eXtension is pleased to announce that the 2010 Return on Investment annual report is now available online. This document highlights the accomplishments of the eXtension initiative and Cooperative Extension for 2010.
It can be found at: http://create.extension.org/sites/default/files/eXtension_annual_report_10.pdf
eXtension is pleased to present David Wiley (davidwiley.org), a leader in Open Education, on Monday, March 28, 2011. Exact details of the session are still being worked out, but we’re hoping he will address such things as the global Open Education Resources (OER) movement, how technology is impacting learning, and perhaps some historical perspective as to the Land-Grant mission and non-formal learning going forward. David Wiley’s background with OER, Open Education, and the Land-Grant system is a perfect match for those in Cooperative Extension. This presentation is sponsored by eXtension with the ACE’s Information Technology and Leadership & Management Special Interest Groups.
More details on exact time and connection link can be found at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/178.
SPECIAL EVENT – MARCH 28
We’re very fortunate to have DAVID WILEY (davidewiley.org), a leader in Open Education, lead a special professional development session for us on Monday, March 28. While the exact details of the session are still being worked out, we’re hoping he will address such things as the global Open Education Resources (OER) movement, how technology is impacting learning, and perhaps some historical perspective as to the Land-Grant mission and non-formal learning going forward. David Wiley’s background with OER, Open Education, and the Land-Grant system is a perfect match for those in Cooperative Extension. Sponsored by eXtension with the ACE Information Technology and Leadership & Management SIGs. (http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/ACE_Information_Technology_SIG and http://collaborate.extension.org/wiki/ACE_Leadership_%26_Management_SIG )
Look for exact details of time and connection link at http://www.extension.org/learn/event/178.
eXtension Professional Development offers a variety of sessions this month and ongoing. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out. All sessions are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration is necessary, though you may indicate your interest on the page for each PD Event at http://learn.extension.org (log in with your eXtensionID). Give us 30-60 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful!
Any web-based professional development sessions open to Cooperative Extension may be listed at http://learn.extension.org. Look there under Upcoming Events (http://www.extension.org/learn/events/upcoming), browse by recent tags, or search to find professional development in your areas of interest. If you know of professional development events that are open to Cooperative Extension but not yet listed there, please add them by clicking “Create a new PD Event.” Each event then has a URL that may be used to share with colleagues! Each PD event page includes the title, description, presenters, link for participation and recording, as well as a check box to show your interest and/or participation in the event.
RECENT SESSIONS
Find links to the recordings of recent events at http://www.extension.org/learn/events/recent. These include the two webinars about the social media strategy launched by Cooperative Extension to address proposed Congressional Budget cuts to Smith-Lever funding: CES Budget Social Media Web Conference (http://www.extension.org/learn/event/171) – Feb 22 and CES Budget Social Media Strategy – Update Web Conference (http://www.extension.org/learn/event/151) – Mar 1.
30-60 MINUTE SESSIONS
Upcoming professional development offers 30-60 minute sessions on topics provided by Communities of Practice, ACE, and other extension colleagues. In addition there will be monthly Question Wrangler meet-ups and Institutional Team web conferences.
MARCH
March 9, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET, Writing a Review of the Literature
March 10, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET, You Are Here! Maps for Business
March 16, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET, Google Analytics
March 16, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET, Workforce Skills Outcomes from Camp Counseling
March 16, 2011 at 4:00 PM ET, Jargon, Clichés and Other Unfriendlies
March 22, 2011 at 10:30 AM ET, Household behavior and homeowner education strategies
March 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET, For Youth, For Life CoP – Monthly Web Conference
March 22, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET, Understanding Recreational Grade GPS
March 22, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – March 2011
March 25, 2011 at 2:30 PM ET, The Soil Health Paradigm: A Holistic Approach to Managing Manure in Agroecosystems
March 28, 2011, Open Education by David Wiley
APRIL
April 5, 2011 at 2:30 PM ET, Institutional Team Web Conference
April 6, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET, ACE Leadership & Management co-sponsored Topic
April 12, 2011 at 10:30 AM ET, Water and Energy: Can we conserve both?
April 15, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET, Developing mobile apps
April 26, 2011 at 10:30 AM ET, Water conservation for developers – 101
April 26, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – April 2011
More sessions are listed for May and beyond. For complete descriptions and details go to http://learn.extension.org/. See information for each session, an overview of upcoming eXtension Professional Development sessions, links to historical sessions (and recordings once they are available). Log-in with your eXtension ID to indicate your interest in and attendance of the offered sessions. Add your professional development events that are open to extension.
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!
February found 259 releases posted from 40 land-grant universities:
23–University of Missouri
19–North Carolina State University
13–University of Illinois
12–Iowa State University
11 each–Kansas State University; University of Arkansas
9 each–Ohio State University; Oklahoma State University
8 each–North Dakota State University; University of California
7 each–Cornell University; Louisiana State University; University of Massachusetts
5 each–Mississippi State University; University of Arizona; University of Georgia
4 each–Michigan State University; Purdue University; South Dakota State University; University of Florida; University of Kentucky; University of Maine; University of Minnesota
3 each–Alabama Cooperative Extension; Colorado State University; Penn State University; University of Nebraska; University of Tennessee; University of Wisconsin; University of Wyoming
2 each–Clemson University; New Mexico State University; Oregon State University; Rutgers University; Washington State University
1 each–University of Connecticut; University of Delaware; University of Idaho; University of Nevada; Utah State University
33–Other sources
3–Original releases
259–Total
News releases were distributed in 43 Communities of Practice launched on eXtension during February:
32–Families, food and fitness
31–Personal finance
16–Family caregiving
13 each–Entrepreneurs and their communities; Beef cattle
12–Farm energy
11–Parenting
10–Blueberries
9–Gardens, lawns and landscapes
8–Plant breeding and genomics
6 each–Science, engineering, and technology for youth; Diversity, equity and inclusion; Corn and soybean production
5 each–Organic agriculture; Horses; Food safety
4 each–Wood energy; Home energy; Grapes; Floods; Bee health; Animal manure management
3 each–Wildlife damage management; Pest management in and around structures; Goats; Drinking water and human health; Dairy; Cotton
2 each–Small meat processors; Oil spill; Hogs, Pigs, and Pork; Cooperatives; Child care
1 each–Wildfire; Imported fire ants; Geospatial technology; Community planning and zoning; Agricultural disaster preparedness
News releases posted to Communities of Practice not yet launched on the public site:
6–Companion animals
3–Military families
2 each–Freshwater aquaculture; Climate forests woodlands
1–Marine fisheries
259–Total
Make plans to attend the National CoP Workshop this June 27-30 at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Abstract submissions for the Workshop are due Tuesday, March 8 . Registration information will be available by April 1, 2011.
eXtension will also be presenting awards to outstanding Communities of Practice, individuals in Communities of Practice, Community of Practice partnerships, and new for 2011 will be the recognition of outstanding Institutional Teams.
National Community of Practice Award nominations are due by May 1.
Network Literacy is the most recent Community of Practice to be named by eXtension. The Network Literacy Community of Practice will build a community around learning in networked environments. This community will use available/emerging networks, technology, and information to form the community and engage others; they will also create scholarly resources on the use of online communication networks for a Community of Interest.
The Network Literacy Community of Practice will pursue information about new technologies, new ways of learning, new ways of working and innovative approaches on the Internet, and trends around technology use and education.
To join the Network Literacy Community of Practice go to: http://www.extension.org/people/communities/325
The Earth’s climate is dynamic, and foresters must account for this variable factor to effectively manage forest resources. Fortunately, many of the management activities that promote healthy forests also make forests more resilient to extreme weather conditions and climatic changes. Foresters, resource managers and educators can explore these concepts at the upcoming National Workshop on Climate and Forests to be held in Flagstaff, Arizona, from May 16 to 18: http://www.safnet.org/natworkshop11/index.cfm.
Early Registration Deadline is April 2.
Mississippi State University Dean of Forest Resources George Hopper is the Banquet Speaker at the workshop. He is a distinguished leader in the fields of forest research, extension and education, with years of leadership in numerous organizations, including presently serving as the Interim Dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the Forest and Wildlife Research Center Director, and Interim Director of the Mississippi Agricultural Forestry Experiment Stations. Dr. Hopper is a Society of American Foresters Fellow and is the Chair of the Board of Natural Resources for the Association of Public Land grant Universities. His evening presentation will address how collaborations between scientists, practitioners and extension have been and continue to be the ideal model for science application, and will include frank talk about obstacles to overcome and the leadership needed to address the future of forestry. Hopper will be joined by a top-notch list of other speakers at the Flagstaff workshop, which is designed to:
• stimulate thinking about how ecosystems may adapt to changes;
• explore the role that managers may have to mitigate ecosystem responses;
• foster discussion and partnerships among managers and scientists; and
• make planning and modeling tools available online accessible.
The workshop is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Society of American Foresters, the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals and Arizona Cooperative Extension. Professional CFE credits will be approved by the Society of American Foresters.
eXtension’s Pork Information Gateway (PIG) Community of Practice has launched content in the area of Hogs, Pigs, and Pork. The PIG Community of Practice is a joint partnership between Cooperative Extension and the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence (USPCE). Cooperative Extension and the USPCE have partnered with the National Pork Board, Pork Industry Handbook, National Swine Improvement Federation, and the American Society of Swine Practitioners on content aggregation and development to create the robust Hogs, Pigs and Pork content. (Photo courtesy Edwin Remsberg)
Community of Practice leaders and eXtension staff members will lead 10 workshops at the National Urban Extension Conference May 2-5 in Des Moines, Iowa. The conference theme is The New Extension Commons: Connecting People and Programs. Conference participants will learn about building partnerships, best practices for urban Extension, how to promote the public value of Extension and more.
eXtension-led workshops:
“New Normal” Financial Education Needs: An eXtension Community’s Response
Patricia Swanson, Iowa State University, and Barbara O’Neill, Rutgers University
Financial Security for All Community of Practice
Social Media: Increasing Programming Efforts and Outreach for Extension Programs
Ashley Griffin, Karen Jeannette, Amy Hays and Craig Wood, eXtension staff; Jane Scherer and Greg Stack, University of Illinois
Family Preparedness and Ready Business Courses for Urban Audiences
Becky Koch, North Dakota State University
Two new programs from the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN)
Future Backward Workshop – (3 sessions long)
Kevin Gamble, Anne Adrian and Beth Raney, eXtension staff; Rhonda Conlon, North Carolina State University, Jerry Thomas, Ohio State University
A Cognitive Edge Future Backwards technique will compare and contrast past perspectives and present and future aspirations. Participants will investigate and develop a sense of what Cooperative Extension’s future may look like.
Urban Extension and Urban eXtension: A Listening Session
Terry Meisenbach, Dan Cotton, Craig Wood and Kevin Gamble, eXtension staff
Discuss the opportunities and challenges in reaching urban audiences on topics of interest to them.
eXtension Virtual 3D – Immersive Learning Environments
LuAnn Phillips, eXtension staff
Land Grant Partners and Department of Defense Military Families Initiative
Anne Adrian and Kyle Kostelecky, eXtension Military Families Initiative
Learn about successes, challenges, expectations and suggestions for partnering with the Department of Defense.
Extending Your Reach Without Over Extending Yourself
Amy Hays, Craig Wood, Ashley Griffin, and Karen Jeannette, eXtension staff
Explore ways to work differently as a Cooperative Extension educator.
Conference details and links to register are at http://www.urbanextensionconference.org/. A news release about the conference is at http://www.extension.org/pages/Urban_Extension_Conference_Connects_People_and_Programs.
Free webinars for March include:
March 7 on environmental nitrogen issues on dairy farms, http://www.extension.org/events/2235
March 7 on groundhogs, http://www.extension.org/events/2240
March 8 on reducing heat stress in freestall and tie stall dairies, http://www.extension.org/events/1812
March 9 on how an organic farmer can minimize GMO contamination, http://www.extension.org/events/2298
March 9 on getting farmland for beginning farmers, http://www.extension.org/events/2180,
March 10 on creating and using maps and geo-location tools for businesses, http://www.extension.org/events/2063
March 11 on sealing homes to save energy, http://www.extension.org/events/2252
March 15 on easy and free ways to market and sell farm products in your local area, http://www.extension.org/events/2299
March 18 on tools and techniques for facilitating dairy advisory teams, http://www.extension.org/events/1819
March 22 on the evolution, status and future of organic no-till in the northeastern U.S., http://www.extension.org/events/2300
March 22 on gastric ulcers in horses, http://www.extension.org/events/2088
March 23 on getting farmland for beginning farmer (repeat of March 9 program) http://www.extension.org/events/2181
March 25 on how manure contributes to healthy soil, http://www.extension.org/events/2091
A news release has all the details on time and how to get details to join the webinars. See http://www.extension.org/pages/Webinars_through_eXtension_Offer_Tips_on_Maps_for_Businesses,_Home_Energy_Conservation,_Dairy_Cattle,_Horses,_Organic_Agriculture_and_More.