Sessions

For your convenience, we have broken down the workshops into tracks that you can use as a guide during the conference.

Can’t Make it? Join us Online with two full days of selected webinar sessions.

Workshops are grouped into five general tracks:
New CoP – training, tool, tricks and tips to help new CoP’s get up and running. Great for existing CoP’s that want to enhance some of their skills
Social Media – methods and techniques to integrate social media into your CoP
Content Management – managing and growing your content, as well as methods for collaboration to develop and enhance content
CoP Management – sustaining, maintaining, and growing your CoP. Reporting and metrics, marketing and development.
Institutional – strengthening your CoP by expanding your use of eXtension tools and opportunities

Workshops to be offered (many will be offered multiple times):

Getting Your Wiki On – Beginner – Ashley Griffin and Henrietta Ritchie-Holbrook
New CoP members or existing CoP members can come find out how to navigate and work in the Wiki. This two hour course is designed to give CoPs a rounded feel for how to do the most common things in the Wiki (article creation, page naming, managing articles from start to publish). For new CoPs, it would be helpful to have several members attend this session. Existing CoP members who have never had a chance to work in the Wiki but would like to should attend.

Getting Your Wiki On – Advanced – Henrietta Ritchie-Holbrook & Ashley Griffin
New CoP memebers or existing CoP members can come find out how to navigate and work in the Wiki. This two hour course is designed to give CoPs a rounded feel for how to do the most common things in the Wiki (article creation, page naming, managing articles from start to publish). For new CoPs, it would be helpful to have several members attend this session. Existing CoP members who have never had a chance to work in the Wiki but would like to should attend.

From Logic to Launch – Practical methods for getting content and FAQ goals met – Ashley Griffin
Getting your community to Launch may seem like a difficult task. This course will focus on some best practices and tips that can help move your community to launch.

Network and Collaboration 101 : A tour of tools and techniques for finding and working with Extension colleagues from just about anywhere – Karen Jeanette
Does working in non face-to-face settings sound difficult? How do you find colleagues with similar interests to work with? How do you schedule meetings with large groups without an unthreaded mass of emails? Once you’ve coordinated your schedules online, how do you efficiently exchange ideas or develop and review content?

Photos and You-Photo management, rights, issues – Anne Adrian
What issues are involved with photos and photo rights as we build and share information? This session will go over some of the critical information you should know about photos that are shared in online documents and use of photos in eXtension.

Tag You’re It: Tags and tagging strategies – Kevin Gamble and Jason Young
Tags are an essential part of organization for eXtension content. Using tags and working with tag language can significantly increase content find from your client. Learn some best management practices for tags.

Learning Lessons from a Pioneer Community of Practice: Imported Fire Ants Getting started: A recipe for success, involving others – Kathy Flanders, Bart Drees, Glenda Freeman, Kim Schofield, Molly Keck, Roberto Pereira, and Paul Nester
Our Community of Practice (CoP)is devoted strictly to imported fire ants. As a “pioneer” CoP, we have been around since October 2005). Our Wiki and public web sites present material on biology of fire ants as well as control strategies. We’ve developed content for specific audiences within our Community of Interest, such as youth and master gardeners. Why devote an entire CoP to fire ants? Imported fire ants are invasive pests that sting and build unsightly mounds, causing $6 billion annually in damage and costs of control. Approximately 85 million people live in the fire ant infested area within the U.S. An inclusive group of subject matter specialists already existed that formed the basis for the CoP. eXtension has allowed us to broaden that group, and provides methods to disseminate information that were not previously available.

Second Life for Newbies – LuAnn Phillips
Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003, and is accessible on the Internet. A free client program called the Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world (which residents refer to as “the grid”). (Wikipedia definition). This course will give you a crash course in creating, using, and exploring Second Life. You will visit on of the eXtension islands and learn about how Cooperative Extension is utilizing this popular platform for outreach and education.

Twitter 1: Using Twitter for Outreach and Education -Karen Jeannette, Chris Raines, Ashley Fondren
Come with your laptop and learn firsthand what twitter is, how to find followers, and how to and when to make a successful update. Hear from experienced Twitter users on how to maximize this tool.

Twitter 2: Twitter it Up -a Twitter Management Lab – Getting to Know the Tools – Amy Hays
So you are interested in using Twitter, but are not quite sure how to manage the information flow, Tweet with a group, or access Twitter by mobile phone? Bring your laptop or mobile phone and learn how to jump in with Twitter management tools that meet your needs

Social Media Marketing and Rural Entrepreneurs – Kathy Macomber
Social media provides tools that may, when used strategically, inexpensively increase customer recruitment and retention, increase sales, and build an interest community for business products and services of rural entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have the ability to engage current and potential customers, create and distribute content, build loyalty, build community, survey customers, receive and respond to customer feedback, and solicit customer testimonials, and increase their customer base.

Rural entrepreneurs, particularly in the current economy, devote much of their time to running the business and some are intimidated by their lack of knowledge and do not explore new marketing methods using social media tools.

This presentation will recount a Business Development Specialist’s assistance to rural entrepreneurs in southwest Missouri over the past year. Macomber will give conference attendees an overview of the “Success with Social Media Marketing” curriculum she uses in a typical 3 hour hands-on workshop with entrepreneurs. In the workshop, clients are coached through setting up their individual social media accounts, strategic tips and techniques for effectively using the accounts, and have the opportunity to connect with the instructor and each other, as a method to become familiar with the tools. Macomber will give examples of the one-to-one business coaching she delivers to clients interested in social media marketing, both face-to-face, and using the social media tools.

Examples of appropriate social media marketing techniques currently sued by three rural southwest Missouri entrepreneurs will be presented, with a description of the businesses and the strategy each is using to drive business growth.

The case studies provide rudimentary insight into the cost/benefit analysis rural entrepreneurs consider as well as the effectiveness of the workshop in encouraging entrepreneur experimentation with social media marketing tools.

Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs: Immerse yourself in the blogosphere – Karen Jeannette, Henrietta Ritchie-Holbrook, Emily Tepe
You have heard about the blogosphere, might feel compelled you should start a blog, but don’t know where to start with a strategy or the technology? Learn from Apples CoP member, Emily Tepe how she engaged her horticulture audience with the Edible Landscape blog @ http://umediblelandscape.blogspot.com/, then learn how to set-up your own Blogger blog to experiment with including images and media to help you connect with and capture your audience. Along the way, learn blogging tips to enhance your outreach and social media strategies, and finish ready to go with your new-found blog and blogging skills.

Team Collaboration and Program Delivery using Webinar Technology – Floyd Davenport
Learn how webinar technology can help your distributed team collaborate and deliver educational content to a remote audiences. This session will demonstrate Adobe Connect, its tools for collaboration and examples of online programming.

This session will highlight eXtension tools and other Web 2.0 tools for scheduling meetings, holding meetings, and collaboratively developing and storing content to help streamline your CoPs workflow. While this session is geared at working with colleagues from afar, you might just find that tools, techniques, and strategies help collaborative opportunities with colleagues you regularly see face-to-face.

Facebook – Beyond your personal profile. Understanding a personal page, fan page, group page. What are your options for engagement? – Amy Hays
Is your CoP using FaceBook? Are you using FaceBook? Is it a good tool for outreach and education? This session focus’ on understanding how FaceBook connects you with others and how you can expand your message.

Social Media Tools Expand the Reach of eXtension – Chris Raines, Ashley Fondren
Social media (SM) is a form of swift, global communication that permits direct knowledge exchanges at the speed of information. Though current SM platforms permit one-to-one exchanges between two web users, most operate as a one-to-many and many-to-one exchange, meaning that information can be presented from one person to another, yet is visible by anyone online. In its present form, the structure by which eXtension operates may differ only nominally from traditional Extension. For example, an E-mail ask-the-expert queue and hierarchy does not differ greatly from a calling tree, nor does a webinar differ greatly from a traditional seminar. Many eXtension and traditional Extension professionals use SM “personally,” to connect with friends and family, and for entertainment. Yet, other eXtension professionals use SM to present factual, educational information to the public in SM formats. In 2009, SM became the most popular form of internet activity, 60% of all online adults use at least one SM tool, and over 90% of Generation-Y uses SM. Current examples of SM use by individuals with Extension, though not directly representing an eXtension Community of Practice (CoP), include: (1) food safety handling tips and question answering, (2) support for nutrition and fitness programs, (3) question-and-answer chats, (4) business advertising and promotion, (5) educational videos, and (6) blogs. Examples from each category will be presented. Concerns among SM users for Extension programming purposes include availability and time commitment. It is possible that a team effort, via a CoP, will make SM use for eXtension outreach more viable. Evaluation of SM programs can be conducted using various internet polling tools, though user completion may be to a lesser extent than those collected face-to-face. The use of SM has the potential to revolutionize and broaden the impact of eXtension worldwide and engage a generation unfamiliar with eXtension.

You Too Can be a Producer – Eric Taylor
Have you wanted to incorporate video into your site but weren’t sure how? This course focus’ on giving you the information about how to create video (tools and software), best equipment, and how to produce video that you can share with your clients.

Embedding Visual Media – Flash, MP4 -Jerry Caldwell
Have you ever wanted to embed various types of media into your content pages online? See examples of embedded visual media that uses Flash, mp4, YouTube, and other files types and sources to help create a more effective learning environment. See how content can be transitioned from traditional print form, with or without images, to a powerpoint presentation, and then to a Flash (swf) video using software such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate. Learn how to embed the various types of visual media within the eXtension CoP wiki; what programs are available for developing visual media; and what programs work better for various tasks. Examples of scripts used in the wiki will be shared. This workshop has a “learning by doing” approach and participants are encouraged to bring their laptops.

Mapping it Up – How to use Mapping to Enhance your CoP – Shane Brandt
Maps are popular ways to share information. Google Maps makes simple mapping available to anyone to place on websites. Learn how to quickly make a map in Google Map and how to expand your clients experience by incorporating maps into your online work.

Using Google Wave to Foster Collaboration – Kevin Gamble and Beth Raney:
Google Wave is one of the newest offerings from Google. Google Wave is a new web application for real-time communication and collaboration. designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It has a real-time communication component that mimics a chat. For CoPs, Google Wave can be used in a variety of ways, this course goes over some of the ways to use Goggle Wave for collaboration, not only within a CoP but for use in your daily work.

Google Knol for Article Creation – Denise Attaway
Google Knol was used by one CoP to facilitate article development and creation as an alternative to working initially in the Wiki. Come learn about Google Knol and the potential to use it for collaboration.

Public Webinars on eXtension: Experience and Evaluation – Alice Formiga
Several eXtension Communities of Practice are coordinating webinar series as a new means of engaging Communities of Interest. In this presentation, staff from the eOrganic and the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center will discuss:
* Technology: lessons learned about selecting webinar software as well as hardware such as headsets and microphones.
* Organizational strategies that contribute to the success of a presentation: communication with presenters, scheduling practice sessions, coordinating multiple speakers, handling audience questions, technical support, and referencing additional resources.
* Evaluation: methods for and results of evaluating the impact of webinars on both Communities of Practice and Communities of Interest including surveys, reports, website analytics and focus groups.
* Interactions of webinars and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
* Webinar variations: broadcasting to a live audience, recorded meetings. Remixing and repurposing recorded presentations for other purposes such as educational modules for classroom instructors.

Bring your experiences and questions – there will be plenty of time for group discussion!

Beyond Text – Easy Multi-media Content Creation Tools – Kim Hand & Julie Middleton
There are a multitude of tools available to create interactive and asynchronous content enriched with video, audio, screencasts. Explore the use and implementation of easy to use tools. The presentation will include a demo of each tool, basic how-to, then demonstrate an example of how they can and have been used in the real world. Say goodbye to boring content…captivate learners with professional multimedia content created with these great tools that are easy and inexpensive (free!).

ScribLink – collaborative whiteboard drawing tool, can use screencast tool to capture, great for math problems, charts, drawings
Viddler – record/upload & publish/share video. Excellent tool for not only capturing video from web cam or uploading video but also having threaded audio/video/text discussions.
Screencast-o-Matic – create screencasts
Voki – create animated characters that speak
Viddix – create interactive video presentations
Produle – create interactive flash modules
VoiceThread – create/share multimedia presentations

The Livabilitiy House: Exploring an Immersive Environment
Have you ever heard of Second Life®? Have you wondered what Second Life® and virtual worlds are all about? Do you think that only technically-savvy people are using it? Are you curious about what the possibilities might be for its use in Cooperative Extension? Then this session is for you!

This session will introduce one Second Life project, The LiveAbility House, which has been developed through a collaborative effort among K-State Research and Extension, North Carolina State University, and eXtension. This virtual home was designed to teach people about assistive technology and universal design features that enable a person to live at home despite physical or mental challenges caused by aging, illness, or disability. The ultimate goal is to assist individuals with disabilities, their family members and caregivers in implementing strategies that will allow them to remain living safely and independently in their own home.

The developers will share their initial vision and discuss their reasons for moving forward with the project using Second Life®. They will speak to the project’s developmental progression and talk about their experiences as non-technical, subject matter experts exploring an advanced technology for the first time. They will highlight the home’s capabilities, outline the evaluative process and provide a tour of this interactive learning experience. Finally, developers will engage the audience will in a brainstorming discussion regarding possible next steps for this project and as well as ideas for future Second Life projects involving additional subject matter areas.

Developing Content and Keeping it Current – Barbara O’Neill
eXtension’s mission is the dissemination of unbiased, research-based information designed to improve the lives of its communities of interest. Thus, eXtension’s “product” is its content, which must compete for consumer attention with that of other online content providers. To be viewed as a reliable and trustworthy source of information, eXtension must produce and maintain content that is comprehensive, credible, and current. Content development is, therefore, central to the work of all eXtension communities of practice and needs to be managed proactively with systematic processes and member incentives. This workshop will describe strategies that the Financial Security for All (FSA) community of practice (CoP) uses to expand and manage its personal finance content. Session leader, Barbara O’Neill, will begin the workshop by describing the process used to organize content around 15 personal finance subject matter areas (e.g., credit, insurance, retirement planning, and health finance) and how gap analyses were done to identify topics lacking sufficient content. CoP leader Pat Swanson will discuss incentives and processes used by the FSA CoP to increase the depth and breadth of content on key financial topics. Carolyn Bird will discuss how the FSA CoP repurposed existing content for a specific target audience (military families) and Michael Gutter will discuss ways that CoP distance education (e.g., chats and webinars) content is developed and cross-referenced with other Web pages (e.g., chats to FAQs and FAQs to learning lessons). Barbara O’Neill will describe the process used to identify and maintain “high maintenance FAQs” that contain Web links that need to be checked and/or numbers that are indexed annually for inflation (e.g., Social Security earnings limit and income tax standard deduction). The final presenter, Sharon Seiling, will discuss the process used to publish research briefs about studies published in leading professional journals in the family economics field.

Engaging and Integrating the Research Community – Alex Stone
Cooperative Extension is research-driven, and eXtension sets itself apart from other web content providers by providing credible, research-based information. While extension and research have historically been segregated at many land grant universities, integration is now critical. Grant opportunities are emerging from USDA NIFA and other organizations that call for the integration of research and extension. How best can eXtension Communities of Practice engage with researchers and these granting organizations to most efficiently deliver credible, cutting-edge, research-based information delivered to the public in practical and meaningful ways?

Grant Opportunities with eXtension – Dan Cotton & Betty Johnson
Discover funding opportunities and support for Communities of Practice.

Developing Partnerships with Professional Organizations – Donna Amaral-Phillips
While eXtension has established itself as an effective tool for bringing information to the public, partnering with professional organizations can be an avenue for further engaging audiences and expanding our network of expertise. Relationships between COP’s and professional organizations strengthen not only the parties involved, but the entire Cooperative Extension system. This sort of collaboration promotes cooperative dissemination of information to a broader audience than one group could reach alone, and allows for other benefits as well. DAIReXNET currently maintains partnerships with several groups, and we plan to explore the following aspects of such partnerships:

1.) Mutual promotion and marketing opportunities
One specific example of a promotion and marketing opportunity is DAIReXNET’s partnership with the American Dairy Science Association. We offer a venue for their members to submit materials for possible publication, and mutual promotion through link sharing.
This partnership allows us to:
a,) Submit a promotional update to ADSA’s spring newsletter
b.) Give an oral presentation at the annual meeting
c.) Share booth space at both their annual meeting and the World Dairy Expo (the premier dairy producer show)

2.) Collaboration on educational materials
We will discuss an upcoming collaborative effort, our National Extension Educator Training Program. This program is the result of our work with Cooperative Extension agents in Kentucky, Idaho, and Michigan, as well as one of our partner organizations. Presentations will be made via DAIReXNET, and will be a source of valuable current information for extension agents, industry professionals, veterinarians, and, in some cases, producers.

3.) Possibility of providing continuing education units (CEU) through partnering organizations
We are working closely with one of our partners to explore the possibility of offering CEU for members of our partner organizations that attend. If we achieve this goal, we can offer an extremely valuable product to our audience.

Community Certification and Leadership – Craig Wood
All communities of practice are eligible for leadership funds once your content is published to extension.org come learn what is involved in that process and the new things that have been added.

Marketing for the New Millennium – Terry Meisenbach
Everything you thought you knew about marketing has a new twist on it in the 21st Century as content, communities, and connections intersect virtually at every turn. Learn about the landscape we tread today to make eXtension and CoPs marketable!

Developing Evaluation Markers for Success – Mike Lambur
This session will focus on determining what types of evaluation are appropriate for various CoP content and applications.

TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More – Marissa Stone
The action plan and needs of your Community of Practice (CoP) may include developing product deliverables, maintaining an active AtE/FAQ system, educating the membership or sharing additional roles and responsibilities over time to accomplish the overall mission for the common good of the community you serve. No matter what the aim, recruiting, retaining and engaging the members of your CoP is imperative to accomplishing the goals of the group. As the 7th largest CoP in the eXtension system the Just In Time Parenting (JITP) CoP boasts 195 members in eXtension and an additional 180 members in our external database. Our success at motivating our members to become actively involved with the JITP Initiative has led us to develop a list of 7 tips for engaging your CoP members. Come prepared for an interactive workshop as we explore the methods we use to (1) collect more data on members than eXtension allows; (2) get to know our experts; (3) utilize the diversity of expertise in our CoP; (4) identify our connectors; (5) create a “call to action” that supports and mobilizes members; (6) share, update and inform and (7) manage and maintain our CoP membership. Join us, with your ideas, questions and concerns because in a TEAM, together everyone achieves more.

Developing a “tool Kit” to Facilitate Increased Utilization of eXtension by Extension Personal and Clientele – Betsy Greene
Vermont Extension has been an early adaptor in the National eXtension Initiative, providing leadership on the national level in many of the Pioneer Communities of Practices and in newer content areas. Even with this expertise, there have been concerns that the extension personnel at the state and county levels are not utilizing this resource to the best of its capabilities. This in turn, results in fewer Vermont clientele utilizing the national, peer reviewed content on the website.

One Approach to Sustainability for eXtension – Sharon Seiling
Extension professionals provide much high quality training for professionals as well as citizens across a wide spectrum of ages, locations and interests. Much of this activity has been offered free of charge for most audiences over the years. We have moved into a new era of tighter Extension budgets, tighter family budgets and greater competition in the marketplace.
In order to continue to serve various constituents, we need to re-examine our approach to training. One part of eXtension’s value is the ability to provide high quality online courses via Moodle to people across the country and even the world. The Financial Security for All CoP is trying out a model of offering a course to the public that charges a modest fee. The revenue that comes in will go to the eXension Foundation and then will be shared with the CoP for furtherance of programming. The program is entitle Financial Success: Recovery after Bankruptcy. This course is offered to bankruptcy filers under the regulation of the U. S. Trustees Program of the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice (DOJ) specifies what (in general terms) is to be taught, who should teach it and how the participants will evaluate it. They also approve the plan, with curriculum, fees, web site or facilities, and marketing messages.
A panel will discuss the costs and benefits of using Moodle and eXtension Foundation to teach courses, provide certification and otherwise offer training for a fee to various constituents.

Engaging and Training CoP Members – Nancy Porter
With the ebb and flow of CoP membership, a need exists to continuously engage each person and provide training in how to effectively and efficiently complete the work of the CoP. The Financial Security for All CoP offers Experiencing eXtension, an online course designed to acquaint members and other educators with the features of FSA information in eXtension. In addition, the course serves as a one stop place with links to all of the various features with instructions on how to contribute to the information. The course is highly interactive and offers activities to increase skills such as the Three Word Wiki activity and forums for participants to give feedback to the leadership team. Created in Moodle, the Experiencing eXtension course is one of the professional development courses offered in eXtension. It is not necessary to complete the entire course; individual modules can be completed independently and can be reviewed periodically. The course template and many of the activities and features could be replicated by most CoPs with minor adjustments for specific subject-matter areas. To get to Experiencing eXtension, go to http://pdc.extension.org. You should use your Open ID to log in and register. The course is listed under the Communication and Education category. Once you are enrolled you can go directly to the course by following this link: http://pdc.extension.org/course/view.php?id=327. For more information contact Nancy Porter, Clemson University, at nporter@clemson.edu.

Knoodle Moodle Shnoodle – Nick Broady
Wondered how to use Moodle for your CoP or for your own work? This course will go over the ways in which Moodle can be used to reach your client .
Community Certification and Leadership – Craig Wood
All communities of practice are eligible for leadership funds once your content is published to extension.org come learn what is involved in that process and the new things that have been added.

MSUE Educators’ Perception of the Use of Digital Technology in their Work – Elizabeth Wells
A doctoral dissertation.

From Hotlines to Ask an Expert—How to Change Organizational Culture
- Lela Vandenburg
How do you help educators, specialists and faculty think differently about the ways they engage with the public and “bring knowledge to life?” How do you help them collaborate well in virtual teams and teach effectively online? How do you communicate the value of eXtension for efficiently and effectively getting information to people who need it, and for developing productive relationships with colleagues from across the country? How do you communicate to address concerns, reduce frustrations, and keep the vision in front of staff? These are the questions our newly formed Michigan State University eXtension Institutional Team asked itself last October when we became a pilot site with eXtension. This session will give some of our answers to those questions and ask the audience to add their own, so that we can together create a set of best practices to share with others. Our presentation will also explain our iTeam formation process, our logic model development process, our communication strategies, our efforts to engage dozens of new recruits as Ask an Expert responders, and our efforts to increase organizational competence in online methods of collaborating and teaching. We will also report on the results, still in progress, of our efforts so far, and our ongoing plans for the future.

Communicating Your Message -Ellen Schuster
Training and communication are ongoing responsibilities of most Cooperative Extension educators. Challenges to providing “just-in-time” training include restricted travel budgets as well as availability of staff. In Missouri, over 150 educators located across the state provide nutrition education primarily in school locations. The availability of these educators is very limited from August to May of each school year. Many educators are also unavailable during June when summer school is in session. Although these educators receive local/regional training from their regional coordinators, messages and information that are communicated in these local trainings may be insufficient and inconsistent as they are delivered statewide. How can you deliver training and communicate important and timely information to a large staff using limited travel dollars? Will educators who are more comfortable with face-to-face training accept technology? Learn about the use of Community Clips, a free screen capture software, used to pilot the delivery of “just-in-time” training to over 150 educators statewide. How can this software be used to communicate other information? Other ideas for communication and training using this technology will be shared. Also to be discussed at this session – how this software might be used within a community of practice.

Tired of the Wiki – Learn more about alternative Content Management Systems – Craig Wood and Ivelin Denev
Introduction to a potential new content management system to be used by CoPs in the development of content. Your input and testing is desired during the Workshop.