Postgraduate Course: Future Governance (Online) (EFIE11485)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | *Programme Core Course: Future Governance (MSc)*
Please Note:
This course is only available to students enrolled on the Future Governance (MSc) degree programme.
This course critically examines the opportunities, challenges and limitations of technology and data - including big data, algorithms and artificial intelligence - in public policy. We address the opportunities but also challenges and limitations of these approaches and highlight how they can go radically wrong but when used well can improve policy making that result in improved outcomes. This course will be hands on with plenty of discussion and evaluation of approaches using real world data. |
| Course description |
The course is designed to explore the extent to which and ways in which public policy making has become digital, data driven and more technologically functional. We investigate future opportunities for such changes and evaluate the lessons learned from experience.
We will engage critically with the interface between governance/public policy and technology especially technological innovation and change in liberal democracies. This will include access to and engagement with government services from agenda setting through to implementation and evaluation. We will consider how technology is, and may be, used in the delivery of public services. The processes of data analysis in the era of 'big data' will be investigated. We will evaluate emerging technologies in artificial intelligence and the opportunities and limitations presented by these developments. We will investigate how social media has been used as a communication tool in disseminating and gathering public information and discuss the possible impact this has had. We will investigate the likely direction of innovation and future development.
This course will be taught in a hybrid format.
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1) Provide an understanding of governance and public policy.
2) Demonstrate a critical understanding of the main areas of study linked to the use of technology in government.
3) Explain key technologies.
4) Develop original and creative responses to data driven problems.
5) Demonstrate their ability to deliver - in verbal and written form - coherent, balanced arguments surrounding the use of data.
6) Work in a peer relationship and make an identifiable contribution to change and development and/or new thinking.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details). There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 6,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 8,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) 1500 Word Evaluation (65%)
Each student will produce a 1,500 word evaluation on a future governance topic.
2) Group Presentation (25%)
Each student will participate in a 10 minute group presentation. Each group will present for 10-20 minutes on an assigned paper / lead a discussion on the paper. Slides must be submitted the day before the presentation in PDF format. Each group must provide a slide outlining the contribution of each member. The presentations will be recorded.
3) Study Participation (10%)
Each student will receive a participation mark which reflects their participation in all teaching activities. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Provide an understanding of governance and public policy.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the main areas of study linked to the use of technology in government.
- Explain key technologies
- Develop original and creative responses to data driven problems.
- Demonstrate their ability to deliver - in verbal and written form - coherent, balanced arguments surrounding the use of data.
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Reading List
Peters, B.G., Advanced Introduction to Public Policy, 2nd edition, Cheltenham, Glos, Edward Elgar, 2021.
https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/permalink/44UOE_INST/110jsec/alma9925163697702466
Pierre, J. & Peters, B.G., Advanced Introduction to Governance, Cheltenham, Glos, Edward Elgar, 2021.
https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/permalink/44UOE_INST/110jsec/alma9925163697702466
Frederick Shauer, The Proof: uses of evidence in law, politics and everything else, Harvard University Press, 2022.
https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/permalink/44UOE_INST/1viuo5v/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1007_s41020_023_00212_0
Hood, Christopher, The Tools of Government in the Information Age', in Robert Goodin, Michael Moran, and Martin Rein (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy (2008; online edn, Oxford Academic, 2 Sept. 2009), https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548453.003.0022
Johann Höchtl, Peter Parycek & Ralph Schöllhammer (2016) Big data in the policy cycle: Policy decision making in the digital era, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 26:1-2, 147-169, DOI: 10.1080/10919392.2015.1125187
Public Administration Committee, House of Commons, Report on Public Engagement in Policy-Making, 2nd report of Session 2013-14, at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubadm/75/75.pdf
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Policy,Governance,Technology,Data,Technological Innovation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mrs Clare Llewellyn
Tel:
Email: cllewell@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Matt Bryant
Tel:
Email: Matt.Bryant@ed.ac.uk |
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