National eXtension Initiative

Yesterday, after two months of working on the redesign, we rolled out a completely new and rebuilt-from-the-ground-up About eXtension. The transition went smoothly (if you are reading this in a feed, you may not have even realized that there is a new site — come check it out!) so we hope you’ll come take advantage of the new site.

There’s a lot of underlying changes — better site organization and a cleaner, easier-to-read design — but the biggest difference is the homepage. The new homepage is designed to help first-time visitors quickly get up to speed with all eXtension has to offer. It also serves as an information hub for existing members to find everything they need.

Here are a few highlights of the new homepage design:

1. Global navigation bar: The top of every page contains links to all the main eXtension properties (the Wikis and our applications).
2. The Blog: Yes, we still have a blog — it’s just not our homepage anymore. You can read it at http://about.extension.org/blog or, even better, subscribe to the feed (links at the bottom of every page) and never miss a post.
3. Quicklinks: A consolidated list of popular eXtension web pages.
4. Upcoming Events: Easily check for Professional Development opportunities and other eXtension-related events. It pulls its information from blog posts that have been categorized as events.

We hope you enjoy the new site and would love to hear what you think. You can leave a comment right here on this post or email us at feedback@extension.org. Thanks!

eXtension’s next iTeam meetings will be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, September 17, 18, & 19, 2007. The sessions will run from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m Eastern Time each day and will be delivered via eXtension’s Connect/Breeze system.

An agenda and connection information will be posted at a later time.

TO PARTICIPATE in any of the 30 Minute sessions…

1. Five minutes before the start time, go to the Adobe Connect Pro (previously known as Breeze) meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn.
2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an “Enter as Guest” option.
3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university, then click the “Enter Room” button to join the conference.
4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe’s Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.

EMAIL LIST:
If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https://lists.extension.org/signup/learn and click “Sign up” to join the “Learn” email list.

RECORDINGS:
Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki. Scroll down under the Professional Development heading and find “Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions”, or search on the word Recording.

Looking forward to having you join us to learn something new this month!!

Multi-user virtual environments such as Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com/) are growing in popularity. Learn what Second Life is and how it is being used. Some experts have predicted that 80 percent of active internet users will be using this type of environment by the end of 2011! Why not spend just a half hour in 2007 to learn more about it so you’re better prepared!

Plan to join us on September 11, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Vishal Singh, UNL, who is Vice Chair of the ACE IT SIG.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Many users today are preferring websites that provide information faster with a minimum amount of work necessary. Over the years, with the constant rise in bandwidth availability, internet users have became progressively impatient when browsing websites. Many users may simply give up on websites that take too long or direct them to too many pages. AJAX is a mechanism that gives users almost instant availability of information when it is requested within web pages without having to redirect the user to new pages. This presentation will focus on familiarizing the audience with AJAX and it’s different uses in web applications.

Plan to join us on September 26, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Aaron Hundley, eXtension applications analyst.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Slideshare (slideshare.net) is sort of like a YouTube for sharing presentations. Agents and specialists are always looking for ways to share their slideshows, and Slideshare is an easy, powerful, and free solution. It’s also an effective environment for fostering online learning. This session will show you everything you need to know to get started with Slideshare, and discuss how this technology can be used for collaborative work across the Cooperative Extension System.

Plan to join us on September 20, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Kevin Gamble, associate director for eXtension.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Learn about Social Bookmarking as a collaborative tool — how to keep your work team on the same page without burying them in email. Participants will be exposed to several social bookmarking tools with an emphasis on del.icio.us (for all Extension).

Plan to join us on September 12, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Kevin Gamble, associate director for eXtension.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

We’re putting the final touches on the new About eXtension redesign and have launched a demo site for testing purposes. If you’d like to get a sneak peek of the redesign, please visit http://about.demo.extension.org.

A few things to note about the demo site:

• The blog entries are not up-to-date
• We are still filling in content for a few pages

If you run into any other problems (for example, if the design/layout doesn’t look right) please let us know. You can leave a comment right here on this post or email us at feedback@extension.org. thanks!

eXtension’s professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out!

30 MINUTE SESSIONS
This month we are offering “30 Minute Sessions” on some new topics such as Open ID, user-centric design, Facebook, and Google Custom Search Engine. Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! These sessions will be held via web conferencing at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00 Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted.

* Aug 15 at 3:00 ET, Jason Young with an Introduction to OpenID
More and more websites that require the site users to sign in with a username and password are taking advantage of an open protocol for authentication called ‘OpenID.’ eXtension is converting all of its web applications over to OpenID. In this session, we’ll briefly touch on what OpenID is, and how eXtension is using it. But we also want to know what YOU want answered in an “Introduction to OpenID.” Help us build the outline for the session by adding to the discussion at: http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Introduction_to_OpenID.

* Aug 21 at 3:00 ET, Ben MacNeill on Creating Web Applications with User-Centric Design
The barriers to building web applications have never been lower. Individuals and small teams can create, deploy and test a web application in as little as a few months, weeks or even days. This iterative process gives designers and developers a chance introduce small changes over time and constantly refine the end product. This is a look at web application development from a design and user interface point-of-view.

* Aug 22 at 3:00 ET, Ray Kimsey with About FaceBook
Now you can have a Facebook account too! What used to be open only to students has been opened to everyone. Find out what Facebook is all about and learn how it took over the college campus. Is this the social networking utility for you? This is an introductory look at Facebook, its networks, groups, event calendars and how they can be used by Extension professionals.

* Aug 23, at 3:00 ET, Kevin Gamble on CES Google CSE (custom search engine).
This session will show you how simple it is to use Google search technology to create a free Custom Search Engine that reflects your knowledge and interests. It will also show you the Cooperative Extension CSE, teach you how to place a custom widget on your own site, and show how you can participate in a collaborative environment to further customize and make it better.

Add these dates and topics to your calendar, and plan to join us on for one or more of these sessions in August!!

TO PARTICIPATE in any of the 30 Minute sessions…
1. Five minutes before the start time, go to the Web conferencing center (previously known as Breeze) meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn.

2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an “Enter as Guest” option.

3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university, then click the “Enter Room” button to join the conference.

4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe’s Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.

EMAIL LIST:
If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https://lists.extension.org/mailman/listinfo/learn and subscribe to the “Learn” email list.

RECORDINGS:
Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki and search on Recordings, or scroll down under Professional Development heading and find “Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions”, or search on the word Recording.

Looking forward to having you join us to learn something new in August!!