DISCUSSION BOARD INSTRUCTIONS
1. Post Requirements:
• For the weeks that we have discussion boards, you will post on Sunday night by midnight. Each post should be well-developed, well-
organized, and well-formatted, and free of writing errors. The post should demonstrate that you have truly mastered the concepts and readings
involved, and that you can apply them to a real-world policy issue. These posts will feed into Assignment #1 and #2, so take time to develop
them with adequate thought and reflection.
o Posts are generally from 400-500 words, though there is no word count requirement per se.
The forums have a “post first” requirement, which means you won’t see your classmates’ posts until you have posted.
2. Critique Requirements:
• By Tuesday night at midnight, go in and critique a peer’s post (preferably one that hasn’t received a critique yet). Post as a thread
to the peer’s original post.
o Considering the requirements of the assignment,
tell your peer what they did well and what needs improvement (pretend you are a nice teacher).
The critiques should be well-developed, thorough, and thoughtful (these typically range around 200 words, though going over or under is fine–
no word count requirement here). No response to the critique is required, but is encouraged if your response will further understanding
The post set will be graded after the critiques are in. Late posts/critiques will not be graded.
Week 5 DB Post + Critique
From the “reality check” articles,
• How is policy really made at the state level?
• Did they use the policy analysis system proposed by Kraft & Furlong?
If state legislators aren’t using policy analysis,
• What other groups may be using it (e.g., which agencies or non-profits
o <Give examples where possible, and think through the policy actors you learned about in Kraft & Furlong>).
Critique the answer posted by one of your classmatesas assigned by Tuesday midnight Central Time.