JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - naspaa

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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
Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativity development of their initial PSAs (Appendix A). Using the pool of questions in Appendix A, and through conversations about the strengths and merits of each, the collected items were narrowed down to a reasonable series of 10 questions. Five questions were suitable for use when videotaping students: 1. How did you learn about public administration 2. What does public administration mean to you 3. Do you think that you’re in the right field Why 4. How important is public administration and do we really need this field 5. What was your most memorable public administration class and why Five questions were used when videotaping faculty members: 1. What is public administration 2. Who are public administration students 3. How are we doing with recruiting new students to the field 4. What advice would you give to someone considering a public administration degree 5. In your teaching, what was the most memorable public administration course and why The succession and framing of these queries was quite strategic. They were built into a funnel sequence that “starts with broad, open-ended questions and moves to narrower, more closed questions” (O’Hair, Gustav, Wiemann, & Wiemann, 1995, p. 392). This system enabled interviewees to discuss public administration in an abstract manner (i.e., What is public administration) and then proceeded into personal declarations of leadership within and about the field, advice to others considering public administration, and memorable experiences. In similar fashion, it coincided with Revans’ learning equation, where the first group of questions related to past or programmed knowledge (P), the middle ones promoted insight (Q), and the last few revealed a composite of learning. Second, another concern was the identification of which courses to approach for student and faculty participation when making the PSAs. For example, in trying to explore the spectrum of leadership development within an undergraduate program, PA 270 Public Administration was selected, because it reflected students’ initial forays into public and nonprofit leadership, while the PA 619 Public Management Seminar exhibited a graduate perspective on leadership skills. Once a consent form (Appendix B) outlining the nature of Operation PSA was drafted and approved by the department chair, team members approached students and faculty for participation. Third, because they were to be instruments representing the evolving field of public and nonprofit administration, the team agreed that the resultant PSAs should (1) document change within the discipline, (2) emphasize the boundaryspanning role of communication, (3) demonstrate how organizational goals were realized through group activity, and (4) reflect the needs of community Journal of Public Affairs Education 369
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EDITOR’S NOTE REFERENCES Henry, N
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the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
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