Study of Mobile Educational Unit Effectiveness

Marta, thanks for the opportunity to let me make a comment (if a bit of a long one!) in the area of "mobile educational units".

Have you considered that classroom vs mobile education concept may be a little too one in the same? That is, they are both about communications involving small groups. See Thomlisons (in ISBN 0805830502) use of Lievrouw & Finns (1990) Dimensions of communication behavior model. Have you considered the evaluation of the effectiveness of mediated (TV, radio, press, web) versus non-mediated (face-to-face, small groups) communications, instead?

My Master's thesis, handed in Dec 08, was about the use of events for government communications. Here in Australia, they are often termed roadshows. I found very little in the way of information on the use of - or evaluation of the effectiveness of - roadshows or events. So it became a case study involving my personal experience, and some feedback from four others who had worked on roadshows going back to the 1970s.

I was the lead project manager of a AUD$1.2m roadshow for the Victorian state government from 2000-2004. Our objective was to promote online government services and its benefits; we gave presentations and we could let people access the internet to see for themselves. We had a three-tonne dual-axle six-workstation internet-enabled caravan to tow around the countryside. We attended field days, county fairs, special events, or just set up in the main street of small country towns where we could access power and a phone line for the internet. All travel was planned at least six weeks ahead.

In my home state in Australia the government has a tradition of using roadshows for communication and education going back to The Better Farming Train of 1924. In the research for my thesis what did I find? The keyword roadshow or event in a communications context didnt come up with very much useful information! So the search went a bit wider.

For background: only two books on the study of government communications in Australia (ISBN 0732903866; 0521681715 I trust you can find these through worldcat.org). The first emphasised the adoption of marketing in the late 80s; the second looked at publicity and spin from the late 90s. The culture within government seems to be that most communication is mediated (if it is not in the press or on the 6pm news); and that also seems to be a bit of a fixation in PR case study books (i.e. theyre only interested in mediated communication studies, although that may not be the fault of the author but the organization providing the case study).

I thought that for PR the go-to book for case studies would seem to be the series from Hendrix (0495050288, 0534606105, 0534514324, 053452236X, 0534248403) about the PRSA awards; I dont think the word roadshow was mentioned in any of those five editions (maybe one?). So did other marketing or PR texts help? Not really: a little, if you want to plan an event (1740097637); but not much if you want to evaluate the outcomes. From my readings evaluation of marketing communications or PR plans (the comprehensive Inputs-Outputs-Outtakes-Outcomes ladder of evaluation; Macnamara in 095791301X pp.118-153) is only a recent phenomenon, anyway. For my roadshow the communications were not a political or government priority. The only real requirement was to make sure we visited every rural, regional and remote shire in the state!

Kotlers social marketing texts (0131875159) sometimes include useful case studies, especially when his colleague Roberto gets an opportunity to contribute (0029184614) real-life experience. As youve identified, these case studies are usually based around health issues. Sometimes you just have to delve deeper into the library stacks. One very useful text is often overlooked: J P Morris (1972) 'Road safety publicity: quantifying the effectiveness of public service advertising', London: Advertising Association (No ISBN).

Atkins & Rice was also a good find (0803932626, 1989 2nd. edn.); see Horniks truism Media for awareness; field agents for practice change (p.329) which is actually a subject path to consider following: change.

Change in organizations has a good foundation of study, so I started with Robbins (013639048x). For me the works of Lewin, Schein, Kotter, Prochaska & Di Clemente, and Kolb, Rubin & McIntyre (0136412904) have provided a useful balance of theory with research; but maybe not the case studies you were looking for?!?

Finally, I realised Laird (0201044986, pp.107-108) has identified a great set of objectives if you want to evaluate learning. But was any of this evaluated in my roadshow? Not really; the contract didnt call for anything more than awareness-raising. What about other examples? Not that I could find in all the ISBNs and ISSNs that I read!

So, to refer back to your questions:
Has anyone done any research on the effectiveness of mobile education units verses classroom or community presentations?
I think very little has been done to research the effectiveness, the outcomes, of mobile education units or community presentations. But my experience reflects Horniks truism: if you take a few posters on the road and stand around with your hands in your pockets, as some of my colleagues did, I dont think there is much more effectiveness than a print ad or a 30 second TV spot. You need a simple message and committed presenters who are also capable of listening to the public and who are able to adapt the message where and when necessary.

Do more people attend presentations when the presentation is brought to them through a mobile unit?
In my roadshow days because I was working, on average, at least 150 miles from the office, I relied on local champions to help drum up business. If I wasnt attending a Rotary presentation, if I just had the caravan sitting in a main street somewhere, and I didnt have someone in the area to bring along a few of their colleagues or friends then things could be a little slow. To get the public to make the journey of those last few miles still relied on a network of local people to promote the project. We had limited publicity: the press release from the government ministers office was ineffectual; the whats in it for me? version I came up with was more effective. So was a series of three-minute radio spots I produced for network radio: rural people still listen to radio broadcasts for information.

A short answer to the effectiveness: it depends upon the quality and pro-activeness of your presenters. Or: it depends on how you evaluate the campaign.

Regards
Jimmy Rowe

Jimmy Rowe
Australia

Im also about to conduct some research into mobile display units. The idea being that Council delivers static displays at many events throughout the year and a mobile unit would be a more professional and efficient (in terms of set up) approach. As youll notice, the back of house motives are leading the investigation more than improved education and awareness.

That said, we are aware that mobile displays can be more infrastructure intensive than a static display of 2D posters and therefore may have a higher capacity for public engagement. We would like to use the modern hands-on museum/zoo displays as case studies to develop a touch-and-feel demonstration of sustainable living concepts.

I haven't seen any information about the effectiveness of mobile displays over standard presentations, but I'll keep an eye out. I look forward to reading other people's experience with mobile displays.

Regards,

Candice Laidlaw Thompson
Sustainability Awareness Projects Officer
Toowoomba Regional Council
Australia