National eXtension Initiative

The eagle has landed! Or better yet, several eagles have landed! The first phrase is often connected to the military for a number of reasons (good novels, lunar landings, etc.). The Military Families Learning Network is proudly carrying on that tradition. The “eagles” are a number of additional full- and part-time staff now involved with the Military Families Learning Network. Starting July 5 and concluding August 15, we will have a full complement of social media and content staff in our Plan of Work.

More information will follow with information about each of these individuals, but for now we would like to share that experts in the areas of personal finance, child care, and family and youth development are all a part of our growing team. These individuals will be instrumental in engaging Extension professionals with the Department of Defense and branch service professionals through a variety of social media tools, marshaling the resources of all partners, with the goal to improve, develop, offer, and disseminate the highest quality family programming to service members and their families. We are working hard to make this happen with both active duty and Guard and Reserve audiences.

Our Network Literacy community of practice will be meeting face-to-face in North Carolina in late August to further strategize its role in this important partnership. The leadership in this CoP has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and expertise that will be invaluable to the success of the Learning Network.

The Military Families Learning Network is excited about all our eagles! We hope you are too. To learn more, check us out at:
http://www.extension.org/militaryfamilies
http://blogs.extension.org/militaryfamilies/
http://www.facebook.com/MilitaryFamilies

The Joint Council of Extension Professionals has honored eXtension’s HorseQuest community of practice with its Excellence in Teamwork award. This honor, awarded annually, encourages and recognizes successful Extension team programs or projects that demonstrate effective performance and significant result impacts at community, area, state or multi-state levels.

Team members recognized and supporting the nomination included: Betsy Greene, University of Vermont; Kathy Anderson, University of Nebraska; Krishona Martinson, University of Minnesota; Christine Skelly, Michigan State University; Karen Waite, Michigan State University; and Elaine Bailey, University of Maryland.

The nomination noted: “The eXtension HorseQuest leadership team was instrumental in developing and sustaining both web content and the team of national experts, resulting in an innovative, educational resource. The website (www.extension.org/horses) provides a variety of methods and learning opportunities related to health, care, management, and training of horses. Website resources include: interactive learning lessons, webinars, frequently asked questions, basic information, and “Ask the Expert”. Through self guided learning lessons, horse enthusiasts can move at their desired pace, or, research the topics through the “best of the best” articles available on the site. Content is delivered through text, photos, videos, podcasts, flash applications, and interactive chats. The HorseQuest community of practice has led the way in providing unique educational opportunities to reach their clientele.”

The eXtension Foundation has been selected to participate in the Google for Nonprofits program. The program gives eXtension access to exclusive products and resources to help expand our impact. eXtension will have access to a free or discounted version of Google Applications. Through the Google grants program eXtension will get free Adwords advertising and appear as an advertiser on Google search results pages.

The initial communities involved in the Google grants program will be DAIReXNET; Families, Food, and Fitness; and Just In Time Parenting. eXtension will expand to other communities of practice as we gain experience and knowledge of the program. Additionally, eXtension will have premium branding and increased uploads on YouTube as well as access to other applications that will allow us to reach more potential donors or partners, raise awareness, and improve our business operations.

The State and Institutional Reports and the Overall eXtension Metrics Report for January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011 are now available. You can access them at:

State and Institutional Reports
http://create.extension.org/node/2308

Overall eXtension Metrics Report
http://create.extension.org/node/2790

Each of the reports has been significantly revised. Based on a thorough review, we have shortened the reports to include the most important information that communicates the activity and reach of eXtension in states/institutions and overall. If you have any suggestions or comments after reviewing these new reports, please get in touch with Mike Lambur (mike.lambur@extension.org).

On a related note, we are developing a plan to identify critical success factors and appropriate metrics for eXtension. You’ll be hearing more about this in the near future and how you can get involved in a national discussion on this important issue.

Recently the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) asked for customer testimonials about eXtension. Testimonials came from comments about the web site, webinars, Ask an Expert, Moodle courses (learning lessons) and YouTube . See http://create.extension.org/node/86668

One of the primary goals of eXtension news is to share the current research findings. Land-grant universities and Cooperative Extension help people put that science-based information to practical use. News was posted on 41 resource areas in July:

18–Freshwater aquaculture
9 each–Families, food and fitness; Farm energy
6 each–Beef cattle; Climate, forests and woodlands; Corn and soybean production; Organic agriculture
5 each–Family caregiving; Parenting; Personal finance; Plant breeding and genomics; Wildfire
4 each–Bee health; Dairy; Entrepreneurs and their communities; Gardens, lawns and landscapes
3 each–Animal manure management; Cooperatives; Extension master gardener; Horses; Military families
2 each–Agricultural disaster preparedness; Blueberries; Community planning and zoning; Companion animals; Drinking water and human health; Food safety; Geospatial technology; Goats; Grapes; Home energy; Pest management in and around structures; Science for youth; Small meat processors
1 each–Child care; Cotton; Diversity, equity and inclusion; Hogs, Pigs, and Pork; Imported fire ants; Wildlife damage management

Not yet live:
1—Rangelands

149 Total news releases

One of the strategic intents of the 2011-2014 eXtension Strategic Roadmap is to reach more customers. Social media makes Cooperative Extension more visible. It invites learner collaboration via reactions, comments, reviews and rankings.

Sixteen communities of practice and the Military Families Learning Network have Twitter accounts. Check out the Twitter screen names and tips for using Twitter hash tags at http://create.extension.org/node/79034. Start following these excellent content providers!

Interested in learning about Facebook pages? Grantsmanship? Using Drupal? CoP budgets? Helping to answer or wrangle questions in Ask an Expert? Using social media smarter? Using spreadsheets? Caring for animals during natural disasters?

Professional development offered by colleagues on each of these topics is listed at http://learn.extension.org. Pick a topic, and attend through your computer’s web browser! If you or your colleagues offer professional development online that’s open to others in Cooperative Extension, please add the information at Learn.extension.org by logging in with your eXtensionID and click “Create a new PD event.”

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SESSIONS

AUGUST

August 9 at 8:30 a.m. ET Systems Science Grantsmanship Workshop (free, but registration required)
August 9 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Using Drupal to Create Content for eXtension
August 11 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Preparing eXtension CoP Budget
August 16 at 12:00 noon ET, For Youth, For Life CoP (work session)
August 23 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Using Drupal to Create Content for eXtension
August 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – August 2011
August 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET, PowerPoint: Friend or Foe?
August 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Stop Broadcasting and Start Having a Conversation

SEPTEMBER

September 6 at 2:30 p.m. ET, Institutional Team Web Conference
September 9 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Using Drupal to Create Content for eXtension
September 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Introduction to Spreadsheets
September 20 at 12:00 noon ET, For Youth, For Life CoP (work session)
September 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Creating Spreadsheets (part 1 of 2)
September 24 at 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET, Natural Disasters… What about the Animals?
September 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Question Wrangler Monthly Meetup – September
September 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Creating Spreadsheets (part 2 of 2)

OCTOBER

October 4 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Creating Charts & Graphs with Google Docs Spreadsheets
October 4 at 2:30 p.m. ET, Institutional Team Web Conference
October 11 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Creating Charts & Graphs with Excel
October 17, 18 and 19, National eXtension Virtual Conference

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. You may indicate your interest on the page for each PD Event at http://learn.extension.org (log in with your eXtensionID). These are great opportunities to learn together.

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.

Include 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!

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.

If you have questions or comments please contact Beth Raney at beth.raney@extension.org