The Reading Seminar: A Web-Based Distance Learning Course in an MPA Program

Abstract

As more MPA programs engage in computer-facilitated instruction, questions about the types of courses best suited to the medium and the quality of pedagogy that can be expected naturally arise. This paper describes a web-based, asynchronous, distance instruction course that uses the Internet as the classroom. The Reading Seminar is both reading- and writing-intensive. It uses a peer review process that encourages interactivity among students who critique and comment on one another's work, and it resides on a web site that is pre-programmed for easy use by faculty who lack the time or technical proficiency to create their own.¹