A Black Box of Teaching?

The concept of the transition from inputs to outputs being a 'black box' is one that exists even outside the realm of teaching. Implementation of policies has been widely hypothesized and theorized within the field of Public Administration, but it has mostly been evaluated through a process of summative, or end-product, assessment that only evaluates products rather than the process.

While there has been increasing literature in various fields on the importance of formative evaluation, which can help to catch problems as they develop rather than only learning about them after the fact, it seems that there has been increasing focus in the actual field on summative assessments. We have become hyper-focused on end products, whether they are grades, standardized test scores, or other arbitrary numbers that are deemed telling of the successes of implementation. They do nothing to tell of the quality of the inputs or what factors during the implementation process caused the success or failure of implementation, leading to outputs that meet or fail to meet expectations.

Perhaps one of the reasons why we have become increasingly focused on output measures rather than process measures is because of the costs involved in measuring the process at multiple points rather than measuring outputs at a single point. There may also be a lack of desire to have one's process evaluated because a lack of willingness to have their process critiqued. It's certainly something that's worth some degree of consideration in the discussion of evaluating summative and formative assessments.

Instruction versus Facilitation

Having enjoyed the privilege of a classic liberal arts education at the University of Richmond for my undergraduate experience, I approach the institution of higher education differently from many others who have not had the same privilege. In my experience, interacting with the material and discussing it leads to a much more complete understanding of a topic than sitting in a lecture. Lectures do not engage the student and make them feel responsible for learning to the same extent that a class discussion can. Of course, class discussions require a group of students who are willing to take on their share of the responsibility for their learning, but that is something that is cultivated over time. As a result, I feel that learning takes place the best in institutions that fully facilitate the learning process across the curriculum, as UofR does. While professors may attempt to engage students on a class by class basis at other, less supportive institutions, this approach may not always prove effective if students have been socialized into the passive "learning" experience.

Interestingly, while we discuss this phenomenon in terms of helping international students adjust to the American educational system, we don't see this discussion taking place as often when comparing different educational systems within the U.S. There are several distinct models of teaching/learning occurring across institutions that are leading to large differences in the types and quality of learning going into the same diploma title. While some of these distinctions are good because of students' individual learning styles, others are harmful because they do not focus on the critical thinking piece of education, leaving students, future employers, and society shortchanged as to the long-term benefits of a college education. If the K-12 system has devolved into one that focuses on the regurgitation of information rather than the creation of knowledge and the postsecondary system is moving in similar directions, then this is a failure of the educational system. The numbers may show "efficiency" in how much money is being spent per student, education cannot accurately be evaluated in terms of dollars alone or by standardized test scores that do not evaluate critical thinking skills.

Research Interests

While I have studied a variety of topics throughout my academic career, the unifying theme to date has been technology. Some of my recent work has included ways that technology may be changing the debate surrounding the legitimacy of sex work, the aftereffects of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. and the U.K. in terms of surveillance technology and citizens' rights, and investigating the barriers that continue to perpetuate the technology/digital divide in terms of citizen engagement in political processes and access to services.

While technology may be an ongoing theme in my research, my background in Sociology and feminist theory provide the lenses through which I interpret the world. I see the area of Public Administration/Affairs as being the site for transforming theory into practice and action. A continuing aspect of my work, both inside and outside of academia, is social equity. I look at the ways in which race, class, and gender, in addition to other categories, interact within society, often stratifying it according to the "matrix of domination," which denotes the ways in which these classifications interact to privilege certain groups over others. The term 'matrix' is used here because it indicates that these categories do not simply have an additive effect of discrimination and oppression (or conversely, privilege), but instead, they affect different people differently depending on other circumstances. Without more knowledge of how these interactions occur, we will not be able to better tailor public policy decisions to help more groups in society, nor will we be able to understand the ways that the government and nonprofit sectors may be reaching or not reaching these populations in effective ways.

My current research for this semester centers around three main projects:

1. I am working with a group of classmates to assist the Richmond Public Library System in determining how to continue making the library a relevant source of information in the age of technology. In this, we will be exploring ways to position the library as a leader in the community to better effect social change through increasing access to technology and facilitating improved use of technology.
2. Continuing my research from last spring comparing the reactions of the U.S. government following 9/11 with the U.K. response following the 7/7 London bombings, I will be comparing the approaches that both the U.S. and the Spanish governments took following so-called "fourth wave" terrorist attacks (foreign attacks by non-state actors) of 9/11 and the 2004 Madrid train bombings, both believed to be perpetrated by al-Qaeda .
3. In late February 2010, I will be presenting a paper that applies postmodern and feminist theoretical lenses to the 9/11 Commission Report's analysis and recommendations and illustrates how approaching a global event from a single perspective, in this case the Public Administration field, will only provide limited understanding of events.