Jan¬ Addams as the foundation of my individualized teaching philosophy. since 1990, t have ¬xamin¬d the wotks of these classical American pragmatists in my life as a scholar.When I began to discove.<br><br> 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 American Pragmatism,' 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 of inquiry and that inquiry involves transformations.As a t¬acher, one of my iobs is to facilitate the tmnsfomations of inquiry by developing teaching tools.Third,I treat the class as a conrmunity of inquiry Fourth, I focus on pragmatic consequences. Fifth,I broaden my own and the students' horizons by bridging dualiti¬s such as theory/practice.Afld fu1ally, 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 that the specific conditions which exist at one moment, be they comparatively bad or comparatiyely good, in any event may be bettered.lt encourages int¬lli- gence to work to improve conditions and it atouses reasonabl¬ness and conidenc¬ as optimism does not'@ewey, 1929, 179).I apply the spirir offfirical oplimism to the student leamer and to the two cours¬s.<br><br> 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 to improve and stretch as 4 professional. Courses that are founded on a spidt of critical optimism are con- standy reviewed for improvements.<br><br> Examples of improv¬menls in the MPA capstone experience include . the developmenl ofw¬b syllabi ' the use of a class list serve across courses Table L Classifyingt4icro-Conceprual Frameworks Quest/bn Stotr:srcoi Te.hnique Exploration Anything Goes Hypotheses Mod¬h of Ope|ations Case study is typical: structured interviews, focus Sroup,Anything goes-surYey, existlhg aSSregated dara Usually quelitative Survey and ContentAnalysis lfEeneralizing and content analysis lfgeneralizing -Case study. Cost BenefitAnalysis, ProSramminS,de¬ision Experim¬ntaland desiSn (broadly defi n¬d) Survey, existinS data Anything Soes - Any type of statistical analysis possible Description Gauging How close h Descriptlve Categories Practical ldealType Simpl¬ descriptive satktics Simple descriptiye lf case study- Quantitativ¬ Operations Correlation, t-test, Chi Square.<br><br> simple and multiple Decision f4aking Explanation/ 8 Jaltrnal oJ Public Alfairs Educatiolx . the expansion ofthe or;rl exam conrni$ees to indudc Frculq frcm orher deparlmen!s. unjltr- sity administrators,and pmctitionets .<br><br> oral exams moved to the state capitol and city haI . the development of conceptual fram¬works that organize the paper (se¬ Table 1) . a requircment that students de!"elop tables link- ing th¬ir conceptual fr.mework to the literature and to the mod¬s of evidenc¬ collection Wlen students writ¬ a large rescarch paper, th¬y ar¬ engaged in a fofm of inquiry.That simpl¬ insight prop¬lled my teaching in n¬w dircctions.I crcdit John Dew¬y's ,a.E,q t e meory of Inquiry (1918) as th¬ source of the insight.<br><br> Devey plac¬s purpos¬' ful human inquiry as a focal point of his philosophy, He define$ inquiry as'th¬ controlled or dircctcd tfllnsformation of an indetermlnate situation (finding a 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 stress that lhe rmnsformarions ,)f inqury are ollen rdg- gered by doubt associated wilh lhe quejrioning of existing belief systems. Doubt ls resolved through ilrther inquiry and reflective thought.<br><br> An effective way 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.<br><br> As they learch rhe lircrature. th(ir inilial under<rarrding is cha enged (doubt $tage) by the Literature (dis¬quilib- rium).As thef reading and note-taking procetd, they move up th¬ leaming curve. Eventually they reach a new equilibrium wherc th¬ir understanding co$ains geater complexitlrTools d1a1 direct their Progfess ajd the joumey of discoveryr I have developed two tools that keep snrd¬nts on track-drc Step ,,/ Srep notebook method and micro{onceptual fmmeworks.The .t ep notebook helps tlrc student stay focus¬d by organizing their time, materials, and ideas.I developed this tool as a struggling assistant professor while doing my o\tn research.I use the method today and credit it with my own limited success as a scholar, When t began teaching the Research Methods classj I introduced it A Prdqmatic Teaching PbilosoqbJl to students.<br><br> Students praised the behind'th¬-scenes organization the notebook provided. Nevefiheless, the notebook was nothing more than an assignflent. After rcading John Dewey's ZogO I began to see it ns a tool of inquhy because it brought order to the tangible world, alowing the student to focus more directly on th¬ litemture as well as the doubi, conirsion, surprise, and critical thinking associated with the tmrsformations of prag- matic inquty.'MPA $aduate Kevin Baum notes that the Step notebook method is a "practical approach to rcsearch that provides a critical forum for intemal debate...and opponmity to write and thinl( about what we have read';and Sam Wilson found the Jtel method us¬fuI b¬cause it "stimulatc$ fertil¬ and pro- ductive thinking in a cdtical manfl¬r]5 Th¬ s¬cond tool I llse to facilitate inquty is mof¬ abstracl, Using D¬wey's Ioglc nnd Jamcs' Pragmatlsm,l now viev tleory a$ a tool.<br><br> My job as teacher is to help the strdent find the tool that enlbl¬s thcm to address their research question and hclp th¬m engage in dntn coliection and atulysis. As public affhirs practition¬rs they too should view the- ory as a tool that helped them be more effective. '[he understanding of theodes ls tools began with rvilliam James' hotel corridor mctaphori "Pragmatism lies m the midst of theories Like a hotel corridor,All th¬ rooms open out to in and all the rcoms can be entefed, l'mSmatism owns dlc coffi dor and the nght to move freely ftom room to roonf' (1907, 54).<br><br> Thus, therc are many useful theo" ries, and because the inqldring practitioner owlrs the problem,rtic sit ation he or she decides which theG ry h¬lps address the problem- ln addilion,James (1 959, .i) views theory as 'l way for people to work smart becausc it takes "far less mental ¬ffort" to uoderstand the complexities of the wodd. Like any good tool, theory makes life easier Eerly in the fust course,I distinguish between the larger meta-theories that students leam in their MPA classes and the naffower micro-conceptual frame works drcy will need to develop for th¬ir applied research projects. For yeafs,I used tritditionai research puposes (¬xplanation, descripfion, and exploration)6 ,rs a medlaflism for students to fiarrow their 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.<br><br> Students always had qucstions about conc¬ptuat ftame\rorks, \Vhat is a micfo{onceplual ftamework? How is it identined for a particular rcsearch ques- tion? Wher¬ do I find th¬ framework?<br><br> How is it trsed? I nevcr admitted to myself that I could not rcally name whet I w?s talking about.I was supris¬d to find thal Dewey discussed conceptual filmewotks it ZoSr'c, Somehow.I saw a connection betweefi Dcwey's insights and the student queslions.I began to se¬ that ther¬ wer¬ lots of differ¬rt t).pes of con- ceptual franework and that these frameworks grcuped oaturally around th¬ reijearch purposes defined abov¬. Usin¬i th¬ connection between frumc, work and rcsearch purpos¬,I d¬v¬loped five pairs of pufpos¬/micro-concepnlal fr^mework.They rre exploration/working hlTroth¬ses, descdption/cate, gories, gaugindpracticid ideal type, decision-mak- ing/mod¬ls of operations relicffch, and explanatioo/fomal hypotheses.T (SeeTable I for the listing of these fmmeworks).<br><br> InTbe Conoluct of Inqulrl4 Abraham Kaplan (1964,268) poinrs our rhat one ofth¬ mo$ practical purposc$ 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.<br><br> Theoly is useful because it guides the collection of data and the subsequent analysis, by showing us beforehand where the data are to be fitted, md q/hat we arc to make of them wheD we get them,,,without a theory however provisional or loos¬ly formuhted, thcrc is ,)nly a mis( rllany of obsenation5 having no significance. '$/ith this insight,I was able to see that certirin mod¬s of data collection and even statistical tech- niques lired up with the purposes and micro frame- works.The material inTable 1 plays an importanr role at all steges of th¬ fiJst course because it allows s!u, dents to work throwh thef research question/pur- pose and then have a sense of how to proceed (write a successfr. proposal).<br><br> students afe forced to specify thefu micro frnm¬works because I require that the student identi4. the micro-conceptual framework and linll( it to the literature and modes of data coll¬ction 10 Jouttdl al Public Allairs Educatian a1 the prcposal slage.Widl the micrc-conceptuat ftameworks fun y in place,I am alwal,s consistent as the advisor because the framewofk allows m¬ to see quickly what is going. Supervision takes far less men- td effortl One final nole on conc¬ptual fmmeworks-stt dents erc requfued to construct this tool from the li!<br><br> eratur¬. Som¬1imes they find a fram¬wofk in the liter- an[e;oth¬r timc$ they must constnrct th¬ir own, Dewey (1938, 16) majntains that Ther¬ is the same sort of advaxtage in having conceptual Jtameoorks maNfacturcd and on hand in advance of ictual occasions for th¬ir use, a$ ther¬ is in having tools ready instead of improvising them when need arises litalcs addedl. I hav¬ learned to rela"x and let th¬se tools prcpel and strengthen the tnnsfomations of inquiry thnt occur during the ARP procc$$, Most stud¬nts see the value of the .tftl notebook immediately.<br><br> On the othef hand, micro-conceptual framewo*s generally become highly valued when the students wflre me rerlrlts chaptcr Then lhe enrirc capsrone experience makes more seflse, Aside from developing the rools of inquiry, t also try 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¬nts eypcri¬nce cornections between each other, with me, with the authors of the literature they rcad, and with former students, Cofllections are enhanced through class assignments; pr¬sentations by forner snldents, and, rcccntly, a class list serve.The ARP-L (Iist serve) ljnks the strdents within md betwccn classes (53J5 ard 539D.The list serve gives me a v/ay to communicate with the POSI 5397 srudents wlro meet as a group only oncc, one indication of how connected the students feel is their rclucrancc to get off tlrc list after drcy graduate. Cuffendy,81 students are on the list serve.<br><br> Approximately 60 gradual¬s are still engaged as pan of the community of inquiry through the list serve. In the last few months,I have begun sffessing in a oew way the importance of community, I have noticed that the students le:lst likely to finish fieir ARq regardless of ability, are the ones that are most isolated ftom the group. Robert Boice (1990, 100), a resp¬ct¬d scholar in the psychology of writing, notes that "most writing is, after all, a social act." Hc identi- fi¬d social skills deficits as contributing to writers block- He has fourd that effective writers'build social n¬twork"(102).<br><br> I explicitly encourage social n¬tworks in the capstone ¬xperience, Charles Sanders Peirce (1958b) defined classical pragmarism by linlrnS idea5 and actiorls ro rhcir practical eff¬cts (or us¬fulness). So too I judge my teaching assignments, lectures, rcadings, list serve, etc.,by thet consequences.The fust oveffiding pfic- tical cons¬quence is for the studenls to write a paper that they cari successfully d¬f¬nd (and ther¬" fore graduate).ln addition, I encourage studenls to choos¬ topics that their ag¬nci¬s can use,9Mosl stlr' dents indicate that thef orgarization and writing skills 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 surpdsing consequ¬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.<br><br> plan and manage proiecrr. reque\r approprja- lion5. re5rdy bcfure theTexa\ y:nate,and urSanjze mountiin climbing trips.<br><br> One of the fust anicles I re,rd about Joho Dewey had what I considered a most peculiar title- "Battling Dualisms.'tr It wasn't until I began to bridgc dualisms lik¬ theory/prrctice;teacher/scholar; administmtor/teacher in my role as a teacher that I was able to rulderstand Dewey's insights. One of the fust examples is the notebook mefiod (Step &Jr .ttep). At first th¬ notebook was just a simple teach- ing assignment.<br><br> When I began to see it irs a source of scholarship,lhe m¬thod evolved into a workbook that is now adopted outside SouthwestTcxas State Uni.r'ersiq. Step+tt-Step evolved as I bddged the prac- tice (teaching assignment) and theory (tool of inquiry visa-vis Pmgmatism). A Pragmatic Teacbing Philosopb) Bddging the dualism between administrator OIIPA director) and teacher also imprcved the capstone cxperience.As adminisffator,I help to organize mell- toring activities for students md alumni.<br><br> Recentll4I added a m¬ntoring component to the capstone expedenc¬.Alumni practilione$ have parlicipat¬d in oral examinations and ha!'¬ served as secofld rcad- ers.In this way I can pair students with e\perienced practitioners in their field.The strdent works with the practitioners and develops a relationship.The inclusion of practitioners also offe$ an oppo.tunity to add some diversity to th¬ onl exam conrmitt¬e. Onr example is Sahrina ryadley. an Afri( an American and a rec¬nt gmduate, Martha Ca-\tex'Tatum, San Marcos' fhst African Am¬rican City Council person, was Sabdna's second rcadet Both \romen benefited from the experienc¬ Rec¬ntly the MPA program has h¬ld s¬venl of the practitioner-filled oral ¬xams at theTexas State Capitol.Thjs settjng gave a symbolic presence for the SW'T MPA program in the seat of state government pow¬r.<br><br> Cours¬ innovation invariably follows a$ I bridge seemingly unrelated dualities. The pragmatic spirii of critical optimism leads me to lay much of my teaching open to tle light of pub' lic scrutiny.Firsr. applicd rcsedrch projccrs arc bound and catalog[ed in the svT librarystudent papers improved alrnost immedi^tely after this poli- cy was enacted.<br><br> Even the least motivated student does not want to be embaffassed by vrork $/ith their name on it catalogu¬d in a library. Second,the process is,lso more tdnsparent because a list of applied rcsearch prcjects (since 1992) and abstracts (since 1999) is posted on the swT MPAveb sit¬.12 In addition, the Res¬arch Methods syllabus ard the Applied Research Proiect rcquifements, deadlines, expectations, etc,, are post- ed on the Web.'r Thfd, SWT faculfy and administmtors outside the MPA prcgram selve on oml exirm committees. Over lhe la\l sev¬n years.vice pre\idenr\.<br><br> deans.chaiJs. and faculty from depfftments around the campus have seffed on oral exam committees. Recently, committees have b¬en further op¬ned up to include pmctitioners.<br><br> " Journal af Public A".fairc Educ^tbn 11

less