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EXtension Talking Points
From AgriLife WIki
Contents |
eXtension Launch February 21, 2008
Where: Agricultural Outlook Forum in Washington D.C.
When: 2:15 p.m. Central Time
Ideas for "Local" Launch:
Host a local or state event that interested AgriLife Employees can participate and attend. This would include a live meeting for those housed in College Station that would be broadcast to off campus participants via a Centra Conference.
Proposed Agenda for Local/State Event
1:30-2:00 p.m. Gathering of Campus Employees at Rudder 701---Local Master of Ceremonies: Dr. Segers
2:00-2:15 p.m. Welcome from Administration--Dr. Hale
2:15-3:15ish p.m. National Launch Broadcast from Forum in D.C.
Official agenda is available at http://about.extension.org/wiki/Final_Agenda%2C_February_21]
3:15-3:30 p.m. More About eXtension--Dr. Lippke
Plans for Engaging AgriLife Extension in eXtension
January 2008--Encourage employees to get an eXtension ID at Program Conference
February 2008--Local/State Program to Broadcast National Launch
February 2008--Friday Online Sharing Information about eXtension
February 2008--Send Out eXtension Information Cards to All County Offices for Distribution to clientele
March 2008--Share Movie/Tutorial on eXtension with Texas AgriLife Extension
April - June 2008--Share More Information via Tutorial type Movies on What's the Value to Agents, Specialists, and Clientele...one a month
eXtension and Texas AgriLife Extension
Andrew B. Crocker, Bastiaan "Bart" Drees and Saqib Mukhtar
eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering research-based knowledge from America's land-grant college and university system. It is a space where content providers can gather and produce education and information resources on a wide range of topics. Because it is available at any time from any Internet connection, eXtension helps solve real life problems in real time.
eXtension was initiated in February 2004 as an educational partnership of land-grant colleges and universities to improve outreach and engagement. The Extension Directors/Administrators for these 75 land-grant schools provided 0.8% of their Smith Lever Funds to support this initiative (~ $2.2 million), with a federal line of funding established in 2006 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES): ~ $1.425 million.
eXtension increases visibility of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) throughout the state, nation and world. eXtension promotes collaborative development and reduces duplication on a national level. Additionally, states weak in some program areas can be strengthened by program efforts in other states. The eXtension initiative is possibly the largest team building effort in the history of the CES. In reality, eXtension is not about technology, but about a whole new way of doing Extension work. Obviously, information technology is enabling this new paradigm to be defined, but the most significant impact of the effort is the building of communities of peers and their ability to share and build upon their collective knowledge.
eXtension professional expertise and support allows disciplinary specialists access to capabilities for outreach education far beyond departmental or state agency resources. Too, eXtension's involvement promises to leverage national shared strength while providing a local customized focus. eXtension is implementing measures to make this effort sustainable by exploring sponsorship and product/service sale options to supplement state and federal funding sources.
The eXtension platform hosts information built by content-focused teams called a Communities of Practice (CoP). A CoP is a network of subject-matter content providers composed largely of Extension specialist faculty and county educators, as well as other professionals, government agency representatives, industry experts and appropriate volunteers and clientele. Essentially, membership in a CoP may be extended to anyone who has knowledge or competence in a specific content area and is willing to develop and share that knowledge through educational products and programs. For each Community of Practice there exists a Community of Interest (CoI) - those people who share a common need for knowledge and whose needs are identified, evaluated, and addressed by the Community of Practice. It is in responding to these CoIs where eXtension finds its mission and success.
The first Communities of Practice were identified in 2005, and have continued to evolve, reaching 22 such CoPs in 2007. Another 5 CoPs are currently being created and will begin work in 2008.
2005 "Pioneer" CoPs Include:
- Consumer Horticulture
- Horse Quest
- Wildlife Damage Management
- Imported Fire Ant Management
- Just In Time Parenting
- Entrepreneurs and Their Communities
- Financial Security for All
- Extension Disaster Education Network
2006 CoPs Include:
- Family Caregiving
- Map@Syst
- Youth Science
- Engineering and Technology for Life
- Diversity Across Higher Education
- Environmental Pesticide Stewardship
- Cotton
- Beef Cattle Clearing House
- Corn and Soybean Production
- eOrganic
- Pork Information Group
- Urban Integrated Pest Management
- US DAIReXNET
- Livestock and Poultry Education Centers
eXtension Involvement and Efforts in Texas
Imported Fire Ant CoP
The Imported Fire Ant "Pioneer" Community of Practice has a membership 144 persons from all states infrested with fire ants. Leadership is provided by Kathy Flanders (Alabama Cooperative Extension) and Bastiaan "Bart" Drees (Texas AgriLife Extension Service). The Imported Fire Ant "Pioneer" CoP website, http://www.extension.org/fire+ants, was "soft" launched in April 2007. Information provided through this site includes, but is not limited to
- Basic Information
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- 100+ FAQs and/or Ask-the-Expert Questions
- Learning Lessons
- Decision Modules (currently under review)
- Community and Regional Highlights
- Publications
- Images and Video Clips
- Links
- Calendar of Events
- News Articles
- Spanish Translation (via a mirror site in progress)
- Youth, Master Gardener and Regulatory Modules (under development)
National Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center (LPE) CoP
The LPE Learning Center CoP is comprised of more than 100 volunteers, including Extension Engineering, Soil Science, Animal Science and Agricultural Economics Specialists, as well as NRCS, USGS, EPA, ARS, environmental organizations, private consultants etc., from across the United States. They have worked to develop FAQs (nearly 150 FAQs are ready to be published) and dozens of content rich web pages for the "National Animal Manure Management Web Site."
LPE Learning Center has been approved as one of the 20 CoP within the eXtension initiative. The LPE Learning Center website will be launched in March of 2008 through National eXtension. All FAQs and web pages will acknowledge contributions of their respective authors along with their state/university affiliations.
Saqib Mukhtar (Texas AgriLife Extension Service) serves as a team leader for one of several sub-categories for FAQs and the website. He reports having and continuing to have a wonderful collaborative experience with volunteers from across the state and eXtension administration. His participation with this group and with eXtension in managing some of the LPE web content has promoted Texas AgriLife Extension Service's team building and science-based content sharing with other Extensions, government agencies, consultants, commodity and environmental groups and has opened up doors for future collaborative efforts.
Family Caregiving CoP
Family caregiving is emerging as a major social and economic issue in the United States. Increasingly, there is a growing demand for family strengthening programs that support caregivers and delay institutionalization of the disabled, aged and infirmed. Because family caregiving issues, needs, and concerns are too far reaching and complex to be addressed by any one organization, partnerships are forming among federal, state, and local institutions as well as across academic disciplines to address these critical issues.
The Family Caregiving team has eight content groups that create content specific to their area of expertise for the frequently asked questions, on-line learning experiences, and other written resources. Leadership is provided by 15 Extension Aging and/or Adult Development Specialists representing 13 institutions nationwide, including Andrew B. Crocker (Texas AgriLife Extension Service).
The Family Caregiving CoP has created 50 state specific demographic fact sheets on caregiver data including the number of older adults in a state, the number of indivdiuals with Alzheimer's, the impact of caregiving on employers and general facts and figures about family caregivng. Learning lessons and articles have been added with many connecting to existing Extension publications from various states. Attempts have been made to update existing publications so they could be added to the eXtension Wiki.
Consumer Horticulture CoP
The Consumer Horticulture Community of Practice has focused attention in two areas; creation of a frequently asked questions (FAQ) database and creation of online training materials for Master Gardeners. Since we already had a large FAQ database in the PLANTanswers section of Aggie Horticulture, we were able to export those questions and send them to Kentucky for direct import into the eXtension system. This amounted to some 8,000+ FAQs.
The Consumer Horticulture CoP has held three face-to-face conferences, and meets regularly via the Adobe Breeze conferencing system to plan their efforts.
Texas horticulturists are not quite ready to go "mainstream" with the eXtension effort, as we currently don't have a state coordinator for the FAQ system. Enthusiasm for the national eXtension effort has been slow to build in our group, as many feel that the Aggie Horticulture Web presence serves much the same purpose. We need to do some "consensus building" relative to the time and effort spent developing our own in-house resources (Ag Program CMS, Aggie Horticulture) compared to contributions to the national effort. Since eXtension has begun to favor "linking out" to a greater extent, the two systems may no longer be competitive.
Entrepreneurs and Their Communities CoP
A primary goal of the eXtension Entrepreneurs and Their Communities CoP is providing educational programs, technical assistance, and tools enabling entrepreneurs to capitalize on available economic opportunities. Supporting entrepreneurship provides opportunities for local residents to actively participate in local, regional and global economies. The accelerated presence of entrepreneurial businesses makes it clear that supporting entrepreneurs is an important strategy that complements other economic development efforts. While industrial recruitment and business attraction remain valuable strategies, the focus here is on stimulating entrepreneurship and sustainable small business development.
The CoP Entrepreneurship team is taking a very user oriented approach to providing products and services of primary interest to entrepreneurs (both adults and youth) and resource providers working with entrepreneurs. Sections found on the site include Case Studies,Information Briefs, Data and Cool Tools, Policies, Research References, News, FAQ, and Learning Lessons. The FAQ section is complemented by an Ask the Experts system for addressing more in-depth questions. Users have a variety of opportunities to provide feedback and evaluate all content, products, and services.
Extension specialists and County Extension Agents involved in community resource and economic development are expected to refer often to the CoP site. Other target audiences include city and county officials, economic developers, educators, and workforce development professionals. The site was developed by 15 Extension specialists from as many states with leadership from the four regional development centers. Dr. Greg Clary provided leadership to the group developing materials supporting entrepreneur development.
