National eXtension Initiative

The Brown Hotel in Louisville, host to the eXtension Workshop scheduled for June 28 – July 1st, has extended our room block reservation deadline to next Friday, June 3rd. This gives all of us making last minute reservations a small extended window to request the “National eXtension CoP Workshop” room rate. Travel and Hotel details

Don’t forget the early registration deadline for the conference is June 1st. Register for the Workshop.

We have a great line-up of guest speakers and workshops. You don’t want to miss it.

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.

2009 eXtension National Conference
Call for Abstracts/Presentations

Mark your calendars! The 2009 eXtension National Conference will be held in St. Louis MO. October 20-23 and we are looking for members of Institutional Teams and county staff, as well as CoP members to present abstracts about eXtension implementation at state and local level, effective use of eXtension tools and techniques, CoP successes and strategies, and other key topics for roundtable discussions.

General conference information can be found at:
http://about.extension.org/wiki/2009_eXtension_National_Meeting

Abstracts are due by JUNE 10, 2009 and information about submission and the submission forms can be found at:
http://about.extension.org/wiki/2009_Abstract_Submission

Please note that eXtension will reimburse the conference registration fee ($225) to the lead author/presenter of each presented abstract!

If you have questions please contact:
Carla Craycraft, Conference Planning Committee Co-Chair
carla.craycraft@uky.edu

Celebrate the launch of the eXtension with colleagues from across the country…and people from all over the world… at the eXtension Virtual State Fair in the 3-D online community Second Life! Come to Morrill Island in Second LIfe at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/165/136/29 to join in the festive atmosphere and watch the ceremony.Watch real life video of the eXtension ribbon cutting ceremony streamed into Second Life from the USDA Ag Outlook Forum in Washington DC. Visit the Expo Tent spotlighting 16 Communities of Practice. Take a virtual horseback ride, tour the animal barns, try out the bumper cars…and the virtual cotton candy is calorie-free! Fireworks, games and live music performances will be scheduled throughout the three day celebration, on February 21, 22 and 23, 2008

For more information and a schedule of events, go to: eXtension Launch Celebration Announcement.

We’re looking forward to a special one-hour presentation featuring attorneys Steve Wyatt and Amy Light Mills today, December 18, 2007, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Extension faculty and staff across the country are encouraged to engage in collaborative work with eXtension. This session will help more Extension employees understand copyright and how it applies to them as they work with eXtension. Join us at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and with a telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time of 2:00 Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. CT, 12:00 noon MT, 11:00 a.m. PT, 10:00 a.m. AT, 8:00 a.m. HT) and enter as a Guest.

eXtension’s professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to participate!

This session will be recorded for those unable to participate in the Web conference. You will be able to find it at http://tinyurl.com/2c3lzk OR go to http://about.extension.org/wiki and scroll down to the link to “Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions”.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

eXtension’s next iTeam meetings will be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, September 17, 18, & 19, 2007. The sessions will run from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m Eastern Time each day and will be delivered via eXtension’s Connect/Breeze system.

An agenda and connection information will be posted at a later time.

Multi-user virtual environments such as Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com/) are growing in popularity. Learn what Second Life is and how it is being used. Some experts have predicted that 80 percent of active internet users will be using this type of environment by the end of 2011! Why not spend just a half hour in 2007 to learn more about it so you’re better prepared!

Plan to join us on September 11, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Vishal Singh, UNL, who is Vice Chair of the ACE IT SIG.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Many users today are preferring websites that provide information faster with a minimum amount of work necessary. Over the years, with the constant rise in bandwidth availability, internet users have became progressively impatient when browsing websites. Many users may simply give up on websites that take too long or direct them to too many pages. AJAX is a mechanism that gives users almost instant availability of information when it is requested within web pages without having to redirect the user to new pages. This presentation will focus on familiarizing the audience with AJAX and it’s different uses in web applications.

Plan to join us on September 26, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Aaron Hundley, eXtension applications analyst.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Slideshare (slideshare.net) is sort of like a YouTube for sharing presentations. Agents and specialists are always looking for ways to share their slideshows, and Slideshare is an easy, powerful, and free solution. It’s also an effective environment for fostering online learning. This session will show you everything you need to know to get started with Slideshare, and discuss how this technology can be used for collaborative work across the Cooperative Extension System.

Plan to join us on September 20, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Kevin Gamble, associate director for eXtension.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…

Learn about Social Bookmarking as a collaborative tool — how to keep your work team on the same page without burying them in email. Participants will be exposed to several social bookmarking tools with an emphasis on del.icio.us (for all Extension).

Plan to join us on September 12, 2007 for this online professional development opportunity presented by Kevin Gamble, associate director for eXtension.

Give us 30 minutes and we’ll teach you something useful! This session will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00p Eastern Time (2:00p CT, 1:00p MT, 12:00n PT, 11:00a AT; 9:00a HT) unless otherwise noted. Get more information about participating…