JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativity
Because the objective was to find pedagogical alternatives that would be useful
in bolstering leadership skills, former graduate and undergraduate students were
approached as potential members. Three graduate students were selected because
their experiences (i.e., variance in modes of successful learning) and breadth of
backgrounds (e.g, international, nontraditional, and doctoral) would serve as a
sounding board for the final resolutions proposed by the team. Initial delineation
of duties and time obligations were discussed, along with the general direction of
the research. Finally, the assembled team approached its endeavors by declaring
that personal ego would not be allowed. Rather, the collaborative efforts of the
group in addressing the problem would be paramount.
Step 3: Topic and Literature Clarification
Various suggestions regarding elucidation of the topic were discussed during
this phase of the project, but it was the enthusiasm of one team member
regarding the reproductive and creative means of PSAs for developing public
and nonprofit leadership that rallied our passion. This member’s experience,
based on a second-place win in the previous year’s YouTube Challenge, lent
additional credibility to the topic when paired with NASPAA’s continuing
promotion of PSAs.
From this point forward, each team member began researching the particular
areas of interest and intrigue that they would later write about in their sections
of the conference PowerPoint display (Kimoto, Frasco, Juta, & Mulder, 2008b).
For the previous YouTube winner, the topic of creativity expanded her
involvement with active learning. For the nontraditional student with a
background in marketing and public relations, there was an immediate
connection in the branding of real-word experiences. The last student member,
a graduate student from Zimbabwe who would soon be pursuing doctoral
studies, chose technology because she valued its force as a catalyst of change for
all people. The remaining member’s focus rested upon uniting the interests of
the team members under one theoretical foundation. Action learning was
selected because it advances the prominence that communication plays in the
development of collaborative leaderships. Henceforth, all efforts were poised to
investigate the boundary-spanning capacity of PSAs as inspirational tools in
expanding leadership capabilities.
Step 4: Protocol and Rubric Development
Any group that values its efforts is likely to establish a list of rules and codes.
The members of Operation PSA spent a great deal of time discussing their
research, the necessity for student participation, potential venues for filming,
and the appearance of the final PSAs. First, while the general application
question had been framed, the team brainstormed an additional list of 24
questions that could be modeled by student and faculty participants in the
368 Journal of Public Affairs Education