National eXtension Initiative

Coming this month from eXtension is a new study designed to examine the emergent use of social media tools in Cooperative Extension. We will be asking all 15,000 Cooperative Extension System employees to share their successes and failures in working with these new tools. Please be thinking about your uses of social networking tools, and be prepared to tell your stories when you receive the questionnaire.

This will be a longitudinal study so data will be gathered continuously over time. The goals of the study are to:

* Discover emergent practices — who is doing what with clientele/colleagues using social media?
* Determine the perceived personal and organizational barriers to the use of these tools.
* Determine the perceived personal and organizational advantages to working using these tools.
* Identify common characteristics of early adopters.
* Discover how organizational policies concerning social networking promote or hinder the use of these tools in people’s work.

If you have any questions about the study please contact Kevin Gamble (kevin.gamble@extension.org).

We look forward to your participation!

Legally Secure Your Financial Future: Organize, Communicate, Prepare (LSYFF) web-based curriculum and eXtension website was honored with the Outstanding Educational Program award by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education at the association’s national Annual Conference on November 19.
LSYFF is a multi-state program led by University of Idaho Extension Specialist, Marilyn Bischoff, and developed by UI Extension educator, Beverly Healy with extension specialists, Elizabeth Gorham, South Dakota State University, Joanne Bankston, Kentucky State University, Debra Pankow, North Dakota State University, Jacque Miller, Colorado State University, Gail Gordon, University of Wyoming (retired), Cheryl Hardison, retired Iowa State University educator, and Kelli Jo Anthon, former CSREES program assistant. Former UI video specialist, Erik Anderson, designed the program’s consumer eXtension web site.

LSYFF is a three-part educational program that teaches participants to:
1) Organize important legal, financial, and family records;
2) Communicate with loved ones about legal, health and financial issues; and,
3) Prepare an estate plan and work with an attorney. LSYFF includes a practitioners’ curriculum website, http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/lsyff, which provides educators with resources to plan, implement and evaluate this educational program. LSYFF also includes a consumer website, http://www.extension.org/pages/Legally_Secure_Your_Financial_Future, that features content, links, streaming video, fact sheets and worksheets.

Team members in the photos (left to right) include Joanne Bankston, Kelli Jo Anthon, Marilyn Bischoff, Jacque Miller, and Elizabeth Gorham. Missing team member are Beverly Healy, Debra Pankow and Cheryl Hardison, who were unable to attend the Awards ceremony.

Deb Sellers (Kansas State University) and Sarah Kirby (North Carolina State University) received notification that a book chapter focusing on their development and adventures with the eXtension LiveAbility House in Second Life has been accepted for publication. The chapter, The LiveAbility House: A Collaborative Adventure in Discovery Learning, will be featured in Constructing Self-Discovery Learning Spaces Online: Scaffolding and Decision Making Technologies. Deb and Sarah are members of the Family Caregiving Community of Practice.

For more information about the book and its publication contact Sarah Kirby at sarah_kirby@ncsu.edu.

January’s free webinars include:

* Jan. 6, 8 p.m. ET on the amount of distillers grains that can be fed safely to cattle, http://www.extension.org/events/2058
* Jan. 11, 8:30 to 10 a.m. ET on the shelter needs of weaned heifers up to six months old, http://www.extension.org/events/1811
* Jan. 12, 2 p.m. ET on a statewide initiative to build North Carolina’s sustainable local food economy, http://www.extension.org/events/2077
* Jan. 12, 7 p.m. ET on tax techniques for beginning farmers, http://www.extension.org/events/2053
* Jan. 13, 1:15 to 2:45 p.m. ET on a new calculator to measure green efforts on dairy farms, http://www.extension.org/events/2078
* Jan. 13, 2 p.m. ET on creating valuable web content, http://www.extension.org/events/2061
* Jan. 13, 7 to 8 p.m. ET on late gestation of small ruminant animals, http://www.extension.org/events/2068
* Jan. 14, 12 noon ET on home appliances and energy savings, http://www.extension.org/events/2060
* Jan. 18, 7 p.m. ET on selecting a college with equestrian opportunities, http://www.extension.org/events/2002
* Jan. 20, 11 a.m. ET on how communities can work to prevent weight gain and inspire moving, http://www.extension.org/events/1987
* Jan. 20, 7 to 8 p.m. ET on vaccinations for ewes and does, http://www.extension.org/events/2069
* Jan. 21, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. ET on reaching dairy team goals, http://www.extension.org/events/1817
* Jan. 21, 2:30 p.m. ET on research applying manure on wheat and corn. http://www.extension.org/events/2047

A news release has all the details on time and how to get details to join the webinars. See http://www.extension.org/pages/Start_the_New_Year_with_Free_Webinars_from_eXtension_and_Land-grant_Universities.

eXtension Professional Development offers has a variety of sessions this month. Please share this with any colleagues who may be interested! eXtension Professional Development sessions are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration is necessary, though you may indicate your interest at the URL listed following each topic below. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out. Give us 30 or 60 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful!

30- or 60-MINUTE SESSIONS

eXtension offers sessions on topics including what’s important for content on web sites, opportunities on the mobile web, the future of cooperative extension, invasive species, Community of Practice evaluation efforts, the Great Lakes Land Grant Institutions Tribal Water Resources Summit, social media Return on Investment, regional extension programming, and a Community of Practice perspective to answering Ask an Expert questions. In addition the monthly Question Wrangler meetups and February’s Institutional Team web conference are listed. Events are listed for Eastern Time (ET).

JANUARY
January 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET: Creating Valuable Content That Converts. On-Line Presence Webinar Series – Scott Wild – WildInspire.com presenting – Just creating a website and filling it with content is simply not enough anymore. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/118

January 14 at 3:00 p.m. ET: The Mobile Web. Ray Kimsey will talk about mobile web. The growth in mobile web usage is now 8x the growth in desktop web growth. Let’s talk about opportunity, constraints involved in web design for mobile devices. Sponsored by eXtension and the ACE Information Technology Special Interest Group. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/101

January 18 at 2:00 p.m. ET: NCRCRD: Where to from here? Future trends impacting Cooperative Extension. Part of the 2010 North Central Regional Center for Rural Development Speakers Series focuses on ways that Extension systems can engage and collaborate better. See details at
http://www.extension.org/learn/event/89.

January 19 at 1:00 p.m. ET: Ecosystem Services – The Significance of Contributions by Invasive Plant Species. The threat to natural systems by invasive plant species was the topic of a one-day symposium at the annual meetings of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/114.

January 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET: CoP Evaluation Efforts: Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center. Please join us in our first session highlighting CoP evaluation efforts. Jill Heemstra, from the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center, will feature their approach to and results of evaluating their CoP content. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/121.

January 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET: Great Lakes Land Grant Institutions Tribal Water Resources Summit: Outcomes and Next Steps. In October 2010, the College of Menominee Nation and University of Wisconsin-Extension worked with a diverse network of partners to plan and host the Great Lakes Land Grant Institutions Tribal Water Resources Summit. This webinar will provide an overview of the summit, outcomes form the summit, and next steps. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/117

January 24 at 3:00 p.m. ET: Return on Investment – Social Media. A panel will discuss their experience, the value they have seen by using social media, and how they measure or gauge influence, impact, or differences made in the use of social media. Sponsored by eXtension with the ACE IT & Marketing Special Interest Groups. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/113

January 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET: Regional Delivery Systems in Cooperative Extension. State Extension Services are facing steep budget cuts and many are reorganizing. This webinar reports on regionalization and specialization efforts as a means of increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of program delivery. Five aspects of structural change are examined for seven states with preliminary results on impacts from one. See details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/116

January 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET: Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup. An opportunity for state Question Wranglers to discuss issues and ask questions. Details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/102.

FEBRUARY

February 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Institutional Team Web Conference. This is a monthly meeting for all members of eXtension Institutional Teams. Please join us! Details at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/109.

February 2 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Impacts of eXtension, Part 1, by Dan Cotton, Director of eXtension. This session is part one of two sessions, and will focus on program impacts, as well as eXtension tools and services. See http://www.extension.org/learn/event/123.

February 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Ask an Expert: Strategies Used by an Experienced CoP. Learn from Barbara O’Neill how one of eXtension’s pioneer Communities of Practice, Financial Security for All, manages the Ask an Expert process from start (incoming consumer questions) to finish (published FAQs). See details at
http://www.extension.org/learn/event/122.

February 9 at 3:00 p.m. ET. This will be a book review/discussion. The book title is yet to be determined. Sponsored with eXtension by the ACE Leadership & Management SIGs. Sponsored by eXtension and the ACE Leadership & Management Special Interest Group. See http://www.extension.org/learn/event/75.

February 9 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Impacts of eXtension, Part 2, by Karen Hinton of University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, Nevada, and Keith Smith of Ohio State University Extension. This session is part two of two sessions, and will feature how eXtension is being institutionalized in Nevada and Ohio. See
http://www.extension.org/learn/event/124.

February 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Getting Down to Business with Social Media Marketing, by Entrepreneurs and Their Communities Community of Practice. See
http://www.extension.org/learn/event/119

February 15 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Brain Research & Change Strategies. Sponsored with eXtension by the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. See http://www.extension.org/learn/event/90.

February 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup. See http://www.extension.org/learn/event/103

For complete descriptions and details go to
http://learn.extension.org/. See information for each session, an overview of upcoming eXtension Professional Development sessions, and links to previously recorded sessions. Log-in with your eXtension ID to indicate your interest in and attendance of the offered sessions.

Check out http://learn.extension.org/ and let us know what you think. Start including your favorite session links in Twitter, Facebook and more! If your extension service or CoP has held professional development and has an open recording available, add it at learn.extension.org!

Happy New Year to one and all! Hopefully, 2011 will be a great year for you, as well as for eXtension. We are aiming for another great year as we work to engage both new and traditional audiences using the best technologies and strategies available. We are starting the year with the preparation of a new Strategic Roadmap to guide our work from 2011 – 2013. We expect to see a number of new Communities of Practice established, as well as an expansion of the content and programs offered by the more than 60 Communities of Practice already at work. The Military Families Partnership supported by the Department of Defense and USDA–NIFA remains a priority as we work to develop and support the new Military Families CoP.

With last year being a banner year with regard to teams integrating eXtension into NIFA supported competitive grant applications, we anticipate even more teams including eXtension in grant applications in 2011. In addition, we will be working to increase the number of private and public partnerships that will further expand the work of eXtension. As we move throughout the year we will look forward to both another National Community of Practice Workshop and a National Virtual eXtension Conference. Outcomes, impacts and transformation will abound, so stay tuned for what promises to be another great year!

The Drinking Water and Human Health Community of Practice has soft launched content on www.extension.org/drinking_water. National drinking water specialists from Cooperative Extension have created content to provide easy access to current, science-based information on safe drinking water issues. Their goals are to help citizens make educated, cost-saving decisions about drinking water conservation and treatment, and to help them guard against health risks. You can check for general drinking water information and interact with drinking water professionals to answer your questions about:
• Everyday water quality and quantity concerns
• The latest drinking water issues
• The newest treatments and research on best management practices

The Grape Community of Practice has “soft” launched eViticulture, a new resource directed toward commercial viticulturists who need solid, tested, science-based information to improve their skills in the vineyard. The Grape Community of Practice is a nationwide group of professionals with expertise in grape production. All of the states involved have a grape industry, from very large (California) to very small (South Dakota), and all have an increasing interest in grape production. Community of Practice expertise includes integrated pest management, plant pathology, food science, distance education, variety selection, canopy management, and rootstocks, just to name a few. Often individuals possess more than one expertise area, and expertise areas may overlap, allowing for overall strength in numerous knowledge areas.

eXtension is preparing the 2011–2013 eXtension Strategic Roadmap. It will represent the overall master plan for managing eXtension for success into the future. A representative group of 25 eXtension stakeholders will meet in Dallas, TX, from January 10-12, 2011 to work on the Roadmap. The group includes Extension Directors, Regional Directors, Community of Practice leaders, a CARET representative, outside consultants and eXtension leaders.

Input to the process includes information collected from 14 one-hour interviews conducted by a consultant hired to facilitate the planning process, the Stakeholder Evaluation conducted this past fall, and evaluation findings provided by the 2010 eXtension Progress Review Panel. The Roadmap will be completed in February for review by directors/administrators prior to the March 2011 National Extension Directors & Administrators meeting.

Planning is underway for the 2011 National Community of Practice Workshop. The Community of Practice Workshop will be held June 28 – 30, 2011 in Louisville, KY at The Brown Hotel. Please mark these dates on your calendars. More information will be coming out soon about the workshop.

The Brown (http://www.brownhotel.com/) in Louisville, Kentucky is an historic Four Diamond, AAA hotel featuring classic English Renaissance architecture. The opulent two-story lobby has a hand-painted, coffered ceiling, Bottocino marble flooring, finely carved mahogany furnishings and Palladian-style windows. The Georgian-Revival style exterior is trimmed in stone and terra cotta. Obviously, the breathtaking appearance of this historic structure is one of many reasons that the Brown Hotel is revered as one of the finest hotels in downtown Louisville.

The format for this year’s Community of Practice Workshop will be very similar to the very successful workshop held in 2010. We look forward to seeing you in Louisville this June.

The Communities of Practice with the highest number of news releases in 2010 were Families, Food and Fitness; Gardens, Lawns and Landscapes; and Personal Finance. The land-grant universities with the most news releases posted in 2010 were North Dakota State University, the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri.

229 news releases were posted in December. The number of news releases posted by Community of Practice include:
33–Families, food and fitness
27–Personal finance
15–Beef cattle
14–Parenting
13–Gardens, lawns and landscapes
12–Family caregiving
11–Farm energy
10–Corn and soybean production
8–Cooperatives
6 each—Blueberries; Organic agriculture
5 each–Cotton; Diversity, equity and inclusion; Entrepreneurs and their communities; Food safety; Horses
4 each–Bee health; Goats
3 each–Child care; Geospatial technology; Home energy
2 each–Agrosecurity and floods; Animal manure management; Community planning and zoning; Dairy; Drinking water and human health; Grapes; Science, engineering, and technology for youth; Wildlife damage management
1 each–Imported fire ants; Pest management in and around structures; Wildfire

News releases posted to Communities of Practice not yet launched:
4–Companion animals
3–Marine fisheries
2–Climate forests woodlands
1 each–Animal welfare; Freshwater aquaculture; Invasive species; Rangelands

December news also came from 36 states. Source and number of news releases posted include:
22–University of Missouri
13–North Dakota State University
11 each–North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Oklahoma State University
10 each–Kansas State University, University of California, University of Illinois
9–Iowa State University
8–Texas AgriLife Extension
7 each–Purdue University, University of Arkansas
6 each–Michigan State University, Mississippi State University, Penn State University
5 each–Cornell University, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University
4 each–University of Arizona, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky
3 each–Maryland Cooperative Extension, Montana State University, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin
2 each–Alabama Cooperative Extension, New Mexico State University, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, University of Connecticut
1 each–Clemson University, Colorado State University, Rutgers University, University of Florida, University of Nevada, University of Vermont, Utah State University
2–Original releases
35–Other sources
229–Total