Divide and Conquer:
Tackling Big Projects on a Quarter Schedule

Students bounce ideas off one another during program design

Sandra M. Emerson, a professor of Political Science in Cal Poly Pomona's MPA Program lends her expertise in Public Administration (PhD, USC) to bring service to a community partner and real-life experiential learning to her students. Although she had previously implemented service learning in her classes, it was difficult to complete a meaningful project during a quarter course. In the 2007-08 academic year, the Service Learning Partner was LAWA/Ontario Airport. To provide a successful and useful evaluation of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)/Ontario's Ethical Training Program, Dr. Emerson divided the evaluation into two projects that could be completed in two separate quarters. The first project was to develop and distribute a survey. The second project was to collect and analyze the data from those questionnaires.

Questionnaire Development Activity Prompt Field observation: attend an event and participate in the undertaking. Reflect on the experience and write up what happened, observations, impressions, etc. Discuss individual experiences with other members of the class and develop appropriate questions to capture the gist of the material. Testing the instrument: Have others use the instrument to see if the questions are understood, vary, etc. Make changes to questions based on the feedback and then distribute and analyze data.

Students in MPA 600 (Integration of Theories, Methods and Practices in Public Administration) participated in a day's ethics training by the airport administrator, Bennett Monye, who also provided a session on developing appropriate program questions. Students then developed the survey instrument, which was approved in November 2007 and distributed in December 2007. Students in MPA 504 (Quantitative Methods) entered and analyzed data from the 311 responses to determine the effects of the ethics program on employees. They then developed a report which was given to LAWA/Ontario in March 2008.

Dr. Emerson explained that this opportunity provides MPA students with real, hands on experience regarding evaluating public policies and program. This particular project deals with the complex issue of developing and sustaining ethical standards in a large organization.