JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativity
environment” that delivers public service announcements (PSAs) in 90 seconds
or less (NASPAA, 2007). PSAs are commonly understood as the following:
… any announcement (including network) for which no charge is made
and which promotes programs, activities, or services of federal, state, or
local governments (e.g., recruiting, sale of bonds, etc.) or the programs,
activities or services of non-profit organizations (e.g., United Way, Red
Cross blood donations, etc.) and other announcements regarded as
serving community interests, excluding time signals, routine weather
announcements and promotional announcements (Museum of
Broadcast Communications, 2007, para. 1).
Using the present policy challenge and its emphasis on technology as the
impetus for inquiry, this article similarly encourages educators and practitioners
to use PSAs as a proactive means for helping students acquire the valuable
marketing and technological competencies necessary for becoming leaders in
today’s public agencies. Without the ability to teach and serve diverse societies
by using a practical means of training and encouragement, the field of public
administration is at risk. Therefore, it is imperative to return to the basics of all
learning: Communication.
OPERATION PSA: THE COMMUNICATION CONNECTION
Dewey (1916) “believed that education can and should only occur in the context
of active relationships — as instances of communication with others. He saw all
communication as potentially educative in nature” and “asserted that, in order for
an experience to be educative, there must be an intentional effort to communicate
the value of the experience to a person’s learning” (Koliba, 2004, p. 297).
Society not only continues to exist by transmission, by communication,
but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication.
There is more than a verbal tie between the words common,
community, and communication. Men [sic] live in a community in
virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is
the way in which they come to possess things in common (Dewey,
1916, p. 4).
In the same manner, leadership may be viewed as a communicative function
that is paramount to public administration because “both managerial and
technical competencies are needed in order to translate a vision into strategies,
programmes and activities for development” (United Nations Economic and
Social Council, 2002, p. 4). In order for students to become leaders in the field
of public administration, they must be taught how to become leaders. The focus
of learning must be shifted, from students being “taught” to students being “led.”
362 Journal of Public Affairs Education