journal of public affairs education - NASPAA *The Global Standard ...

Operation PSA: The Action Learning of Curiosity and CreativityCritical ObservationsIn retrospect, it’s often amazing how the most basic components of a projecthave the largest impact. Operation PSA was no different. The strength andmerit of the team’s endeavors rested on the framing of the interview questionsfor the PSAs. While none of the videotaped participants was given the questionsin advance for perusal, each provided responses that clearly documented themagnitude of creativity (i.e., sensitivity), branding (i.e., trust), and technology(i.e., interrelationships) associated with the boundary-spanning skills of publicand nonprofit leadership. The success of the PSAs rested upon the fact that thequestions possessed an inherent relevance for eager audiences of those who hadgrown tired of classroom politics, and had come to prefer rebuilding theintricate connection between education and communication.The length of the conference-based PSA was another consideration for theteam. While no definitive rule was set regarding the length of the conferencevideo, most memorable PSAs typically range between 90 and 120 seconds(National Centre of Languages, 2007; Weatherization Assistance Program,2009). For example, the longer, draft PSAs generated from the conference (i.e.,more than three minutes) found participants intertwining their explanations forthe motivation and marketing questions (e.g., What was your motivation forcoming to the conference? and How would you go about marketing thisconference?). Therefore, the marketing question was eliminated from the finalPSA, but the two most pertinent statements were still retained to add greaterdepth to the attendees’ passion and commitment. In contrast, the shorter draftPSAs (i.e., 30 seconds) did not showcase the breadth of respondents’ emotionsor the naturalness that colleagues felt when asking one another for assistance.Keeping these factors in mind, the team finalized a 2.33-minute PSA thatwould hopefully inspire public and nonprofit students, practitioners, andeducators to try action learning.CONCLUSIONAction learning empowers “anyone who is capable and who has thewillingness to assume leadership in his or her relationship with peers, teammembers, customers, suppliers, and other organization partners” (Raelin, 2006,p. 152). It is imperative, particularly as public administration reproduces andtransforms itself, that the same learning formulation of L = P + Q be continued,for it will help educators and practitioners ask (a) what could be happeningwithin the field, (b) what is stopping such a flow of creation and utilization, and(c) what can individuals do to demonstrate a learning-to-learn aptitude?Raelin (2006) reinforces how “learning results from the independentcontributions of programmed instruction (designated P) and spontaneousquestioning (designated Q)” (p. 153). From these similar beginnings, the project374 Journal of Public Affairs Education