, wheftver possible,l open the class lo the light of public scruliny'I-PAE 9 (200r:1:7-12

Jonnal ofPublic A-fJai^ Erlucatrcn 7

A Praqlnatic Teaching Pbilasophll

Critical optimism (meliorism) "is rhe belief thatthe specific conditions which exist at one moment,be they comparatively bad or comparatiyely good, inany event may be bettered.lt encourages int€lli-gence to work to improve conditions and it atousesreasonabl€ness and conidenc€ as optimism doesnot'@ewey, 1929, 179).I apply the spirir offfiricaloplimism to the student leamer and to the twocours€s. Lun oplimistic that each sludent has the

pote ial to write a fine applied rcsearch project.Th€fe is, however, room fot €v€ry student toimprove and stretch as 4 professional. Courses thatare founded on a spidt of critical optimism are con-standy reviewed for improvements. Examples ofimprov€menls in the MPA capstone experienceinclude

. the developmenl ofw€b syllabi' the use of a class list serve across courses

Table L Classifyingt4icro-Conceprual Frameworks

Quest/bnStotr:srcoiTe.hnique

ExplorationAnything Goes Hypotheses

Mod€h ofOpe|ations

Case study is typical:structured interviews,

focus Sroup,Anythinggoes-surYey, existlhgaSSregated daraUsually quelitative

Survey andContentAnalysis

lfEeneralizing

and content analysislfgeneralizing

-Case study.

Cost BenefitAnalysis,

ProSramminS,de€ision

Experim€ntaland

desiSn (broadly defi n€d)Survey, existinS data

Anything Soes -Any type ofstatisticalanalysis possible

Description

Gauging How close h

DescriptlveCategories

Practical ldealType

Simpl€descriptive satktics

Simple descriptiye

lf case study-

Quantitativ€

Operations

Correlation, t-test,Chi Square.

simple and multiple

Decision f4aking

Explanation/

8 Jaltrnal oJ Public Alfairs Educatiolx

. the expansion ofthe or;rl exam conrni$ees toindudc Frculq frcm orher deparlmen!s. unjltr-sity administrators,and pmctitionets

. oral exams moved to the state capitol andcity haI

. the development of conceptual fram€worksthat organize the paper (se€ Table 1)

. a requircment that students de!"elop tables link-ing th€ir conceptual fr.mework to the literatureand to the mod€s of evidenc€ collection

Wlen students writ€ a large rescarch paper, th€yar€ engaged in a fofm of inquiry.That simpl€ insightprop€lled my teaching in n€w dircctions.I crcditJohn Dew€y's ,a.E,q t e meory of Inquiry (1918)as th€ source of the insight. Devey plac€s purpos€'ful human inquiry as a focal point of his philosophy,He define$ inquiry as'th€ controlled or dircctcdtfllnsformation of an indetermlnate situation (findinga rcse,rch question, se€king an approach to addreli$-ing the r€search question)...into a unifi€d whole"(completed paper). Both Dew€y and Peirce stressthat lhe rmnsformarions ,)f inqury are ollen rdg-gered by doubt associated wilh lhe quejrioning ofexisting belief systems. Doubt ls resolved throughilrther inquiry and reflective thought. An effectiveway to communicate the vahe of the uansfolma-tions of ulquiry is a leffning curve. Students ffc ini.tially attracted to a topic and have a $€nse of "whnt

is."They begin in a type of equilibrium. As theylearch rhe lircrature. th(ir inilial under<rarrding ischa enged (doubt $tage) by the Literature (dis€quilib-rium).As thef reading and note-taking procetd, theymove up th€ leaming curve. Eventually they reach anew equilibrium wherc th€ir understanding co$ainsgeater complexitlrTools d1a1 direct their Progfessajd the joumey of discoveryr

I have developed two tools that keep snrd€nts ontrack-drc Step ,,/ Srep notebook method andmicro{onceptual fmmeworks.The .t ep notebookhelps tlrc student stay focus€d by organizing theirtime, materials, and ideas.I developed this tool as astruggling assistant professor while doing my o\tnresearch.I use the method today and credit it withmy own limited success as a scholar, When t beganteaching the Research Methods classj I introduced it

A Prdqmatic Teaching PbilosoqbJl

to students. Students praised the behind'th€-scenesorganization the notebook provided.

Nevefiheless, the notebook was nothing morethan an assignflent. After rcading John Dewey'sZogO I began to see it ns a tool of inquhy because itbrought order to the tangible world, alowing thestudent to focus more directly on th€ litemture aswell as the doubi, conirsion, surprise, and criticalthinking associated with the tmrsformations of prag-matic inquty.'MPA $aduate Kevin Baum notes thatthe Step notebook method is a "practical approachto rcsearch that provides a critical forum for intemaldebate...and opponmity to write and thinl( aboutwhat we have read';and Sam Wilson found the Jtelmethod us€fuI b€cause it "stimulatc$ fertil€ and pro-ductive thinking in a cdtical manfl€r]5

Th€ s€cond tool I llse to facilitate inquty ismof€ abstracl, Using D€wey's Ioglc nnd Jamcs'Pragmatlsm,l now viev tleory a$ a tool. My jobas teacher is to help the strdent find the tool thatenlbl€s thcm to address their research question andhclp th€m engage in dntn coliection and atulysis. Aspublic affhirs practition€rs they too should view the-ory as a tool that helped them be more effective.

'[he understanding of theodes ls tools beganwith rvilliam James' hotel corridor mctaphori"Pragmatism lies m the midst of theories Like a hotelcorridor,All th€ rooms open out to in and all thercoms can be entefed, l'mSmatism owns dlc coffidor and the nght to move freely ftom room toroonf' (1907, 54). Thus, therc are many useful theo"ries, and because the inqldring practitioner owlrs theproblem,rtic sit ation he or she decides which theGry h€lps address the problem- ln addilion,James(1 959, .i) views theory as 'l way for people to worksmart becausc it takes "far less mental €ffort" touoderstand the complexities of the wodd. Like anygood tool, theory makes life easier

Eerly in the fust course,I distinguish between thelarger meta-theories that students leam in their MPAclasses and the naffower micro-conceptual frameworks drcy will need to develop for th€ir appliedresearch projects. For yeafs,I used tritditionairesearch puposes (€xplanation, descripfion, andexploration)6 ,rs a medlaflism for students to fiarrowtheir topic and rcfin€ thef research question.Aft€r

Journdl of Pttblic AlJain E lucation 9

A Pragm4tic Teacbing Pbikrropb)

finding the topic their next step was to 6nd a con-ceptual ftamework fot dleil research question.Students always had qucstions about conc€ptuatftame\rorks, \Vhat is a micfo{onceplual ftamework?How is it identined for a particular rcsearch ques-tion? Wher€ do I find th€ framework? How is it trsed?

I nevcr admitted to myself that I could not rcallyname whet I w?s talking about.I was supris€d tofind thal Dewey discussed conceptual filmewotks itZoSr'c, Somehow.I saw a connection betweefiDcwey's insights and the student queslions.I beganto se€ that ther€ wer€ lots of differ€rt t).pes of con-ceptual franework and that these frameworksgrcuped oaturally around th€ reijearch purposesdefined abov€. Usin€i th€ connection between frumc,work and rcsearch purpos€,I d€v€loped five pairs ofpufpos€/micro-concepnlal fr^mework.They rreexploration/working hlTroth€ses, descdption/cate,gories, gaugindpracticid ideal type, decision-mak-ing/mod€ls of operations relicffch, andexplanatioo/fomal hypotheses.T (SeeTable I for thelisting of these fmmeworks).

InTbe Conoluct of Inqulrl4 Abraham Kaplan(1964,268) poinrs our rhat one ofth€ mo$ practicalpurposc$ of theory is that it helps organizes the col.lection dnd anfllysis of data.

Every theory serves, h part, as a rcsearch dir€c,tive. Theoly is useful because it guides the collectionof data and the subsequent analysis, by showing usbeforehand where the data are to be fitted, md q/hatwe arc to make of them wheD we get them,,,withouta theory however provisional or loos€ly formuhted,thcrc is ,)nly a mis( rllany of obsenation5 having nosignificance.

'$/ith this insight,I was able to see that certirinmod€s of data collection and even statistical tech-niques lired up with the purposes and micro frame-works.The material inTable 1 plays an importanr roleat all steges of th€ fiJst course because it allows s!u,dents to work throwh thef research question/pur-pose and then have a sense of how to proceed (writea successfr. proposal). students afe forced to specifythefu micro frnm€works because I require that thestudent identi4. the micro-conceptual framework andlinll( it to the literature and modes of data coll€ction

10 Jouttdl al Public Allairs Educatian

a1 the prcposal slage.Widl the micrc-conceptuatftameworks fun y in place,I am alwal,s consistent asthe advisor because the framewofk allows m€ to seequickly what is going. Supervision takes far less men-td effortl

One final nole on conc€ptual fmmeworks-sttdents erc requfued to construct this tool from the li!eratur€. Som€1imes they find a fram€wofk in the liter-an[e;oth€r timc$ they must constnrct th€ir own,Dewey (1938, 16) majntains that

Ther€ is the same sort of advaxtage in havingconceptual Jtameoorks maNfacturcd and onhand in advance of ictual occasions for th€iruse, a$ ther€ is in having tools ready instead ofimprovising them when need arises litalcsaddedl.

I hav€ learned to rela"x and let th€se tools prcpeland strengthen the tnnsfomations of inquiry thntoccur during the ARP procc$$, Most stud€nts see thevalue of the .tftl notebook immediately. On the othefhand, micro-conceptual framewo*s generallybecome highly valued when the students wflre mererlrlts chaptcr Then lhe enrirc capsrone experiencemakes more seflse,

Aside from developing the rools of inquiry, t alsotry to create a conmunity of inquifys during the cap-stone expedence,The pojnt here is that I try to cre-ate a sense of interconnectedness. Ideally, stud€ntseypcri€nce cornections between each other, withme, with the authors of the literature they rcad, andwith former students, Cofllections are enhancedthrough class assignments; pr€sentations by fornersnldents, and, rcccntly, a class list serve.The ARP-L(Iist serve) ljnks the strdents within md betwccnclasses (53J5 ard 539D.The list serve gives me av/ay to communicate with the POSI 5397 srudentswlro meet as a group only oncc, one indication ofhow connected the students feel is their rclucranccto get off tlrc list after drcy graduate. Cuffendy,81students are on the list serve. Approximately 60gradual€s are still engaged as pan of the communityof inquiry through the list serve.

In the last few months,I have begun sffessing in aoew way the importance of community, I havenoticed that the students le:lst likely to finish fieirARq regardless of ability, are the ones that are mostisolated ftom the group. Robert Boice (1990, 100), aresp€ct€d scholar in the psychology of writing, notesthat "most writing is, after all, a social act." Hc identi-fi€d social skills deficits as contributing to writersblock- He has fourd that effective writers'buildsocial n€twork"(102). I explicitly encourage socialn€tworks in the capstone €xperience,

Charles Sanders Peirce (1958b) defined classicalpragmarism by linlrnS idea5 and actiorls ro rhcirpractical eff€cts (or us€fulness). So too I judge myteaching assignments, lectures, rcadings, list serve,etc.,by thet consequences.The fust oveffiding pfic-tical cons€quence is for the studenls to write apaper that they cari successfully d€f€nd (and ther€"fore graduate).ln addition, I encourage studenls tochoos€ topics that their ag€nci€s can use,9Mosl stlr'dents indicate that thef orgarization and writingskills improv€ drastically while €ngaged in th€ car}stone experi€nc€.As a rcsult,many students are pfo.moted or go on to more tuLffIlng jobs.roA surpdsingconsequ€nc€ ofthe notebook method ls its applica'tion outside the context of formal scholarljhip,Former students have used the method to plan wed"dings, m4nag€ large-scale soft*'are development pro-jecrs. plan and manage proiecrr. reque\r approprja-lion5. re5rdy bcfure theTexa\ y:nate,and urSanjzemountiin climbing trips.

One of the fust anicles I re,rd about Joho Deweyhad what I considered a most peculiar title-"Battling Dualisms.'tr It wasn't until I began tobridgc dualisms lik€ theory/prrctice;teacher/scholar;administmtor/teacher in my role as a teacher that Iwas able to rulderstand Dewey's insights. One of thefust examples is the notebook mefiod (Step &Jr.ttep). At first th€ notebook was just a simple teach-ing assignment. When I began to see it irs a source ofscholarship,lhe m€thod evolved into a workbookthat is now adopted outside SouthwestTcxas StateUni.r'ersiq. Step+tt-Step evolved as I bddged the prac-tice (teaching assignment) and theory (tool ofinquiry visa-vis Pmgmatism).

A Pragmatic Teacbing Philosopb)

Bddging the dualism between administrator OIIPAdirector) and teacher also imprcved the capstonecxperience.As adminisffator,I help to organize mell-toring activities for students md alumni. Recentll4Iadded a m€ntoring component to the capstoneexpedenc€.Alumni practilione$ have parlicipat€d inoral examinations and ha!'€ served as secofld rcad-ers.In this way I can pair students with e\periencedpractitioners in their field.The strdent works withthe practitioners and develops a relationship.Theinclusion of practitioners also offe$ an oppo.tunityto add some diversity to th€ onl exam conrmitt€e.Onr example is Sahrina ryadley. an Afri( an Americanand a rec€nt gmduate, Martha Ca-\tex'Tatum, SanMarcos' fhst African Am€rican City Council person,was Sabdna's second rcadet Both \romen benefitedfrom the experienc€

Rec€ntly the MPA program has h€ld s€venl of thepractitioner-filled oral €xams at theTexas StateCapitol.Thjs settjng gave a symbolic presence for theSW'T MPA program in the seat of state governmentpow€r. Cours€ innovation invariably follows a$ Ibridge seemingly unrelated dualities.

The pragmatic spirii of critical optimism leads meto lay much of my teaching open to tle light of pub'lic scrutiny.Firsr. applicd rcsedrch projccrs arcbound and catalog[ed in the svT librarystudentpapers improved alrnost immedi^tely after this poli-cy was enacted. Even the least motivated studentdoes not want to be embaffassed by vrork $/ith theirname on it catalogu€d in a library.

Second,the process is,lso more tdnsparentbecause a list of applied rcsearch prcjects (since1992) and abstracts (since 1999) is posted on theswT MPAveb sit€.12 In addition, the Res€archMethods syllabus ard the Applied Research Proiectrcquifements, deadlines, expectations, etc,, are post-ed on the Web.'r

Thfd, SWT faculfy and administmtors outside theMPA prcgram selve on oml exirm committees. Overlhe la\l sev€n years.vice pre\idenr\. deans.chaiJs.and faculty from depfftments around the campushave seffed on oral exam committees. Recently,committees have b€en further op€ned up to includepmctitioners. "

Journal af Public A".fairc Educ^tbn 11