Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 11.002J/17.30J Making Public Policy as it was taught by Prof. Christopher Warshaw and Leah Stokes in Fall 2014.

This course aimed to get students thinking about politics and policy as a part of their everyday lives. We treated politics as a struggle among competing advocates trying to persuade others to see the world as they do, working within a context that is structured primarily by institutions and cultural ideas. We began by developing a policymaking framework, understanding ideology, and taking a whirlwind tour of the American political system. Then, we examined six policy issues in depth: health care, gun control, the federal budget, immigration reform, same-sex marriage, and energy and climate change. We concluded the course wtih a summary class and a student-driven, in-class oral project.

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

  • Acquire substantive knowledge about public policy in the US
  • Develop critical reasoning skills
  • Analyze policy and understand political arguments
  • Improve oral and written communication skills
 

Instructor Insights

... we tried not to make lectures a one-way experience.

—Leah Stokes

Below, Leah Stokes describes various aspects of how she and Prof. Chris Warshaw taught 11.002J/17.30J Making Public Policy.

For many students at MIT, public policy, political science, planning, and even social science, more generally, are not their primary fields of study. In order to ensure that students remained engaged throughout the course, we tried not to make lectures a one-way experience. We actively called on students throughout the class, including cold calling to check that they were keeping up with the readings and grasping the main ideas. Furthermore, we embedded interactive class activities in many of the lectures, allowing the students to discuss topics with each other in small groups and to hear different points of views.

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

No previous coursework required.

Requirements Satisfied

CI-H

HASS

HASS-S

Offered

Every fall semester

The Classroom

  • A classroom with chalkboards, several rows of flat tables for students, and a small table at the front for the instructors.

    Room 1 of 2 Click for next classroom.

    Classroom

    Lectures for this course were held in a seminar room with a capacity of 56, moveable flat tables and chairs arranged in several rows, and a video projector.

  • A classroom with chalkboards and a large square table with chairs around it.

    Click for previous classroom. Room 2 of 2

    Recitation

    Recitations for this course were taught in a small seminar room with a capacity of 16, moveable seminar tables, and a video projector.

 

Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by attendance. 65% Papers (varying percentages)
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by class participation. 10% Final Oral Project
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by in-class reports. 25% Class Participation
 

Student Information

50 students took this course when it was taught in Fall 2014.

Limiting the class to between 50 and 60 students is ideal because it would be difficult to have active classroom discussions with a class size larger than this. Having 50 to 60 students also allows the teaching assistants to divide the class into four reasonably-sized recitation sections.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

3 hours per week
  • Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hours per session; 26 sessions total; mandatory attendance
 

Recitation

1 hour per week
  • Met 1 time per week for 1 hour per session; 12 sessions total; mandatory attendance
 

Out of Class

8 hours per week
  • Weekly readings, which provided background information and a broader theoretical framework for analyzing policy issues
  • Four papers on specific policy issues featured during the course
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
2 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
3 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No classes throughout MIT.
4 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
5 Exam Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
6 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
7 No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture, due date Recitation
8 Exam Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
9 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
10 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation, exam
11 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
12 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting Recitation
13 No session scheduled. Lecture session, class meeting No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
14 No session scheduled. Lecture, exam No session scheduled. Lecture, presentation Recitation
15 No session scheduled. Lecture, presentation No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
16 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when lecture sessions are held. Lecture session
Project Presentations Project presentations
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when assignments are due. Assignment due date
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when recitation sessions are held. Recitation session
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when exams are held. Exam
 

Course Team Roles

Instructors (Prof. Chris Warshaw & Leah Stokes)

The instructors ran lecture sessions, trading off based on policy modules and their different backgrounds and areas of expertise.

Teaching Assistant

Two teaching assistants facilitated weekly recitation sessions and managed grading.