National eXtension Initiative

eXtension is involved in a number of conversations and activities focusing on international/global partnerships. We are looking for ways to enhance our domestic program while assisting others throughout the world who may benefit from Cooperative Extension programs and services. Such partnerships could:

1) Help to secure more external funding;
2) Grow the physical infrastructure that supports content development and information delivery;
3) Translate content into other formats and languages;
4) Add diversity to Communities of Practice (CoPs); and/or
5) Establish new CoPs.

eXtension is included in several USAID Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services grant applications and we’ve had productive conversations with USAID; Winrock International, the Peace Corps; and with financial help from the U.S. State Department, we will be participating in an Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting August 18‐20,2010 in Taiwan to discuss the development of an information‐sharing platform. For more information about international/global strategies, please see our capability statement at: http://about.extension.org/wiki/Global/International_Programs

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

30- and 60-MINUTE SESSIONS

This month we are offering 30-Minute Sessions on a several topics including a quick way to find Extension educational materials, writing for online audiences for Moodle or webpages, and getting started in Second Life. Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! In addition there are a few 60 Minute sessions on a more in-depth topic and for discussions including the first in a series on Google App Engine, Ask an Expert Widgets & discussion, and the monthly Question Wrangler meetup. These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn unless otherwise noted. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. CT, Noon MT, 11:00 a.m. PT, 10:00 a.m. AT; 8:00 a.m. HT) unless otherwise noted.

* Tuesday, August 3 at 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT (11-12:00 SLT), Second planning
meeting for Virtual State Fair week to be held live in Second Life October 6-10. Meet in Adobe Connect at http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/extension3d/ or in Second Life at the Virtual County Extension http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24

* August 11 at 2:00 p.m. ET, a 30-minute session on Writing for Online Audiences by Jennifer Jahedkar Texas AgriLife Extension. Whether in a Moodle course or on a webpage an online audience needs material to be organized and presented differently. Join us to learn what that means and see before and after examples. (For all Extension)

* August 18 at 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET, Getting Started With Google App Engine – 1 hour session (first in a series) – by Jason Young, eXtension. Google App Engine is a service from Google for quickly and easily deploying web applications in the same scalable environment that powers Google’s own webapps. This session is the first in a series of sessions that will guide participants in creating their own web apps on App Engine. We’ll start by getting everyone up and running and deploying their first “hello world” application. (For all Extension)

* August 19 at 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, Beginning with the Ask an Expert Widget by Aaron Hundley and Ask an Expert Discussion Double Header by Aaron Hundley and Beth Raney Learn the basics of the Ask an Expert System with Widgets and stick around for the AaE Discussion for current participants of the AaE system. How to use the Ask eXtension widget to receive and answer questions directly from your county Extension web site or Extension-related website. This widget adds question-asking capabilities to your site, but uses the power of the eXtension Ask an Expert and FAQ systems to assist you in answering. Take questions from your clients, and use the 40,000 questions in the FAQ system to assist you in providing a timely and accurate answer. This session will introduce you to the Ask an Expert system, the Ask an Expert widget, show you the latest features developed, and will discuss what is necessary to begin using it immediately in your own county sites and blogs with helpful tips. Then we will have a conversation to discuss current implementations and ideas for the AaE system with those who have been working in the AaE system. (For all Extension).

* August 24 at 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup with Beth Raney and Kevin Gamble, eXtension. An opportunity for state Question Wranglers who help with questions submitted via Ask an Expert by the public at www.extension.org, to get familiar with your role, the tools available to make it easier, and share experiences & tips. (For eXtension Question Wranglers)

* August 24 at 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET (12-11:00 SLT), Third planning meeting
for Virtual State Fair week to be held live in Second Life October 6th
- 10th. Meet in Adobe Connect at http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/extension3d/ or in Second Life at the
Virtual County Extension
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24

* August 26 at 2:00 p.m. ET, a 30-minute session on Using eXtension’s Custom Search to Locate Extension Educational Materials. One of the most widely used tools developed and supported by eXtension is the Google Custom Search engine that looks through all the known Cooperative Extension Web sites and return relevant materials. Recently, eXtension has added some enhancements to make it easier for Extension professionals to add additional Web sites. This session will show you how the tool works, demonstrate adding additional sites, and provide examples of how it can be used to support Extension educational efforts. (for all Extension. but especially useful to agents and educators)

* August 27 at 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET (11:00-12:30 SL time (Pacific), Second
Life Meetup. Meet at the Virtual County Extension http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24. Scavenger Hunt! A trophy will be awarded to the winning team. This is a great practice session for new SL users.

* August 31 at 2:00-2:30 ET, a 30-minute session on Getting Started in Second Life. Registration, avatar creation, orientation, and ways to use this virtual environment to enhance your programming will all be featured. (For all Extension)

SECOND LIFE

Second Life is an immersive 3-D virtual online environment, free to the public, and used by educators from around the world for teaching and collaboration. eXtension will help you get started by providing space, training, and technical assistance. Instructions for entering Second Life are at www.thynkalittle.com or
http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/Cooperative_Extension_Second_Life_Educators

LuAnn Phillips, eXtension Virtual Worlds Coordinator, is available to
assist you in world, and can be reached at luann.phillips@extension.org, by instant message to Thynka Little in Second Life, or at www.thynkalittle.com

August Second Life Events:

* Tuesday, August 3, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, (11-12:00 SLT) Second planning meeting for Virtual State Fair week to be held live in Second Life October 6 – 10. Meet in Adobe Connect at http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/extension3d/ or in Second Life at the Virtual County Extension http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24

* August 24 at 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET (12-11:00 SLT), Third planning meeting for Virtual State Fair week to be held live in Second Life October 6-10. Meet in Adobe Connect at http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/extension3d/ or in Second Life at the Virtual County Extension
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24

August 27 at 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET (11:00-12:30 SL time (Pacific), Second Life Meetup. Meet at the Virtual County Extension http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill2/181/172/24. Scavenger Hunt! A trophy will be awarded to the winning team. This is a great practice session for new SL users.

* August 31 at 2:00-2:30 ET, a 30-minute session on Getting Started in Second Life. Registration, avatar creation, orientation, and ways to use this virtual environment to enhance your programming will all be featured. (For all Extension) Go to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn

Add these dates & 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 sessions held in our Web Conferencing Center…

1. Five minutes before the start time, go to our Web Conferencing Center 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 callback 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://people.extension.org/communities/learn and Click “Join Community.

CONVERSATION:

What would you like to learn about, like to see again, what ideas do you have for new topics, and/or people who could teach new topics? Just a couple weeks ago, Google Wave was opened so anyone can participate without having a special invitation. I’ve created a wave for our Learn community to share ideas. Follow the link to the Wave. You will be prompted to log into your Google Account, or create one associated with whatever email address you use.

https://wave.google.com/wave/?pli=1#restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BaqS4tkeBA

Feel welcome to add your thoughts in a new blip, or reply to a blip someone else has posted. To keep this public wave in your Wave Inbox, just click the “follow” button. For an Intro to Google Wave, check out the Recordings!

RECORDINGS:

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

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

318 news releases were posted on eXtension during July. The number of releases and where they came from:

28–University of Missouri
25–Louisiana State University
23–University of Illinois
18–Kansas State University
17–North Carolina Cooperative Extension
14–Mississippi State University
13 each–Iowa State University, University of Georgia
11–University of Wisconsin
10 each–North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University
9 each–Ohio State University, University of Arizona, University of Arkansas
8 each–Texas AgriLife Extension, University of California, University of Florida
7 each–Michigan State University, Penn State University
6 each–Alabama Cooperative Extension, University of Nebraska
5 each–Colorado State University, Purdue University
4 each–Cornell University. Oregon State University, University of Kentucky, Utah State University
3 each–Maryland Cooperative Extension, University of Minnesota
1 each–Montana State University, University of New Hampshire, Virginia Cooperative Extension
22–Other sources
2–Original releases

July news releases by Communities of Practice:

35–Gardens, lawns and landscapes
32–Families, food and fitness
27–Personal finance
24–Parenting
17 each–Family caregiving, Oil spill
15–Beef cattle
14–Food safety
12–Pest management in and around structures
11–Entrepreneurs and their communities
10 each–Corn and soybean production, Dairy
9–Farm energy
8–Goats
7 each–Agrosecurity and floods; Science, engineering, and technology for youth
6 each–Animal manure management, Bee health, Home energy, Organic agriculture
5 each–Child care, Horses
4 each–Community planning and zoning, Wildfire
3 each–Cotton, Diversity across higher education, Wildlife damage management
1 each–Extension master gardener, Geospatial technology, Small meat processors, Wood energy
Plus one to three news releases in CoPs not yet public: Companion animals, Drinking water, Military families, Rangelands

Google searches during July 2010 brought the public to eXtension news most often for these news releases:

A. Aronia Berries Easy to Grow Organically, Have High Levels of Antioxidants
B. How to Control Grasshoppers in Your Garden
C. How to Cure and Store Garden Onions
D. How to Eradicate Cheatgrass
E. New Crape Myrtle Delta Jazz Licensed by Mississippi State
F. Tax Incentives Reduce Cost of Replacing Heating and Cooling Systems
G. The Pros and Cons of Television Viewing for Children
H. The Singing Insects of Summer
I. The Third Wire: Using Three-prong Plugs with Two-prong Adapters
J. Urinary Tract Infection Can Lead to Serious Problems in the Elderly

Which of the top 10 July releases do you think brought in the most pageviews by generic search? The most popular was C. How to Cure and Store Garden Onions. In descending order, the popularity was A, G, J, D, B, I, F, H, E.

Aug. 19 — Remote Sensing Cameras – A Valuable Wildlife Management Tool, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon Eastern Time, http://www.extension.org/events/1637

Aug. 20 — How to Calculate Pasture Dry Matter on your Organic Dairy Farm, 2:00 – 3:15 p.m. Eastern Time, http://www.extension.org/events/1762

Aug. 20 — NAQSAT, a Tool for Determining Opportunities to Reduce Air Emissions from Livestock Farms, 2:30 – 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time, http://www.extension.org/events/1740

Link to the webinar news release from your state site, feature it in your communications to the public, and adapt it for your own news! Use this link!

If you’ve already completed the Military Families Environmental Scan Survey, thank you! If you haven’t completed the survey or haven’t forwarded it on to those in your Cooperative Extension System that work with programming that serves military families please do so as soon as possible. Additionally, there is an opportunity in the survey where you can supply information on programs that may no longer be active. We would appreciate any historical information you or your colleagues may be aware of as well.

To access the survey, please click on this URL http://tinyurl.com/MilFamSurvey or copy and paste it into your Internet browser. We are using InstantSurvey, a convenient online survey tool. No need to print anything out or mail it in. Once you open the Environmental Scan Survey, please read the instructions carefully. Please complete the survey by Friday, August 6.

Thank you again for your attention and efforts on behalf of the Military Families Partnership.

The first phase of a study to assess the extent to which eXtension is having a transformative effect on the Cooperative Extension System has been completed. Phase 1 of the evaluation focused on identifying what Extension staff is doing differently as a result of eXtension. Two sources of data were used for the evaluation: 1) entries from the transformation section of CoP Profiles submitted in 2009 and 2) individual interviews with CoP members. Based on the data acquired in this project, without question, eXtension is having a transformative effect in changing the manner in which these individuals do their Extension work. The full report can be accessed at:

http://about.extension.org/wiki/The_Transformation_of_eXtension

For more information, please contact Mike Lambur at mike.lambur@extension.org.

Applications for the eXtension Fellowship are due Sunday, October 31, 2010. The eXtension fellowship program provides opportunities for qualified individuals, within or outside of Cooperative Extension, to work temporarily through either sabbatical leave or other contractual arrangements with eXtension on specific projects that contribute to the Initiative as well as to the individual.

The program operates on a calendar year basis (i.e., January – December). Once all proposals are received, they will be reviewed and selections will be made based on proposal merit, contribution to eXtension, and available funding. To see the eXtension fellowship program details and application instructions, go to: http://about.extension.org/wiki/eXtension_Fellowship_Program

For more information, please contact Mike Lambur at mike.lambur@extension.org.

Information on eXtension has gone to the Peace Corps Country Directors and the Program and Training Officers in 76 overseas posts. They, in turn, have been asked by Peace Corps leadership to pass the information on eXtension to other staff and the 8,000 volunteers in their sites.

Peace Corps staff have also been asked to report, as appropriate, on the use and utility of eXtension to staff and Volunteers. While the Peace Corps has not developed any formal mechanism for monitoring usage feedback from the posts will be collected and shared.

Thanks go to Hiram Larew, Director of International Programs at NIFA/USDA who has coordinated these activities along with Scott J. Wilson, Knowledge Exchange Unit Supervisor, Peace Corps, Overseas Programming and Training Support (OPATS).

eXtension recently awarded five Communities of Practice with $30,000 each to assist them in further development of their CoP and to publish content for their end users. To qualify for Enhancement Funds communities could not have received start up funds from eXtension. In fact, the CoPs awarded were communities that voluntarily formed and started working with what little funds the specific community brought to the table. If you are interested in any of these communities, consider joining them by clicking on the highlighted community of practice name. The five Communities of Practice are:

Agriculture Law
This CoP deals with legal issues surrounding agriculture production, food system participation, natural resources conservation and landownership.

Cooperatives
This national team consists of extension specialists, researchers, teaching faculty, cooperative industry representatives and other who are interested in the cooperative business model and enterprises. The goals of the community are to share research based information, decision aids and other resources with stakeholders involved with the cooperative industry.

Companion Animals
An online resource for companion animal owners and enthusiasts – from dogs and cats to rabbits and guinea pigs – providing unbiased, research-based information and tools.

Evaluation
Professional Development Community of Practice focusing on evaluation of Extension programs.

Public Deliberation
The intent of this PDCoP is to help Extension professionals gain the set of skills, competencies, and experiences needed to effectively employ citizen-centered approaches as a core part of their Extension engagement activities. It is also intended as a place to network with others who share in the challenges of university-community engagement.

This Spring we asked each state to identify Question Wranglers to assist in getting the questions submitted via “Ask an Expert” at www.extension.org from people in their state answered in a timely manner. Several states were quick to respond, and the Question Wranglers are doing a great job! Thank you to Question Wranglers from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

So, now we have Question Wranglers from 23 states, which still leaves more than half of the states without anyone in the eXtension Question Wrangler community. Can you help?

We have monthly Question Wrangler Meetups. The next is scheduled for August 24 at 2-3pm Eastern Time at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/Learn. Join us if you’d like to find out more about being a Question Wrangler, what’s involved, or if you have questions about anything related to helping to find people to answer questions or if you may be willing to help! If you have questions or comments before then just ask Beth Raney at beth.raney@extension.org.