Principles of Public Service: To Serve and Protect

Course Description:

Are you familiar with the term “public service”? When we think about public service, our thoughts often turn to professionals such police officers, EMTs, and firefighters. While these are well-known public servants, many others work to keep our communities safe, healthy, and productive. In this course, you’ll learn about many different areas of public service including education, civil engineering, and social services. You’ll also look at the requirements for public service in general as well as the specific skills needed to be successful in each area of public service. Who knows? You may even discover the career you were meant to pursue!

Course Details:

Course Title (District): Principles of Public Service: To Serve and Protect
Course Title (NCES SCED) : Public, Protective, and Government Service—Other
Course Provider : Genesee ISD
Content Provided By : eDynamic Learning
Online Instructor Provided By : Genesee School District
Standards Addressed : None
Academic Terms : Open Entry / Open Exit, Semester
NCES SCED Code :
Subject Area : Public, Protective, and Government Service
Course Identifier : Public, Protective, and Government Service—Other
Course Level : High School (Secondary)
Available Credit : 1.0
Sequence : 1 of 1

How To Enroll:

Enrollment Website : https://www.gennet.us
Email : [email protected]
Phone : 810-591-4401

Students and Parents: It is important to work closely with your local school counselor or registrar to follow the school's enrollment procedures. By clicking the "Start Registration Request" button below, you will be able to notify the school of your interest in registering for the online course. However, it is the responsibility of the district or school to review the registration request and approve or deny the request. Please make a note to follow up with your school after submitting a registration request.

Start Registration Request

Additional Course Information:

Additional Cost: $0.0

Additional Cost Description: None

Unit 1: What Is Public Service?

  • Analyze economic, political, and social trends likely to impact an agency or department.
  • Discuss the need to infuse understanding of vision, missions, and goals into all departmental activities.
  • Define the concept of risk management.
  • Learn how to seek a variety of input from all stakeholders.
  • Assess the impact of probable changes on the public.

Unit 2: The Business of Government

  • Maintain financial records.
  • Prepare and administer budgets.
  • Develop a personal budget and financial goals.
  • Construct charts, tables, and graphs using functions and data.
  • Analyze government resources to find possibilities for new or increased funding of programs.

Unit 3: Working Together

  • Identify traits for retaining employment.
  • Demonstrate positive work behaviors needed to be employable.
  • Compare management of government and nonprofit agencies to management in the private sector.
  • Explain various management theories—such as Theory X, Theory Y, and Theory Z—and whether they are effective.
  • Develop expansive professional networks internally and with other organizations to broaden communication.

Unit 4: Leadership & Getting the Job Done

  • Apply people skills to grasp opportunities and manage conflicts in a positive and constructive manner.
  • Employ critical thinking skills independently and in teams to solve problems and make decisions.
  • Identify and document workplace performance goals and monitor progress toward those goals.
  • Conduct technical research to gather information necessary for decision making.
  • Employ computer operations applications to access, create, manage, integrate, and store information.

Unit 5: Rules and Regulations

  • Maintain thorough familiarity with public information requirements.
  • Explain policy background and reasons to persons denied access to certain public information.
  • Establish reliable controls to prevent unauthorized access to or release of privileged information.
  • Describe the role of federal, state, and local regulatory agencies.
  • Define the concepts of environmental planning, resource conservation, pollution prevention and control, and geographic information systems (GIS) in resource management.

Unit 6: Ethics in Public Service

  • Evaluate and justify decisions based on ethical reasoning.
  • Identify and explain personal and long-term consequences of unethical or illegal behaviors in the workplace.
  • Assist departmental staff to fulfill procurement requirements.
  • Determine means of public announcements to get vendor interest and bids from qualified sources.
  • Manage an evaluation process to ensure each bid, proposal, or offer is evaluated completely in terms of all relevant and ethical criteria.

Unit 7: Communication and Health

  • Design, develop, and deliver formal and informal presentations using appropriate media to engage and inform diverse audiences.
  • Exhibit public relations skills that aid in achieving customer satisfaction.
  • Describe personal and job site safety rules and regulations that maintain safe and healthy work environments.
  • Create a disaster plan and an emergency response plan.
  • Distinguish between fact and myth about the transmission and treatment of diseases caused by blood-borne pathogens.

Unit 8: Taking Care of People

  • Discuss careers in educational services.
  • Describe the career opportunities of the paraprofessional teacher aid and the regulations governing those in that occupation.
  • Discuss careers in social services.
  • Define the concepts of child abuse, child neglect, spousal abuse, and dependency.
  • Identify the skills, training, and education needed for a career in social services.

Unit 9: Public Safety Careers

  • Discuss careers in public safety (EMS, communications, civil defense).
  • Describe municipal, county, and state emergency management agencies and their roles.
  • Investigate career opportunities upon completion of criminal justice operations.
  • Identify the skills, training, and education needed for a career in the criminal justice system.
  • Identify the skills, training, and education needed for a career in firefighting.

Unit 10: Careers that Keep It Moving

  • Discuss careers and opportunities in civil engineering (urban planners, surveyors, draftsmen).
  • Define the concepts of zoning board, allocation, planning, geological survey, and geographic information systems (GIS) in urban planning.
  • Discuss careers in transportation services.
  • Define the concept of public transportation.
  • Identify the skills, training, and education needed for a career in regulatory services.






iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses

Academic Content Standards and Assessments Rating Comments
The goals and objectives clearly state what the participants will know or be able to do at the end of the course. The goals and objectives are measurable in multiple ways. Fully Met
The course content and assignments are aligned with the state’s content standards, Common Core curriculum, or other accepted content standards set for Advanced Placement® courses, technology, computer science, or other courses whose content is not included in the state standards. Fully Met
The course content and assignments are of sufficient rigor, depth and breadth to teach the standards being addressed. Fully Met
Information literacy and communication skills are incorporated and taught as an integral part of the curriculum. Fully Met
Multiple learning resources and materials to increase student success are available to students before the course begins. Fully Met
Course Overview and Introduction Rating Comments
Clear, complete course overview and syllabus are included in the course. Fully Met
Course requirements are consistent with course goals, are representative of the scope of the course and are clearly stated. Fully Met
Information is provided to students, parents and mentors on how to communicate with the online instructor and course provider. Fully Met
Legal and Acceptable Use Policies Rating Comments
The course reflects multi-cultural education, and the content is accurate, current and free of bias or advertising. Fully Met
Expectations for academic integrity, use of copyrighted materials, plagiarism and netiquette (Internet etiquette) regarding lesson activities, discussions, and e-mail communications are clearly stated. Fully Met
Privacy policies are clearly stated. Fully Met
Instructor Resources Rating Comments
Online instructor resources and notes are included. Fully Met
Assessment and assignment answers and explanations are included. Fully Met
Accessing Course Effectiveness Rating Comments
The course provider uses multiple ways of assessing course effectiveness. Fully Met
The course is evaluated using a continuous improvement cycle for effectiveness and the findings used as a basis for improvement. Fully Met
Course Updates Rating Comments
The course is updated periodically to ensure that the content is current. Fully Met
Certification Rating Comments
Course instructors, whether faceto-face or virtual, are certificated and “highly qualified.” The online course teacher possesses a teaching credential from a state-licensing agency and is “highly qualified” as defined under ESEA. Fully Met
Instructor and Student Support Rating Comments
Professional development about the online course delivery system is offered by the provider to assure effective use of the courseware and various instructional media available. Fully Met
The course provider offers technical support and course management assistance to students, the course instructor, and the school coordinator. Fully Met
Course instructors, whether face-to-face or virtual, have been provided professional development in the behavioral, social, and when necessary, emotional, aspects of the learning environment. Fully Met
Course instructors, whether face-to-face or virtual, receive instructor professional development, which includes the support and use of a variety of communication modes to stimulate student engagement online. Fully Met
The provider assures that course instructors, whether face-to-face or virtual, are provided support, as needed, to ensure their effectiveness and success in meeting the needs of online students. Fully Met
Students are offered an orientation for taking an online course before starting the coursework. Fully Met
Instructional and Audience Analysis Rating Comments
Course design reflects a clear understanding of all students’ needs and incorporates varied ways to learn and master the curriculum. Fully Met
Course, Unit and Lesson Design Rating Comments
The course is organized by units and lessons that fall into a logical sequence. Each unit and lesson includes an overview describing objectives, activities, assignments, assessments, and resources to provide multiple learning opportunities for students to master the content. Fully Met
Instructional Strategies and Activities Rating Comments
The course instruction includes activities that engage students in active learning. Fully Met
The course and course instructor provide students with multiple learning paths, based on student needs that engage students in a variety of ways. Fully Met
The course provides opportunities for students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical reasoning activities and thinking in increasingly complex ways. Fully Met
The course provides options for the instructor to adapt learning activities to accommodate students’ needs. Fully Met
Readability levels, written language assignments and mathematical requirements are appropriate for the course content and grade-level expectations. Fully Met
Communication and Interaction Rating Comments
The course design provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student interaction, including opportunities for timely and frequent feedback about student progress. Fully Met
The course design includes explicit communication/activities (both before and during the first week of the course) that confirms whether students are engaged and are progressing through the course. The instructor will follow program guidelines to address non-responsive students. Fully Met
The course provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material. Fully Met
Resources and Materials Rating Comments
Students have access to resources that enrich the course content. Fully Met
Evaluation Strategies Rating Comments
Student evaluation strategies are consistent with course goals and objectives, are representative of the scope of the course and are clearly stated. Fully Met
The course structure includes adequate and appropriate methods and procedures to assess students’ mastery of content. Fully Met
Feedback Rating Comments
Ongoing, varied, and frequent assessments are conducted throughout the course to inform instruction. Fully Met
Assessment strategies and tools make the student continuously aware of his/her progress in class and mastery of the content. Fully Met
Assessment Resources and Materials Rating Comments
Assessment materials provide the instructor with the flexibility to assess students in a variety of ways. Fully Met
Grading rubrics are provided to the instructor and may be shared with students. Fully Met
The grading policy and practices are easy to understand. Fully Met
Course Architecture Rating Comments
The course architecture permits the online instructor to add content, activities and assessments to extend learning opportunities. Fully Met
The course accommodates multiple school calendars; e.g., block, 4X4 and traditional schedules. Fully Met
User Interface Rating Comments
Clear and consistent navigation is present throughout the course. Fully Met
Rich media are provided in multiple formats for ease of use and access in order to address diverse student needs. Fully Met
Technology Requirements and Interoperability Rating Comments
All technology requirements (including hardware, browser, software, etc...) are specified. Fully Met
Prerequisite skills in the use of technology are identified. Fully Met
The course uses content-specific tools and software appropriately. Fully Met
The course is designed to meet internationally recognized interoperability standards. Fully Met
Copyright and licensing status, including permission to share where applicable, is clearly stated and easily found. Fully Met
Accessibility Rating Comments
Course materials and activities are designed to provide appropriate access to all students. The course, developed with universal design principles in mind, conforms to the U.S. Section 504 and Section 508 provisions for electronic and information technology as well as the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility guidelines (WCAg 2.0). Fully Met
Data Security Rating Comments
Student information remains confidential, as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Fully Met

Review Conducted By: eDynamic Learning
Date of Review: 07/22/2018

1. What Is Public Service?
2. The Business of Government
3. Working Together
4. Leadership & Getting the Job Done
5. Rules and Regulations
6. Ethics in Public Service
7. Communication and Health
8. Taking Care of People
9. Public Safety Careers
10. Careers that Keep It Moving


Term Type Enrollment Opens Enrollment Ends Random Draw Date Enrollment Drop Date Course Starts Course Ends # of Seats Course Fee Potential Additional Costs
Open Entry / Open Exit 07/01/2023 06/30/2024 100 $275 $0
Open Entry / Open Exit 07/01/2023 06/30/2024 100 $300 $0
Drop Policy Completion Policy Term Type Enrollment Opens Enrollment Ends
Open Entry / Open Exit 07/01/2023 06/30/2024
K-5: Extensions are not available. 6-12: 4-week extensions are available for $50 per enrollment (maximum 2 extensions per 18-week enrollment). 6-12: 2-week extensions are available for $25 per enrollment (maximum 2 extensions per 9-week enrollment). Open Entry / Open Exit 07/01/2023 06/30/2024
Flexible; online facilitator, blended, or traditional classroom