Extension Updates

To assure that all of you are kept up to date on a regular basis, the three regional directors and the state Extension Administration Office provides bi-weekly Extension Updates. This forum is for all Extension announcements, so if you have something to distribute, please forward it to Lori Bates with FOR EXTENSION UPDATE noted.

January 4, 2013

On Behalf of CJ Mucklow:

Measuring Perceived Value of Extension programs

One thing that has always bothered me is Extension has never tried to estimate our program's value to participants organization wide. We all do program evaluations and have various estimates of how to improve programs or estimates of how valuable a particular program is. Have you ever seen that combined to at least get an estimate of our overall value state wide? The answer is no.

To that end and with the help of PLT members, Cary Wiener and Jan Carroll we put together a 5 question evaluation to begin gathering some data. It has been approved by IRB too. I would really appreciate in 2013 if you would simply pass out the attached evaluation when you're conducting a program or even doing an individual consultation. It’s strictly voluntary and I don’t want any names. As you get these back please mail them to the Western regional office or scan them and send them to me. I hope to report some estimated value of Extension's work by the end of the year.

It’s important to not modify the form as this is what’s approved. Please just pass this out at you workshops, tell them it’s voluntary and collect them. This simple questionnaire will not work for every program, especially youth/4-H. It’s also far from perfect too, in that it doesn’t measure attitude changes well. But it is a first step. Please help me gather this data by passing out this survey when you do your own program evaluation, if the program is appropriate.

Suggestions for improvements to the questionnaire are very welcome and needed for the future. Click here for the questionnaire.

Reporting

I want to thank everyone who made the effort to complete their 2012 reporting. We all know there are still challenges with the system but we also know you're making an effort, and it's appreciated. Now that you’ve done your part you might want to look and see how others have reported, especially narratives. Some of these are quite good and could be used with local stakeholders and funders.

I especially want to point out one narrative from Wendy Rice. If this were just a contact it would represent one person but check out what Wendy accomplished with this one client. This is where a narrative really shows our good work. There are many others too.

To see Wendy’s narrative go this link: http://lmprs.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=reports.narratives&searchString=social+security&state_id=7&r_narrType_id=26&r_narrType_id=25&r_narrType_id=27&planYear=2012&Submit=Sear

To see all the narratives go to this link: http://lmprs.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=reports.narratives&searchString=&state_id=7&r_narrType_id=26&r_narrType_id=25&r_narrType_id=27&planYear=2012&Submit=Search

You don’t need to log in as this is public information. Great job to all of you who wrote a narrative.

Planning for 2013

If you didn’t see the email from Joy Bauder about reporting dates for 2013 please click here.

You need to give teams some time to update their plans in January.

County and Area Directors Meeting

Don’t forget to sign up for the County and Area Directors meeting if you haven’t done so yet. This meeting is open to anyone not just county and area directors. It is scheduled for January 28-30 in Breckenridge. Email me for an agenda if you don’t have one and want it.

New Staff Orientation

This week long program is scheduled for February 4-8, 2013. If you’re a new employee and haven’t received any information about this program please contact Judy Barth at 970-491-6345.

Do we really need three organizational meetings annually?

Recently I was asked by a county director in the Western Region how I ranked in priority - Forum, County and Area Directors Meeting, and the regional meeting. This individual, as well as many others, is on a limited budget and has to choose which one of these not to attend. So to that end how would you rank the importance and value of these three meetings? If you will send me a short email saying which is most important and suggestions on how we might change or combine one of these meetings to save travel expenses, I will share your collective responses with the other regional directors.

Updated