National eXtension Initiative

eXtension is excited to offer the National Community of Practice (CoP) Workshop this summer in Louisville, Kentucky, June 28-30. Review the agenda and register for the conference. Pre-registration ends June 1. So don’t delay get registered today!

Communities are encouraged to take advantage of their time together and schedule either pre or post meetings at the host hotel by contacting Carla Craycraft to schedule meeting space.

A Content Management Board (CMB) meeting is scheduled pre-conference on Monday at 2:30 p.m. If you are a member of the CMB please plan to attend.

Hotel accommodations should be reserved no later then May 27. If you have never attended an event in downtown Louisville we think you will find it convenient to the Louisville International Airport and ideal for walking off-site for dinner with your colleagues and friends.

The USDA People’s Garden Initiative and eXtension are proud to announce the Healthy Gardening Training Series. These online sessions are part of the coursework for an Executive Master Gardener Program at USDA Headquarters. This program is an abbreviated version of the Extension Master Gardener curriculum for capitol area USDA employees. Several of last year’s program participants went on to become master gardeners through their county programs, but all obtained an appreciation for the work that Cooperative Extension does across the country.

While only capital area USDA employees may become Executive Master Gardeners, the online sessions are being offered via webinar. There is no charge for registration and all sessions are open to the public.

Please see http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener for more information.

Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators had the chance to review and discuss their National eXtension Initiative at the 2011 NEDA meeting held in Phoenix, AZ in mid-March.

Tim Cross, Director of the University of Tennessee Cooperative Extension and Chair of the 2010 eXtension Progress Review Panel, shared the Panel’s report, which described key findings from recent stakeholder evaluations, notable 2010 eXtension accomplishments, and recommendations for improving eXtension moving forward.

Tom Coon (Michigan State University), Steve Meredith (Lincoln University), Chuck Gay (Utah State University) and Nick Place (University of Maryland) each shared how eXtension is adding value to their state/institutional programs.

Dan Cotton identified three priorities to be worked on over the next few years including the development of blockbuster Communities of Practice, enhancing local programs, and partnerships and funding.

Breakout sessions followed giving Directors/Administrators the opportunity to share questions, concerns and/or suggestions for improving the initiative. It was a value-added exercise that yielded important feedback. For more information regarding the NEDA presentations and collected feedback, please visit http://create.extension.org/node/3245.

Ninety-four Cooperative Extension educators, America Saves and Military Saves campaign coordinators and others sent messages for America Saves Week, February 20-27. eXtension personal finance leaders Barbara O’Neill, Rutgers University and Andrew Zumwalt, University of Missouri, used five evaluation methods to track 70 prepared Facebook posts and 70 tweets. A $1,200 grant from the Consumer Federation of America funded the campaign. The messages had information about the America Saves program, reducing debt and expenses and saving money.

At the conclusion of the project, three weeks after the end of America Saves Week,
*1,190 tweets were recorded with the hashtag #eXasw.
*Several thousand Facebook messages were sent.
*877 clicks from Facebook messages and 275 clicks from tweets were recorded.

The project coordinators used multiple methods to measure results and impact
1. unique Twitter hashtag (#eXasw),
2. follow-up consumer survey,
3. follow-up professional participant survey,
4. bit.ly analytics to determine clicks on links in the messages, and
5. tracking pre- and post-project Twitter influence metrics.

Responses from 45 follower and friend survey respondents
–Almost 9 in 10 found the messages very helpful (32%) or helpful (57%).
–48% visited one or more links in the messages, 25% said they planned to and 27% said they did not.
–11% joined America Saves, 32% said they planned to, 18% were already American Savers and 39% said they had not joined.
–12 respondents gave generally positive open-ended comments including “Keep up the good work,” “These tips are timely and beneficial. I appreciate the effort to help us help ourselves,” “The tweets made me think about the ways we are managing our money,” and “I welcome any and all suggestions for increasing my financial well-being.”
–3 respondents had negative comments. Two said there were too many messages in a short time and one complained about a lack of money to save.

Survey results from 36 project collaborators
–The number of social media followers/friends ranged from 8 to 2,723 and averaged 226.
–The Twitter Klout average scores of 17 of 22 respondents increased from 11.22 to 19.68. (For more information on Klout, see http://klout.com/.)
–The Twitter PeerIndex average scores of 5 of 19 respondents increased from 4.94 to 11.52. (For more information on PeerIndex, see http://www.peerindex.net/.)
–Many participants reported positive feedback from followers/friends while some said they felt “bombarded” by the large number of messages.
–Overall comments were positive: “I hope to continue to use the tweets I was unable to use during America Saves Week,” “Wish I had read- made tweets every day,” “This was great. It was easy to do,” and “I really appreciated this project to help me get going with Twitter.”

The project coordinators concluded that if the project is replicated, the messages should be stretched out over a longer time, Facebook message characters should be counted and they should recruit a larger number of participants with high influence. For more information about the project, contact Barbara O’Neill at oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu.

eXtension Professional Development offers a variety of sessions this
month and ongoing from around the country. 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 or 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. The March 28 session by
David Wiley provided lots to think about! View the recording linked at
http://www.extension.org/learn/event/178!

30- or 60-MINUTE SESSIONS
Upcoming professional development offers 30- or 60-minute sessions on
topics provided by Communities of Practice, the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE), and other extension colleagues. In addition there will be monthly Question Wrangler meet-ups and Institutional Team web conferences.

APRIL
April 4, 2011, 1:00 PM EDT, Impact on Air Quality and Climate Change-
Where the Dairy Industry Stands
April 5, 2011, 2:30 PM EDT, Institutional Team Web Conference
April 6, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Excellence in Extension
April 12, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT, Water and Energy: Can we conserve both?
April 13, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Innovating with Social Media to Connect
Communities: Learning from Disasters, Aiming for Resilience.
April 15, 2011, 3:00 PM EDT, Developing mobile apps
April 19, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Radon: Something You Can Live Without
April 26, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT, Water conservation for developers – 101
April 26, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – April 2011
April 27, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Making IT communications accessible to
ensure equal participation and success

MAY
May 3, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT, Water Conservation. Turf Management: Best
Management Practices and Regulations
May 3, 2011, 2:30 PM EDT, Institutional Team Web Conference
May 10, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT, Evaluation of a water conservation
program: Is there a “silver bullet”?
May 11, 2011, 2:30 PM EDT, National eXtension Web Conference
May 17, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Go Clean–Go GREEN
May 24, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – May 2011

More sessions are listed for June 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!

Free webinars for April include:

April 4 – Who to blame? The voles or the moles? http://www.extension.org/pages/52372/webinar:-the-quotolesquot-give-me-a-quotvquot-give-me-an-quotmquot

April 4 – An associate professor and a dairy producer will discuss the most recent scientific findings on dairy industry impacts on environmental quality. http://www.extension.org/pages/52368/impact-on-air-quality-and-climate-change-where-the-dairy-industry-stands

April 5 — Third party audits for small and mid-sized meat processors. http://www.extension.org/pages/54486/webinar:-third-party-audits-for-small-and-mid-sized-meat-processors

April 8 - Home window frames, glazing, low-e, gases, ratings and new developments in windows and window technology. http://www.extension.org/pages/54365/home-windows-webinar-home-energy-cop

April 14 – First in a three-part series on economic development opens with exploring economic clusters and what they tell us about development. http://www.extension.org/pages/52443/targeting-regional-economic-development-in-a-world-of-clusters

April 14 — How to integrate small grains– wheat, barley, oats, triticale, spelt, and rye–into an organic dairy farm. http://www.extension.org/pages/54487/webinar:-using-small-grains-as-forages-on-your-organic-dairy

April 15 — Planning livestock and poultry facilities for reduced odor risk using tools such as OFFSET and NOFT http://www.extension.org/pages/54355/webcast:-planning-livestock-and-poultry-facilities-for-reduced-odor-risk-using-tools-like-offset-and

April 19 – Understanding and evaluating the gaited horse. http://www.extension.org/pages/54354/free-webcast-understanding-and-evaluating-the-gaited-horse

April 21 – Help on controlling the fire ants by understanding how they live. http://www.extension.org/pages/52442/fire-ant-webinar:-solve-your-fire-ant-problems-with-help-from-the-experts

April 29 — Woody biomass in Minnesota: opportunities for income and environmental benefits. http://www.extension.org/pages/54428/webinar-woody-biomass-in-minnesota-opportunities-for-income-and-environmental-benefits

A news release has all the details on time and how to get details to join the webinars. See http://www.extension.org/pages/54488/fire-ants-to-regional-economic-development-free-extension-webinars-in-april-provide-latest-research-a

The most important job for many dogs and cats today comes quite naturally — they are companions and friends. To provide pet owners with unbiased research-based information, researchers and educators from America’s land-grant universities have banded together to provide a new Web resource on companion animals. It’s now on eXtension.

According to the 2009-2010 survey of national pet owners conducted by the American Pet Products Association, 62 percent of U.S. households own a pet. The total number of pets owned includes 93.6 million cats and 77.5 million dogs. The new resource from Cooperative Extension covers more than dogs and cats. It also has information about birds, rabbits, rodents and even hermit crabs on animal care, reproduction and breeding, health, behavior and training, nutrition and human-animal interaction.

“There are few online sources about dogs and cats that can be considered truly unbiased. Commercial sites provide good information, but ultimately their goal is to sell while our goal is to provide timely educational information, said Lisa Karr-Lilienthal, assistant professor and companion animal specialist at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Pet owners have blogs or sites that may not have scientific information. With eXtension, you know the materials are provided by experts, many of whom have advanced degrees in companion animal nutrition, reproduction, veterinary medicine and behavior. Many of these experts are involved in the industry from showing and training to volunteering in humane societies and animal assisted therapy programs.”

The companion animal site provides help for new and inexperienced pet owners, as well as experienced owners who need an answer to a specific question. The site includes educational videos, news, upcoming events, learning lessons and articles. There are also answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). If a question cannot be found in the FAQs, eXtension’s “Ask an Expert” feature can be used for a quick response.
Living with pets has been linked to a variety of health benefits:

• Pets have positive effects on people’s mental and physical health. Children who take care of dogs and cats increase their self-esteem, nurturance and empathy. Adults and the elderly depend on four-legged companions for social support. Dogs also provide a “peace of mind” with home and personal security.

• Petting an animal causes the natural release of oxytocin and other neurochemicals that decrease blood pressure and heart rate as well as the body’s stress response.

• Exercising with a pet helps combat obesity, heart disease and depression. Pet owners have been shown to live longer after a heart attack than non-pet owners.

• Pets reduce the need for medical services for many senior citizens.

Contributors
Extension researchers and educators contributed to the new resource. To find out more about the experts (and often their pets), see http://www.extension.org/pages/Companion_Animal_Experts. You can also follow them on Facebook.

March news releases originated in 41 states:

26–University of Illinois
17–North Dakota State University
15–North Carolina State University
13 each–University of Arkansas, University of Missouri
10 each–Michigan State University, Ohio State University, University of Georgia
9 each–Kansas State University, Mississippi State University
8–Oklahoma State University
7 each–Iowa State University, University of California
6 each–Louisiana State University, Purdue University
5 each–Alabama Cooperative Extension, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, University of Kentucky
4 each–Cornell University, Oregon State University, Penn State University, University of Hawaii, University of Minnesota
3 each–Colorado State University, University of Delaware
2 each–Clemson University, University of Arizona, University of Florida, University of Massachusetts, University of Nebraska, University of Vermont, University of Wyoming
1 each–Texas AgriLife Extension, University of Connecticut, University of Idaho, University of Maine, University of Wisconsin, Utah State University, Washington State University, West Virginia State University
37–Other sources
3–Original releases
274–Total

News releases were posted to 41 Communities of Practice during March 2011:

25–Families, food and fitness
21–Personal finance
17–Gardens, lawns and landscapes
14–Horses
12 each–Corn and soybean production, Farm energy
11–Parenting
9 each–Entrepreneurs and their communities, Family caregiving, Food safety
8 each–Beef cattle; Diversity, equity and inclusion; Plant breeding and genomics; Science, engineering, and technology for youth
7–Companion animals
6 each–Dairy, Home energy, Wildfire
5 each–Animal manure management, Blueberries, Floods, Goats, Pest management in and around structures
4 each–Cooperatives; Grapes; Hogs, Pigs, and Pork; Organic agriculture; Wildlife damage management
3 each–Bee health; Climate, forests and woodlands; Cotton; Extension master gardener; Geospatial technology
2 each–Child care, Wood energy
1 each–Agricultural disaster preparedness, Imported fire ants
CoPs not launched:
5–Marine fisheries
4–Freshwater aquaculture
2–Invasive species
1–Pesticide environmental stewardship
274–Total

Minnesota, followed by Texas, is the state with the largest authorship of Frequently Asked Questions within eXtension FAQ application. Colorado, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, Maryland, and Montana are also part of this group of institutions that have authored more than 1,000 FAQs.

This information and more is found in Version 3.0 of eXtension’s State and Institutional Reports for the calendar year 2010, available now at:

http://create.extension.org/node/2308

These reports provide a wealth of information about each states/territories activity with the eXtension public website and involvement with eXtension . Here are some overall observations:

•By far the majority of states/territories realized double digit percentage increases in total site visits and total pageviews from 2009 to 2010. Site visits represent the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors to eXtension from a state and is a general measure of how much eXtension is being used in a state. Pageviews are the total number of pages viewed on the site and is a general measure of how much eXtension is being used by people in a state. It is useful as a basic indicator of the traffic load on the site for a state. The states and territories experiencing the highest percentage increases in site visits and pageviews from 2009 to 2010 (shown as site visits percent increase/pageview percent increase) include: Colorado (51.31/61.58), Hawaii (45.16/32.53), U.S. Virgin Islands (44.87/52.99), and the District of Columbia (34.44/33.28).

•To date, over 44,000 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) have been developed. Individuals from almost all states/territories have authored many FAQs. Our top producers authoring more than 1,000 FAQs through 2010 include: Minnesota (12,462), Texas (7,148), Colorado (4,067), Kentucky (2,535), Iowa (2,499), Missouri (1,670), New Jersey (1,107), Maryland (1,074), and Montana (1,018).

•Currently we have 14,912 individuals who have eXtension IDs. All states/territories are represented in this total. As of 2010, states with the highest number of eXtension IDs include: North Carolina (987), Texas (905), Kentucky (874), Michigan (542), Georgia (539), and Missouri (450).

•Community of Practice (CoP) members are the content generators for eXtension. All states/territories have individuals serving on CoPs. As of 2010, our top contributors to CoPs include: Alabama (276), Texas (197), North Carolina (196), Michigan (146), Kentucky (137), Missouri (136), Nebraska (132), and Tennessee (132).

If you have questions or comments, please contact Mike Lambur at mike.lambur@extension.org