Workshops

Help Build Extension’s Public Value!

You know how your Extension programs benefit your participants, but your programs also create public value when they benefit the rest of the community. Nationwide, participants in “Building Extension’s Public Value” workshops have learned how their programs create public value and how to communicate this value to stakeholders whose support is crucial to Extension.

Now, you have an opportunity to learn how to conduct these workshops for Extension scholars at your own institution by participating in an online train-the-trainer program for “Building Extension’s Public Value.”

With your registration fee, you get:

• Four hours of instruction in how to conduct “Building Extension’s Public Value” workshops from the creator of the workshops, Dr. Laura Kalambokidis, Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota.
• Access to the Building Extension’s Public Value Presenter’s Guide, the Building Extension’s Public Value Workbook, and accompanying Powerpoint™ presentation to download and print for your use in conducting workshops for University and Extension scholars at your institution.

To register, go to http://www.extension.umn.edu/community/publicvalue.html. The registration fee is $100 per participant. To encourage institutions to send teams of staff to the training, the maximum total registration fee for any institution is $500.

The training will be conducted online, via UMConnect, and will consist of two, two-hour sessions, with all participants attending both sessions. The training sessions will be Tuesday, June 7, and Thursday, June 9, 2011, at 10:00-12:00 Eastern; 9:00-11:00 Central; 8:00-10:00 Mountain; 7:00-9:00 Pacific.

Prior to the beginning of the sessions, participants will receive an email notifying them of how to participate in the two online sessions and how to download the training materials, including the Building Extension’s Public Value Presenter’s Guide, the Building Extension’s Public Value Workbook, and accompanying Powerpoint™ presentation.

Questions about registration? Contact our help desk at [email protected] or 800-876-8636.

Questions about program content and relevance to your work? Contact Laura Kalambokidis at [email protected].

Other questions? Contact Diane McAfee at [email protected].

If you are attending the 2011 NACDEP Conference next week in Charleston, SC, consider participating in the mini “Building Extension’s Public Value” workshop that I will teach Tuesday, March 8, 11:00-12:30. We won’t have enough time to do a full workshop or cover all of the learning modules, but it will be a good opportunity to get a introductory “taste” of BEPV training.

Last week I spoke at a workshop for grantees of the North Central Risk Management Education Center (NCRMEC). At the workshop, Karl Duley of University of Wisconsin Extension gave a presentation on meeting the needs of learners with different personality types, using the Myers-Briggs taxonomy. I wondered how well the “Building Extension’s Public Value” (BEPV) curriculum can be adapted for different kinds of learners. Below are a few of my own observations about how well the BEPV workshop–as I teach it–matches some of the learning preferences Karl described.

• Extroverts (E-types) prefer thinking out loud, working with other people, and group activities. The BEPV curriculum includes many small group activities, so I think we may do a good job of reaching E-types.
• Introverts (I-types) prefer quiet reflection and keeping their thoughts to themselves until they are comfortable. Karl demonstrated teaching to this preference by having us write down our answers to some of his questions, only sharing them later in the small group. In the BEPV workshop, when I introduce the different criteria for public sector action, I ask participants to think about the ways those criteria apply to their own programs. I can easily augment this by, after explaining each criterion, asking participants to write down the ways their program satisfies the criterion. This would give I-types a chance to reflect before speaking up, and would give everyone a list of ideas to refer to during the small group exercise.
• Sensing learners (S-types) prefer a practical approach to new material, providing skills and facts they can currently use. I think the worksheets, exercises, and examples in the BEPV workbook should serve this kind of learner well.
• Intuitive learners (N-types) prefer seeing the big picture before details. Spending adequate time on the introductory BEPV material (the workshop learning objectives, what is public value?, what is the purpose of the public value approach?) and periodic reminders of that material throughout the workshop can help I-type learners to keep track of the big picture.
• Thinking learners (T-types) focus on objective truths, free from emotional distractions. Basing the public value approach on the (somewhat clinical) principles of public economics should be satisfying to these learners.
• Feeling learners (F-types) feel comfortable taking into account people’s motives and personal values. One key objective of the BEPV workshop is to help learners see the value of their own program from the perspective of someone who is not a participant in that program. I ask them to “put themselves in the shoes of” that non-participant stakeholder and imagine what matters to that person. This exercise should be a cinch for the F-types!
• Judging learners (J-types) want clear structure in the learning situation from the beginning. The BEPV workshop is carefully organized into modules, each with learning objectives and exercises. I think J-types will feel comfortable the degree of organization in the curriculum.
• Perceiving learners (P-types) prefer open exploration with limited structure. Hmm. Being a clear J-type myself, I may have designed a curriculum that doesn’t serve this type of learner very well. I need to think of ways to insert–into a highly structured workshop!–some unstructured time to allow for a more creative flow of ideas.

Have you ever tried to modify a curriculum to meet different learning styles? Did you use the Myers-Briggs taxonomy, or do you find a different approach more useful? Do you have suggestions for how to make the BEPV curriculum more learner-friendly?

Around the country Extension organizations are using the public value approach to make a case for public funding for Extension programs and, in some cases, for the organization as a whole. But, can the public value approach help make a case for public higher education funding, generally? This was–understandably–a topic of conversation yesterday when I taught a short workshop for the Public Higher Education Advocacy Professionals, who held their annual conference here at the University of Minnesota.

One answer is that the public value of a state university is the sum of the public value from everything the university does: teaching and granting degrees, outreach education, research, athletics, art performances, continuing education, public engagement, community service, etc. The “public value message” for the university is the [rather thick] catalog of messages for all of the programs in each of these categories.

A more satisfactory answer–and the one I think university advocates are seeking–would convey the public value of the institution in a single, compelling, all-purpose statement. To me, this sounds like a mission statement for the university, with the stipulation that it focus on public value: how the university benefits those who do not have direct contact with the university. The institution’s public value statement answers the question, as if posed by a state resident with no access to university resources, “What are you doing for me?”

A short web search reveals that some public university mission statements already include the answer. Below I excerpted from mission statements the pieces that sounded the most like public value messages:

Michigan State University:

“[The university’s teaching prepares students] to contribute fully to society as globally engaged citizen leaders…[The university’s research] make[s] make a positive difference, both locally and globally…[The university’s outreach and public engagement] lead to a better quality of life for individuals and communities, at home and around the world.”

Oregon State University:

“Oregon State University promotes economic, social, cultural and environmental progress for the people of Oregon, the nation and the world.”

Kansas State University:

“The mission of Kansas State University is to foster excellent teaching, research, and service that develop a highly skilled and educated citizenry necessary to advancing the well-being of Kansas, the nation, and the international community.”

Many public universities see their missions as generally making the state–indeed, the world–a better place. As long as that “betterment” extends to people without direct contact with the university, the institution has accomplished its public value mission, as well.

This summer I will be updating the curriculum materials for the “Building Extension’s Public Value (BEPV)” and “Public Value of Programs (PVofPP)” workshops. For each workshop, we are updating the slideset, the participant’s workbook, and the presenter’s guide.

If you have taken the BEPV train-the-trainer course and are using the curriculum materials to teach your own BEPV workshops, or if you are a UM Extension Educator who teaches PVofPP, I would love to hear your suggestions for revising the materials. Have you noticed typos in the printed materials? Have you thought of ways the workshop activities can be improved? Can you suggest updated examples for presenters to use? Are there images or graphics that you think would improve the materials’ look? Please share any ideas at all in the comments here or in an email to me.

Thank you for your suggestions. I look forward to sharing the revised materials later in the year.

Congratulations to the 2010 grantees of the North Central Risk Management Education Center! The summer training workshop for the 2010 project directors will be in Indianapolis, IN, August 10-11. As part of the workshop, I will present a customized version of the “Building Extension’s Public Value” workshop, tentatively titled, “Creating Public Value with Your Educational Project.”

If you are a NCRMEC grantee and will attend the August workshop, what would most like to see at the public value session? What questions do you have about BEPV and how other programs have used it? Share your ideas in the comments section here, or email me. I look forward to seeing you in Indy!

Across the country, Cooperative Extension organizations are adopting a variety of strategies for training their staff in the public value approach. University of Missouri appointed an “MU Extension Public Value Education Team,” who subsequently offered “Building Extension’s Public Value” training to all of MU Extension. Some states introduced the training to a particular program area (Family and Consumer Sciences in North Carolina, and Community Resource Development in New York and Pennsylvania). Nevada, in contrast, introduced it in selected regions.

University of Georgia Extension has chosen to introduce public value training as part of a professional development program for the organization’s leaders–and future leaders. Last week I taught the BEPV workshop for Georgia’s “ExTEND” group: participants in an advanced program of the Extension Academy for Professional Excellence. I look forward to seeing how the ExTEND group chooses to use the training–how they plan to extend their organization’s public value.

What approach do you think will work best to build support for public funding for Extension programs? BEPV training for everyone? For Extension leadership? Rolling out the concepts by program area or region? Or another approach?

Yesterday I taught a short version of the “Public Value of Public Programs (PVPP)” workshop for a Public Affairs class at the University of Minnesota. The PVPP workshop content is similar to that of the BEPV workshop, and the objectives are the same: to help people who develop, teach, evaluate, and advocate for publicly funded outreach programs to make a case for that public funding. The difference is that PVPP is not directed at Extension professionals, but at program providers in the government and nonprofit sectors.

I presented the slide below to introduce the idea that under conditions of market failure, collective action(for example, by the public or nonprofit sector) can improve the outcome for a community.

A student asked whether I was assuming that government or nonprofits would act efficiently and in the best interests of the people. In some developing countries, he noted, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are sometimes inefficient and corrupt. Their action, even in the presence of market failures, can make a community worse off than if the market failures had persisted.

Indeed, the PVPP program addresses the role of the public and nonprofit sectors when private enterprises (“the market”) fail, but is silent on the possibility of government or nonprofit failures. A shortcoming, indeed.

So, yes, to make a strong case for public funding of a program, it is necessary not only to explain how a public or nonprofit organization can in theory address issues that the private sector cannot (market failure), but to provide evidence that your organization will in practice act efficiently, benevolently, and honorably for the public good.

In Extension’s case, we can safely assume that our organizations always act efficiently, benevolently and honorably, right? Right?

* To register for the March 2010 “Building Extension’s Public Value” train-the-trainer course, go here. The registration fee is $100 per participant. To encourage institutions to send teams of staff to the training, the maximum total registration fee for any institution is $500.

* The training will be conducted online, via UMConnect, and will consist of two, two-hour sessions, with all participants attending both sessions. The training sessions will be Monday, March 29, and Wednesday, March 31, 2010, at 2:00-4:00 Eastern; 1:00-3:00 Central; 12:00-2:00 Mountain; 11:00-1:00 Pacific; 9:00-11:00 Hawaii.

* Prior to the beginning of the sessions, participants will receive an email notifying them of how to participate in the two online sessions and how to download the training materials, including the Building Extension’s Public Value Presenter’s Guide, the Building Extension’s Public Value Workbook, and accompanying Powerpoint™ presentation.

* Questions about registration? Contact our help desk at [email protected] or 800-876-8636.

* Questions about program content and relevance to your work? Contact Laura Kalambokidis at [email protected].

* Other questions? Contact Diane McAfee at [email protected].

What should an Extension program team have on hand to draft a public value message that secures a skeptical stakeholder’s support? Here’s my prescription:

What’s yours?