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I started this blog for the following purposes:

“I hope the blog will be a resource for people who are interested in or have taken the workshop, or for those who have taken the train-the-trainer course. I plan to share tips and ideas, and I hope others will do the same. Look for notices of upcoming workshops, new publications, and curriculum updates. Let’s share our ideas for building Extension’s public value in Minnesota and across the country!”

After three years, I thought it might be helpful–to me, at least –to review how well the blog has served those purposes and a few others I’ve come up with along the way.

Source for my tips and ideas for BEPV trainees: I think the blog does this pretty well. While it isn’t the easiest source to navigate, if you read through the entries in the “Workshops” category, you will find a lot of ideas about how to teach public value workshops, pitfalls I’ve run into, new ideas I’ve come up with and heard from others.

Source for others’ tips and ideas: Uh, not so much. While I know the blog gets hits, I don’t get comments or guest blog post submissions. When I hear an idea from someone else, I share it here, but I think reading the ideas in the author’s own words would be more compelling. Generally, the blog has not been the community forum I hoped it would be. I am not sure what I can do to remedy that, but I am open to ideas.

Source for notices and events: I am pretty careful to post events, publications, and resources here. Consequently, the blog serves as a record of public value events–at least the ones I know about. However, unless you subscribe to the blog’s feed reader, you might not see these announcements in a timely manner. While I usually give out the blog URL at events and workshops, I may start showing people how to subscribe to the feed reader, too.

Clearinghouse for public value messages: I often hear this request. Many public value teams recognize that they should not be reinventing messages for programs that are similar to those done in other states. Teams should share their approaches and messages across states, thus improving the strength of our messaging across the country. Many teams would like there to be a central place for sharing and exchanging public value messages. The blog can begin to serve this purpose, but only to the extent that public value teams share their messages with me and allow me to publish them. I have collected some such messages, and will include them in an upcoming blog entry. Other ideas for a clearinghouse are very welcome.

A reflective journal of my own Extension teaching: For me, this has been the most valuable purpose for the blog. It gives me an opportunity and a prompt to reflect on each workshop I teach and jot down the unexpected questions, the intriguing comments, and the teaching techniques that did or did not work. I hope my teaching is improving along the way.

Do you publish a blog? Is it serving its intended purpose…or some unexpected purpose?

Given that the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Galaxy III conference ended September 19, I am a bit late posting my follow-up thoughts. Let’s just say I wanted to give myself a chance to think things over…

*I presented a very mini (90 minutes) version of the BEPV workshop for about 49 attendees in a breakout session on Tuesday, September 16. I was able to present the basic principles of the public value approach–a “taste” of the full program–for people who are unfamiliar with it. Thank you to everyone who attended, and especially those of you who added to the discussion or asked questions.

*I could tell from the commentary that a lot of different states were represented among the attendees, but I wish I knew which subject areas folks were from. I wonder if Extension professionals in some subject areas (youth development? natural resources? farm management?) are more drawn to the public value approach than others. What are your thoughts?

*When I have such a limited amount of time to teach BEPV, I usually convert the small group activities into open-ended questions to the full group. At a couple of points, I did allow a few minutes for participants to discuss questions with neighbors and report back. But, I miss the interaction and productivity that the activities allow. I am open to suggestions about how best to capture the small group benefits in a shortened program.

*Many of the modules in the BEPV curriculum were included specifically to address questions or challenges I heard when teaching early versions of the program. For example, I drafted the module on “Types of Public Sector Actions” after being challenged that the early program explained the conditions under which public sector action was warranted, but not which kind of action. So, each module addresses an issue that I expect someone in a workshop to bring up. Teaching an abbreviated version of the program can be frustrating, because questions inevitably arise, the answers to which are in modules that I had to cut out! For example, one participant at Galaxy asked a good question about assembling the research she would need to substantiate the claims she wants to make about her program. I sure wished I could have responded by going more fully into the BEPV module that leads small groups to draft a research agenda for their programs.

*Thank you to the Galaxy host at my presentation, who handed out end-of-session evaluations and counted attendees. I had brought some of my own evaluation forms, but the short Galaxy form was quick and easy for people to complete, and I was able to bring the completed forms back the office to be tabulated. (One frequent comment: the room was too cold! Did anyone else attending Galaxy find the rooms at the Indy Convention Center to be chilly?)

*I stayed in the same presentation room to attend the session following mine, “Cost Benefits of Extension Programs — So What?” by Sharon Hoelscher Day from Arizona Cooperative Extension. Measuring the costs and benefits of Extension programs can be a crucial step in substantiating claims about a program’s public value, particularly if you can quantitatively differentiate between private and public benefits and costs. Did you attend any other sessions at the Galaxy conference that presented tools or information that would be valuable to a team working on communicating their program’s public value?

*Did you attend my session at the Galaxy conference? What do you think went well? What should I have done differently? Go ahead, I can take it!

I am leading a session at the 2008 conference of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, October 3, 2008, in St. Paul, MN. Conference details are here. Below is a description of the session. If you’re attending the conference, consider joining our session!

Making the Case: Articulating the Common Good in Public and Nonprofit Programs

To demonstrate accountability and attract scarce funding, nonprofit and government leaders need to show the far-reaching benefits of their programs. Therefore learning how to communicate a program’s public value – the benefit the community receives apart from the benefit participants receive – is a powerful tool. Designed to meet the needs of both government and nonprofit leaders, this session will help you learn how to define, describe and articulate the public value of your programs. Learn how to walk through questions designed to undercover public value, distill the answers into a succinct message and dig deeper to find the research to support it. In the end, you’ll discover how to effectively communicate to policymakers and the public how your programs contribute to the common good.