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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2002: article | |
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New integrated program development approach is being implemented By Deborah A. Benedetti | |||||||||
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Program development’s role and function in Outreach and Cooperative Extension (O&CE) is undergoing changes to help Penn State respond to the increasingly competitive challenges of providing education and training in the digital age. The new integrated program development approach is the result of a 15-month examination by the Program Development Review Committee. The committee detailed its recommendations in the report Beyond Unit Success: Outreach Program Development for the Competitive Digital Age.
Dr. Patricia A. Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director of the Division of Continuing Education, said, “The Program Development Review Committee has provided us with invaluable guidance on reconfiguring our resources and services to create an improved program development system. Systemic changes spanning programming units, support offices, financial structures and academic colleges are needed to make this integrated program development approach a reality.”
The new program development system is being implemented in an outreach organization that already serves as a national model, Book noted.
“Assembled under one organizational umbrella is potentially the most productive and influential outreach operation in American higher education,” she said. “The components of Continuing Education, Distance Education, Public Broadcasting and Cooperative Extension, backed by marketing and program development support systems, enable Outreach and Cooperative Extension to provide formal and nonformal credit and noncredit education through any means conceivable. Historical linkages to the colleges ensure academic integrity. And the variety of delivery methodologies (face-to-face, print, Internet, video and audio) extends the potential reach from local to global.”
Program Development now comprises:
“A key goal of the changes we are making is to have program development work more effectively,” Smutz said. “We need the help of all outreach units and outreach faculty and staff members to make this approach work.”
When Book appointed the Program Development Review Committee, she asked the committee to “propose an inclusive vision for program development that will take advantage of our total delivery capability.” In addition, the committee’s charge stated, “This vision should also seek to enhance the organization’s ability to rapidly deliver significant numbers of high-quality new programs to an increasingly demanding marketplace.”
Outreach Program Development units have been centralized since the early 1990s. The purpose of that structure was to make it easier for the units to produce new programs, adapt to changing priorities, align Outreach and Cooperative Extension with the academic colleges, and market programs. Program Development included the Office of Program Planning, the Office of Marketing Research, the Office of Marketing Communications and the Office of Client Development.
“Our program development system worked well for many years,” Smutz said, “but we are facing increased competition from other higher education institutions and for-profit education enterprises. To remain competitive, we need to maximize our resources and enhance the impact of our outreach programming. These factors motivated our desire to examine our program development processes to see where we could make improvements.”
The Program Development Review Committee’s primary recommendations focus on the areas of leadership, networking and linkages, market orientation, and financial processes and resources.
“The goal is to position Penn State Outreach differently in the marketplace,” Smutz said. “The ability to offer learners multiple points or blended approaches to learning is likely to increase educational impact and is a significant point of difference that most other university providers cannot offer.”
Leadership
A key committee recommendation is the creation of a Multi-unit Assessment of Program Potential (MAPP) Committee. MAPP will provide a forum for outreach leaders to facilitate cross-unit programming, collaborate on strategic programming and develop rapid responses to marketplace needs. The committee will link program and funding opportunities and create a program development framework and environment that is supportive of a “create once, produce everywhere” orientation.
MAPP membership includes the director of Program Development, the directors for programming or program development within other O&CE units, the state program leaders within Cooperative Extension, the director of Statewide Programs, the senior director for marketing and the director of the Outreach Office of Development.
In addition, the Associate Vice Presidents, including the leaders of Continuing Education, Distance Education, Public Broadcasting and Cooperative Extension, meet monthly to set strategic program directions, act on MAPP recommendations, commit units to common program areas and reinforce interunit collaboration, Smutz said.
A new discovery process is an important component of the Multi-unit Assessment of Program Potential Committee. Childers is directing the discovery process, which is designed to generate many new programming ideas. Program development staff members will work closely with the colleges to analyze the ideas for feasibility. They will make decisions about which ideas to pursue, using a program blueprint that includes program description, audience and market description, funding potential, academic readiness, technology and media required, income potential and other elements. Throughout this process, staff members will continuously share information.
“Outreach Program Resources wants to be a catalyst for new program development,” Childers said. “We are focusing on the discovery process. We are making sure we have a point of contact for each college. Our professional staff, all of whom have a wide range of experiences with adult programming, can work with the colleges to develop a customized support plan.”
Networking and linkages with colleges
The Program Development Review Committee has recommended creating an inclusive Program Development Information System to enhance communication about programming issues across Outreach and Cooperative Extension. The system will be used for communicating information about strategic program development initiatives to all levels of the organization and for providing information about programs in development. The system also will involve processes that make available program specific data that can be used for portfolio analysis and planning. Key programming data elements used across outreach units will be standardized to improve analysis and decision making. The system also will have a project management capability.
A new organizational structure, the Outreach Linkage Network, will link O&CE units with the academic colleges and support a more inclusive approach to program development, including cross-unit programming, and make more effective use of O&CE’s human resources.
Program Development Review Committee
Implementation of the recommendations of the Program Development Review Committee is continuing, said Smutz, who chaired the committee. Ann Dodd, senior consultant with the Center for Quality and Planning, was the committee’s facilitator.
The committee included Dr. Marilyn Corbin, assistant director of Penn State Cooperative Extension and state program leader for children, youth and families; Dr. William G. Curley, senior director of Continuing Education, Commonwealth College; Dr. Wesley E. Donahue, director, Management Development Programs and Services; Dr. Ronald L. Filippelli, associate dean for administration and undergraduate studies, College of the Liberal Arts; James Fong, director, Outreach Office of Marketing Research; Dr. Peter Forster, associate director of academic programs, World Campus/Distance Education; Dr. Norman Freed, associate dean, Eberly College of Science; Tracy Frieden, director of programming and production, WPSX-TV, Penn State Public Broadcasting; Dr. Deborah Klevans, director, Outreach Office of Program Development; Donald Leslie, associate dean for undergraduate studies, College of Arts and Architecture; Kenneth A. McGeary, director of Continuing Education, Penn State Lehigh Valley; Bill Speakman, director, Outreach Office of Development; Dr. Jack Watson, assistant director of Cooperative Extension and state program leader for agriculture and natural resources; Dr. Katheryn Woodley, assistant professor, Management Development Programs and Services; and Dr. Suzanne Wrye, director of program development, Conferences and Institutes.
“Penn State Outreach is in a position to create a unique program development system—one that allows it to significantly enhance its impact on learners and its ability to address social and economic problems,” Smutz said. “We face many challenges, but we are committed to creating a program development system that keeps Penn State competitive in the digital age.” | ||||||||
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© 2002 Outreach Communications, Outreach & Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108, fax: (814) 863-2765, e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu |
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