Expanding the Utility and Impact of the Michigan Public Engagement Framework
- Goal: We previously created a framework that describes a systems-level view of public engagement, which we define broadly as “intentional and mutually beneficial interactions between members of an institution and external individuals or groups that results in positive “societal change.” This broad framework encapsulates and draws on many aspects of broader impacts work. In our ARIS project, we will refine our framework and improve the materials used to explain it. We will also develop a series of reflective practice tools that enable scholars and practitioners to put the framework into practice.
- Aspirations for Impact: This project aims to drive interdisciplinary collaborations for new, innovative research impacts by helping researchers and practitioners reflect on their own practices and recognize and learn from a broader ecosystem of practices engaging different publics. We hope that researchers and practitioners will “see themselves” within this ecosystem in both their present work and desired pathways for impacts.
Products:
We built on our previous framework by interviewing expert practitioners in public engagement and broader impacts across a variety of spaces, from museum professionals, to individuals supporting policy engagement, to community-engaged researchers, to educators focused on pre-college outreach. From these efforts, we improved the framework itself — called the Michigan Public Engagement Framework — and created an explainer (PDF). In brief, the Michigan Public Engagement Framework explains public engagement by breaking down who is involved (stakeholders), the dynamics of how these people or groups interact (relationships), and the environment(s) in which engagements happen (contexts and/or domains).
We then translated this research-based framework into a series of practice tools — called the Michigan Public Engagement Framework Reflection Decks — to enable broader impacts and public engagement professionals to support relationship-building and planning for engaged or broader impacts projects. The Reflection Decks are applicable to any form of public engagement — from writing a book for lay audiences to partnering with community members on an engaged learning project.
There are three different Reflection Decks that support practitioners and scholars to take an objective-based design approach to public engagement and broader impacts projects, recognize and value the assets individual people bring to a project, and explore working dynamics to help relationships between academic and public partners develop and stay healthy. The Reflection Decks can be used before, during, and after a public engagement project.
While deep knowledge of the framework is not required to use the Decks, we do recommend reviewing the framework explainer (PDF) prior to using the Decks because it may prompt ideas related to your specific broader impacts activity.
We have created different versions of all three of the Reflection Decks. Each version (i.e., Print-at-Home, Digital, and Workbook) contains identical content; you may choose to use whichever version works best for your needs.
- In the Print-at-Home version of a Deck, you will print, cut out, and interact with a set of physical cards. This version is helpful if you want to activate your brain in a different way and use your hands to interact with physical cards.
- In the Digital version of a Deck, you will interact with a set of elements in a slidedeck. This version is particularly suited for sharing in virtual environments or when you don’t have access to a printer.
- In the Workbook version of a Deck, you will simply respond to the reflective prompts. This version is the best choice for people who use screen reader technology or those looking for some quick reflective prompts.
You can access the different versions of all three Reflection Decks with the links below.
- Contexts Deck: Use this Deck to articulate objectives, contexts, and resources for an engagement or broader impact activity.
- Stakeholders Deck: Use this Deck to identify individual strengths and assets that most influence an engagement or broader impact activity.
- Relationships Deck: Use this Deck to plan action steps to foster the desired relationship dynamics in an engagement or broader impact activity.
