Not Your Grandparents’ or Great-grandparents’ Extension#CoopExt

Auburn University Extension Methods Guest LectureMarch 2014

@aafromaaaadrian@extension.org

slideshare.net/aafromaa

1

Let’s start out with questions.

What is Cooperative Extension’s best resource?

What makes Cooperative Extension the best choice—the optimal choice—possibly the only choice for its mission?

2

At one time, everyone knew the Extension agents.

Seen as responsive (home & farm visits).

Known as the link to the land grants (research and undergraduate).

Was one of the few people in the community with a college degree.

Shared research findings.

What’s different?

3Photo: https://flic.kr/p/bt7p7R

Cooperative Extension has an image deficit(Dave King http://www.joe.org/joe/1993fall/tp1.php)

4

Copernicus 2009 Study

Tim Berners-Lee proposed an “information management” system that became known as the Web.

Just as important of a significant move:On Christmas Day, Berners-Lee released the code—for free.

On March 12, 1989

5

Six drivers of disruption Institute of the Future

http://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills

Rise of smart machines and systems

Globally connected world

Superstructed organizations

New media ecology

Computational world

Extreme longevity

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabanski/914928023

Skills needed for 2020 knowledge workerInstitute of the Futurehttp://www.iftf.org/ Sensemaking

Social Intelligence

Novel Adaptive Thinking

Cross Cultural Competency

Computational Thinking

New Media Literacy

Transdisciplinarity

Design Mindset

Cognitive Load Management

Virtual Collaboration

Attributes for 21st Century Extension Professionals

Attributes for 21st Century Extension ProfessionalsIFTF Identified Skills

Sensemaking

Social Intelligence

Novel Adaptive Thinking

Cross Cultural Competency

Computational Thinking

New Media Literacy

Transdisciplinarity

Design Mindset

Cognitive Load Management

Virtual Collaboration

Build new relationships and maintain traditional relationships online.

Learn informally through information flow and others online.

Seek diversity.More than demographics—diversity in political ideals, social beliefs,

disciplines, and culture.

Integrate research and extension beyond what we currently do.

Know that we are not the only experts and that complex problems cannot be solved and forced (i.e., through logic models). See Cynefin framework http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin

Learn outloud and curate.

Future of Extension

10

Anne-isms

Transparency and openness in our work, decisions, and findings.

More open licenses. All Cooperative Extension materials were public domain before 1990. Creating and scaling our work cannot be done easily through All rights reserved products (Creative Commons licenses that allow for easy sharing and remixing).

Inclusion of people outside of Extension, particularly passionate amateurs in our work this allows for scaling our work without growing our organizations.

Ability to test (and fail) more easily to acquire more agility and innovativeness.

Future of Extension

11

A national online presence for Cooperative Extension.

Content is built through collaborative efforts among Cooperative Extension faculty.

Communities of Practice (CoPs) provide the mechanism to develop content (content is more than the text, can include videos, webinars, social media, etc.)

CoPs sometimes include others outside of Cooperative Extension.

www.extension.org is the hub for eXtension.

eXtensionwww.extension.org

12

Is one-to-one engagement.

People ask questions through Ask an Expert widgets and Cooperative Extension/University staff and volunteers answer them.

The widgets can be customized for area of interests or locale. Many county offices use the widgets and direct the questions to their own staff.

Questions can be distributed throughout the Cooperative Extension system.

A public option is available for the questions.

eXtension Ask an Expert https://ask.extension.org/

13

A listing of synchronous online professional development and other learning opportunities.

Events maybe hosted by eXtension, others in Cooperative Extension and other entities.

Anyone can post events in Learn with Google, Twitter, Facebook or eXtension IDs.

Learn events include additional information such as the recording, slidesets, additional reading materials.

Events can be added your calendar, followed for changes, and commented on, logging in with Google, Twitter, Facebook or eXtension IDs.

You can track your participation in Learn for your annual reports.

eXtension Learnhttps://learn.extension.org/

14

Asynchronous integrated online learning platform using Moodle.

Course delivery tools and services that can uniquely combine web pages, videos, books, lessons, assignments, forums, chat, certificates, databases, glossaries, quizzes, journals, and questionnaires into personalized learning environments.

Courses can have closed or open enrollments, can be fee-based or free.

eXtension Campushttp://campus.extension.org/

15

Collaborative and internal work space.

A space for CoPs to collaborate and communicate among themselves.

Internal information for CoPs is housed in Create.

Content that meant for the public is developed in the collaborative work space, peer reviewed, and copy edited is then published to www.extension.org.

You must have an eXtension ID to edit anything in Create.

eXtension Createhttp://create.extension.org/

16

A springboard for any work that requires an eXtension ID.

Get your eXtension ID in people.

Set your profile settings for Ask an Expert, Create, Learn, and Data.

List your social networks and interests

Create public settings for your profile (so you can be found more easily).

Find communities and colleagues.

eXtension Peoplehttps://people.extension.org/

17

eXtension’s example of building a network online(face to face is not possible)

Military FamiliesLearning Network

(target audience are those people who work with military families—family service professionals)

18

14,900 certificates in Moodle courses36% increase

21,268 active participants 50% increase

210 webinars conducted by CoPs

18,534 participants in CoP webinars

173,684 views of the CoP recordings

eXtension’s engagementCourses and Webinars

19

2013

1.6 Million contacts through social media increased by 124%

5.8 Million interactions insocial media increased by 1,232%

eXtension’s engagementSocial Media

20

2013

54% of Ask an Expert users have never heard of Cooperative Extension

44% of Ask an Expert questions had some significant economic value

48,008 questions resolved on Ask an Expert

5,026 questions resolved in Alabama

eXtension’s engagementAsk an Expert

21

2013

51,458 Visits to Learn

494 Events offered as webinars

618 Hours of professional development

$1.6 Million savings or value back to the system

eXtension’s serving its own and others

22

2013

In 2013, eXtension has received $1.53 of additional funds for each $1.00 invested.

Since its beginning, eXtension has received $1.58 of additional funds for each $1.00 invested.

eXtension’s serving its own

23

Discussion

What are forces important for Extension and land-grants to adjust to?

What should Extension focus on that will make us successful in the future?

How do those focus areas affect our work force?

24

References

Facing the Image Deficit by Dave King http://www.joe.org/joe/1993fall/tp1.php)

An analysis of the priority needs of Cooperative Extension at the County Level by Harder, Lamm and Strong http://www.jae-online.org/attachments/article/56/Harder_etal_50_3_11-21.pdf

The 21st Century Extension Professional (the ECOP sponsored study) Webinar and Slideset https://learn.extension.org/events/1073

Skills for 2020 Knowledge Workers http://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills

Learning and Working within a Learning Networkhttp://about.extension.org/2014/03/10/learning-and-working-within-a-learning-network/

Other Recommended Readings

Global landscape http://www.iftf.org/our-work/global-landscape/work/

People and Technology http://www.iftf.org/our-work/people-technology/

Harold Jarche’s blog: http://www.jarche.com/

Ongoing finds in connected organizations http://www.scoop.it/t/connected-communities

Ongoing finds in personal learning http://www.scoop.it/t/approachtolearning

Photo Credits

Droplets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kabanski/914928023

County agent: https://flic.kr/p/bt7p7R

Binoculars: https://flic.kr/p/4ufwAb

Not Your Grandparents’ or Great-grandparents’ Extension#CoopExt

@aafromaaaadrian@extension.org

slideshare.net/aafromaa

Creative Commons LicenseNot Your Grandparents Extensionby Anne Mims Adrian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

28