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Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and Creativityenvironment” that delivers public service announcements (PSAs) in 90 secondsor less (NASPAA, 2007). PSAs are commonly understood as the following:… any announcement (including network) for which no charge is madeand which promotes programs, activities, or services of federal, state, orlocal governments (e.g., recruiting, sale of bonds, etc.) or the programs,activities or services of non-profit organizations (e.g., United Way, RedCross blood donations, etc.) and other announcements regarded asserving community interests, excluding time signals, routine weatherannouncements and promotional announcements (Museum ofBroadcast Communications, 2007, para. 1).Using the present policy challenge and its emphasis on technology as theimpetus for inquiry, this article similarly encourages educators and practitionersto use PSAs as a proactive means for helping students acquire the valuablemarketing and technological competencies necessary for becoming leaders intoday’s public agencies. Without the ability to teach and serve diverse societiesby using a practical means of training and encouragement, the field of publicadministration is at risk. Therefore, it is imperative to return to the basics of alllearning: Communication.OPERATION PSA: THE COMMUNICATION CONNECTIONDewey (1916) “believed that education can and should only occur in the contextof active relationships — as instances of communication with others. He saw allcommunication as potentially educative in nature” and “asserted that, in order foran experience to be educative, there must be an intentional effort to communicatethe 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 invirtue of the things which they have in common; and communication isthe 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 functionthat is paramount to public administration because “both managerial andtechnical competencies are needed in order to translate a vision into strategies,programmes and activities for development” (United Nations Economic andSocial Council, 2002, p. 4). In order for students to become leaders in the fieldof public administration, they must be taught how to become leaders. The focusof learning must be shifted, from students being “taught” to students being “led.”362 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and CreativityCohen and Tichy (1998) discuss the ability to do something and do it well, andthe ability to articulate how to do it, as two very different skills. The very basis oftheir article is in the phrase “but until you can articulate your knowledge toothers, you won’t succeed as a leader” (Cohen & Tichy, 1998, para. 3).Similarly, previous investigations into the state of turmoil in higher educationhave determined that only 31 percent of graduates are able to complete the basiccommunicative tasks of effective leadership (i.e., the ability to discern and shareinferences across multiple audiences) (Boyer, 1990; Griffin & Kaleba, 2006;Kingsbury, 2007). In order to reverse this negative trend, Operation PSA positedthat one path to leadership could be gained through the incorporation of creativeassignments and challenges within the classroom environment. Rather than beinga place for rote memorization, higher education should be a venue that encouragesand facilitates action learning. As Sternberg and Luppart (1991) suggest, there is adifference between knowledge and usable knowledge. What this means is thatstudents can be taught, but can they apply what they know? It is evident thatcollege graduates struggle with critical thinking skills (Bok, 2006; Casner-Lotto &Barrington, 2006). The focus then, in order to facilitate learning, is to commandan environment where innovation is fostered and rewarded.Through the “Speak Truth to Power” campaign and NASPAA’s promotion ofthe PSA format in making public policy tangible for students and theirstakeholders, Operation PSA was stimulated by a desire to determine how PSAscould be used as action-learning tools that could make administrative leadershipcome alive. The project was further refined by a fundamental concern abouthow communication could be employed as a means to coalesce ever-changingviews of public administration, in a fast, succinct Web-based environment,while extending the boundary-spanning capabilities of its users.For example, two PSAs — discussed in greater detail later in this article —were developed to document (a) the branding and creativity employed within anintroductory undergraduate course in public administration, and (b) the energythat transpired between attendees of the 2008 Annual Teaching PublicAdministration Conference (TPAC). In the former case, the PSA elicitedexamples from students of how they have undertaken and realized their owngrowth in administrative leadership (Kimoto, Frasco, Juta, & Mulder, 2008a;see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyeqrPBKti4). The latter PSA projectrevealed the fluidity of how conference participants blended their individualgoals for the conference with organizational resources for identifying TPAC as amarket leader within its field (Kimoto, Frasco, Juta, & Mulder, 2008c; seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugf9nzZcxko).The goal of the article is to stimulate the reader’s determination to utilize actionlearning in general, and PSAs in particular, as an inventive format for acquiringthe marketing, analytical, and technological competencies necessary to becoming aleader. The article begins with a clarification of the role that action learning playsJournal of Public Affairs Education 363
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