Two 4-H Camp-related bus tours offered new nontraditional professional development (PD) experiences that better align Extension's PD opportunities with the organization's experiential education pedagogy. Creating quality PD opportunities for employees is important because such experiences can affect overall work performance, community connections,…

University of Idaho FCS Extension Educators in southeastern Idaho developed a five-lesson condensed version of safe food preservation classes, driven by participants' interest to meet the needs of everyday home preservers. A post-test survey revealed that participants took the course to be self-reliant, use their own produce, and be in control of…

The critical incident technique (CIT) is a qualitative research method where subjects are encouraged to tell personal stories that provide descriptive data. Researchers who use the CIT employ a structured methodology to encourage respondents to share their experiences regarding a particular topic. Incidents are considered effective/successful when…

Recognizing intergenerational differences sets the stage for sharing and learning across the generations. An intergenerational land transfer education class was designed to engage families around the issue of parcelization and development of forested lands. A post-class survey of the Intergenerational Land Transfer class was used to evaluate…

Grandparents raising grandchildren represent a population of adults who confront complex interpersonal and environmental challenges. The intent of this case study was to gather and interpret evaluative data to better understand the impact of a 1-day community education program for grandparents who raise their grandchildren. Extension's philosophy…

Google Earth is an accessible, user-friendly GIS that can help landowners in their management planning. I offered hands-on Google Earth workshops to landowners to teach skills, including mapmaking, length and area measurement, and database management. Workshop participants were surveyed at least 6 months following workshop completion, and learning…

The Maine 4-H Afterschool Academy trained 369 after-school and out of school time providers in 2011. This easy-to-adapt professional development opportunity used blended learning, a combination of in-person and Web-based opportunities. Providers successfully learned concepts and practical knowledge regarding 4-H, specifically 4-H Science. In…

Four-H horse project members who competed in non-riding horse contests were surveyed to evaluate the influence of their horse project participation on life-skill development. Contests in which youth competed included Horse Bowl, Demonstrations, Public Speaking, and Art. Youth indicated a positive influence on both life-skill development and horse…

More high quality child care is needed in the United States. This article evaluates the Better Kid Care (BKC) program produced by Pennsylvania State University Extension. Child care staff in Wisconsin were interviewed about changes they had made in their early childhood programs following participation in the BKC program. Findings show that 2…

Extension needs new venues to promote their programming skills to unfamiliar audiences. One new audience Extension is currently reaching is military children. By partnering with Operation: Military Kids to offer a Speak Out for Military Kids training, Extension supports military children and document changes in the behavior of this audience.…

Online forestry education can serve large populations of woodland owners and managers. Cornell University's ForestConnect program initiated the nation's first woodlot management educational webinar series. We conducted an educational evaluation to determine: (1) the educational impact of the ForestConnect Webinar series, (2) the involvement of new…

Evaluations by 175 of 557 Pennsylvania pond owners who attended an Extension program via satellite revealed that most were interested in aesthetic/recreational pond use and pond management. They wanted more in-depth information over a shorter time frame. Only 10% did not favor satellite delivery. Shorter, more focused satellite programs and…

A survey of 118 alumni of the Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program found that the higher the age and the greater the income, the less satisfied they were with the program. Results suggested that leadership development may spark less community participation among those of higher rather than lower socioeconomic status. (SK)

Using natural resources data from a system developed by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, an Extension program to educate public officials who make land use decisions was conducted in a series of workshops over three years. Program effectiveness is evaluated and positive and negative results are noted. (MF)