A Syracuse University professor has contributed to designing a course on citizenship engagement offered by the World Bank.

Tina Nabatchi, an associate professor of public administration and international affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, assisted curriculum coordination for “Engaging Citizens: A Game Changer for Development?” a Massive Open Online Course on citizen engagement organized by the World Bank Group.

The course, which began on March 15, is a free, four-week session taught by World Bank officials. It is open to the general public, and certificate of completion will be given at the end for recognition. As of Monday, more than 15,000 people had subscribed to the course.

“The purpose of the course was to help understand that public participation can be done literally in a million and 12 different ways, and when we decide to engage the public, we need to be strategic about what we want to do, why we want to do it and how we are getting to the goals of the project,” Nabatchi said.

She added that she discussed some innovative forms of participation such as citizen initiative review and participatory budgeting in the module. Nabatchi said the biggest goal of the course is to make sense of what good citizenship participation looks like.

Her research on the role of citizens in shaping public policies was incorporated into one of the four modules.

Nabatchi said while her work and research on public participation have been featured on numerous occasions in the past, being picked up by the global financial institution was something extraordinary.

“It was a real honor and a real privilege for me to be included in the efforts of the World Bank,” she said.

Nabatchi added that designing modules was a collaborative process with World Bank officials, academics and public participation practitioners. Nabatchi said she has yet to hear feedback from instructors and students on the material, but is expecting to hear them at the end of the course.

Meanwhile Nabatchi said people from around the world are tweeting a lot about what they are seeing of the course using a hashtag, posting insights and questions.

In a kick-off event unveiling the course on March 16 in Washington, D.C., World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the MOOC is critical in promoting the importance of citizen engagement to eradicate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.

“Citizen engagement helps achieve these objectives because it opens up the process of delivering public services and makes both the government ourselves, by ourselves we mean here at the World Bank, more accountable for the work we do,” Kim said.

Nabatchi said technology plays an important role in citizen engagement.

“We have these incredible innovations that enable people to provide data and input to rank their policy preferences to contribute to problem solving all with a click of a button on the phone or swipe of their finger,” Nabatchi said.

When asked about the role of the Maxwell School in reaching a broader audience beyond classroom settings, Nabatchi said the role is a special place where faculty members and students can help shape and improve society.

“Almost everybody I know, their research, scholarly activities and teaching are aimed at having impacts that reach far beyond the wall of Maxwell,” Nabatchi said.

Published on March 25, 2015 at 9:10 pm

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