In a rapidly changing global society, there is an increasing demand for effective outreach activities by institutions of higher education that are encouraging and supporting social, economic, and community development in their regions and worldwide as well. Many of these institutions have historically served only traditional students. This growing demand for service oriented, non-traditional programming has created a critical need for a cadre of professionally trained and certified continuing education leaders. This program is designed to prepare educational leaders to successfully develop and manage public service education programs.
This will be an intensive one-week program (37 hours) focused upon the applied practices for the operation and management of public service education activities in institutions of higher education. The major elements of the program are as follows.

  • Principles of Public Services and Adult Learning
  • Strategic Planning
  • Program Development
  • Program Management
  • Program Evaluation
  • Marketing
  • Staff Selection and Development
  • Financial Systems
  • Project Management

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

The organizational culture and expertise requirements for a successful public service program differ significantly from that of traditional education activities. Public service programs are largely custom made based upon the principles of effective adult education (andragogy). This module includes the forms and functions of public service, the history and principles of adult education as well as current trends in continuing education in the U.S.

The strategic planning module is designed to prepare the participant to implement an effective strategic planning process to maintain continuous improvement and expansion of the program. The process will include developing a vision and mission, long-range forecasting (futuring), establishing lines of business, setting measurable/realistic goals and objectives, and establishing operational plans.

Effective program development is a complex activity that includes an analysis of the future trends, needs analysis, program design acquisition and allocation of curriculum resources, planning and scheduling. This module will feature a variety of case studies that will provide participants an opportunity to develop a customized program that will be appropriate for their organization and locale.

Effective program management includes the acquisition, organization, allocation and supervision of the diverse resources needed to deliver public service programs. These efforts involve faculty recruitment, faculty training, facility identification and preparation, staffing, group dynamics, food services management, and a variety of additional critical activities. During the presentation of this module, teams of participants will plan and manage a sample conference or seminar.

Effective program evaluation not only assures that the clients received full value for their investment, but is also the key for continuous improvement of the entire operation. A variety of evaluation techniques will be utilized to measure the success of the diverse programming activities normally conducted as part of a dynamic public service organization.

Since a comprehensive public service is a relatively new initiative for many institutions of higher education, the success of public service programming is dependent upon intensive marketing efforts. Promoting public service activities means using publicity, direct mail, advertising, and personal contacts to recruit customers to the program. In this module the participants will develop a marketing plan to include brochure design, planning and writing marketing copy of advertisements, customer development techniques, product pricing, budgeting, tracking and a variety of other marketing techniques.

Support service activities involve registration systems, financial systems, information systems, materials production, and communication systems. Public service professionals must understand these systems and how to manage their operation. This module briefly presents support system models and examines their day-to-day operation.

The largely self-supporting nature of the Public Service operation requires an in-depth understanding of financial systems and management techniques that differ significantly from traditional academic budgeting and accounting. This module includes exercises in developing budget projections, income and expense estimation, break-even analysis and calculating cash flow requirements. Various financial system options will be evaluated and explained.

Establishment of a continuing education center as well as development and delivery of continuing education courses can be done as a project utilizing principles and techniques of project management. This module will provide a brief introduction into project management – phases of project (project identification, planning, organization, control, closing), support tools – network diagram, Gantt diagram, staffing, managing meetings etc.

The program is presented by Kennesaw State University Continuing Education. The presenters are Dean Barbara S. Calhoun and Dr. Bill Smith.

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