Tag Archive for: innovation

Impact Collaborative Workbook Redesigned and Released

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Cover of Impact Collaborative Workbook by Extension Foundation

The Extension Foundation is excited to announce the release of its redesigned Impact Collaborative Workbook, now available publicly as an interactive PDF. This format enhances collaboration, especially for participants in a virtual Impact Collaborative method training and for participants exploring the process independently.

Established in 2014 by the Extension Foundation, the Impact Collaborative serves as a national network of Land-grant university professionals focused on empowering communities to co-create sustainable solutions through Extension programming. The initiative has evolved to meet the needs of Extension professionals, guided by their feedback.

A key feature of the Impact Collaborative is its comprehensive skills curriculum, which has trained hundreds of Extension professionals to rethink program development and serve as resources within their communities. The interactive Impact Collaborative Workbook facilitates dynamic engagement, allowing teams to collaborate effectively from different locations.

Thousands of Cooperative Extension professionals have participated in the Impact Collaborative, which plays a crucial role in delivering national programs and services. In 2023, a needs assessment was conducted to ensure the initiative continues to address the evolving challenges faced by the Cooperative Extension system.

The new interactive Workbook is now available. For more information, please visit the Impact Collaborative website.

Related Reading:

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New Extension Foundation Report Available: Technologies Impacting the Cooperative Extension System

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The Extension Foundation, in partnership with a research team from Ohio State University, has released a new report on emerging technologies. The “Extension Foundation Report on Emerging Technologies Impacting the Cooperative Extension System” was supported by funding from the New Technologies for Agricultural Extension (NTAE) project. 

The report was developed by the research team in part through interviews with a panel of thirteen experts representing all five Extension regions, as well as non-Extension personnel. Panel participants were selected based on their background and experiences in adult learning and development, applied technology use, and innovation. 

The research team was led by Dr. Jerold Thomas, an associate professor with Ohio State University Extension/Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership (ACEL). Dr. Thomas is also affiliated with OSU’s Leadership Center, where he serves as a leader for innovation and change. Other members of the team include Dr. Julie Aldridge, Assistant Research Professor, Ohio State University, College of Engineering; and Emma Newell, Communication Specialist and Researcher, Department of Agricultural Communication,  Education, and Leadership, Ohio State University.

The research goals were to identify emerging technologies, and to propose impacts on Extension  programming, professional development, and policy through 2025. The research process was impacted by the pandemic and first-hand experiences of the research team and panel, who, like other professionals across the nation, were thrust into work-at-home environments. Research for the report included primary and secondary sources, and focused on the following questions:

  • What emerging technologies will be most important to Cooperative Extension programs over the next three to five years?
  • What key trends do you expect to accelerate the adoption of emerging technology across Cooperative Extension programs?
  • What significant challenges may impede the adoption of emerging technologies across Cooperative Extension programs?

The panel and research team identified seven emerging technologies of critical importance: 

  • 5G mobile wireless technologies
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)
  • Adaptive learning
  • Assistive learning technologies
  • Block-chain
  • Internet of things (IoT)
  • Adaptive/Virtual technologies 

The report provides a helpful summary of each technology and includes a discussion of the potential impacts and possibilities represented by each for Extension work. The digital divide and larger equity issues (including algorithm bias) emerged as a major challenge and critical issue to consider with all emerging technologies. Other recommendations from the report center on professional development, and policy. 

Dr. Thomas noted that “This report is a good starting point for Extension professionals to learn about the impacts of emerging technologies on the Cooperative Extension System. This includes understanding changes in our systems of professional development, how we work, policies, and others. Online discussions about the report are being planned to share the findings, seek input, and develop conversations about the report’s implications for Extension.”

Dr. Thomas will hold a webinar discussing the report and its findings on Tuesday, October 20th, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Look for more details in early fall. 

 

Extension Foundation has a long tradition of investigating new and existing trends around innovation and technology. The 2016 Horizon Report (Freeman, et al., 2016) focused on emerging technologies in the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) through 2021. That report is available here. In 2020, Extension Foundation published an eFieldbook on using digital technology in Extension education. The Extension Foundation’s Connect Extension platform provides an opportunity for Extension professionals interested in technology to participate in the technology in Extension education virtual subgroup. Join Connect Extension here.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

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TWO Impact Collaborative Events for eXtension Members – August 2020

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For August 2020, eXtension’s Impact Collaborative program has two exciting opportunities for eXtension members. Register today to reserve your spot!

Impact Collaborative Innovation Skill-Building Experience Online

August 4, 6, 11, & 13
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET
Available to eXtension Members Only

Join us next month for an online Innovation Skill-Builidng Experience (ISBE). The ISBE has been revised with a new block format, fresh content, new activities, and new worksheets to meet the evolving needs of Cooperative Extension professionals. If you’ve participated in an ISBE before, you’ll find new online tools to support your virtual collaboration, checklists to determine where to best focus your energy, and improved methods for documenting progress.

Do you have a project idea that needs incubation, innovation, and ways to get to implementation and impact faster? Are you looking to learn about design thinking and lean experimentation combined with Cooperative Extension’s best practices for solving important community issues? Are you interested in becoming an Innovation Facilitator/Coach for future Impact Collaborative events and to support your institution’s teams and teams across the nation? Are you already an Innovation Facilitator or a team member who would like a refresher on the Innovation Skill-Building process?

If you answered yes, to any of these questions then join us to explore the Impact Collaborative’s Innovation Skill-building experience in a whole new way: The ISBE  will meet via Zoom for four sessions covering specific ISBE building blocks to spark ideas, increase innovation, and turbocharge implementation to ultimately create local impact.

Register

Impact Collaborative Innovation Facilitator Training

August 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, & 28
1:00 PM ET – 3:00 PM ET
Available to eXtension Members Only

Become an Innovation Facilitator. The Impact Collaborative’s network of Innovation Facilitators are trained to provide individuals with a new way of looking at program and project development to help new and existing programs across your states and institutions identify gaps in their planning, ensure they are most ready for implementation, and have explored all considerations to maximize local impact.  With the updates to our Innovation Skill-Building Experience including the new block format, content, activities, and worksheets – we also encourage previously trained Innovation Facilitators to join us.

Locally trained Innovation Facilitators can be an asset in helping teams develop their projects or programs more quickly, and connect those teams with resources available nationally. They can work locally with teams through our design-thinking process to bring fresh ideas aligned with institutional goals.

There are currently 120+ Innovation Facilitators across Cooperative Extension working locally to catalyze innovation in their own states and institutions, and supporting Extension teams regionally and nationally.

Who Should Participate?

Our recommendations to Extension Directors and Administrators for selecting individuals to participate include:

  • Individuals such as a program leaders
  • Individuals that work closely with your leadership team
  • Already possess strong confidence in facilitation skills
  • Can be effective in working alongside leadership teams and other program leaders to catalyze innovation throughout the organization.

Register

About the eXtension Foundation

The eXtension Foundation is a membership-based non-profit designed to be the engine fueling U.S. Cooperative Extension’s advancement in making a more visible and measurable impact in support of education outreach from land-grant universities/colleges located in every state and territory. eXtension is embedded in the U.S. Cooperative Extension System and serves on the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP). eXtension provides an array of opportunities for Extension professionals that foster innovation creation, the adoption of innovations at member institutions, and increased impact of Extension programs. This work is supported by your membership dollars and funding from USDA-NIFA, grant no. 2019-41595-30123. For more information on eXtension membership, please visit eXtension.org.

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A Perspective on the eXtension Foundation Impact Collaborative Experience

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A Perspective on the eXtension Foundation Impact Collaborative Experience
by Marlin Bates, County Extension Director and Community Development Extension Agent
Kansas State Research and Extension – Douglas County

 

As a participant in the 2015 i-three issue corps and in the October, 2019 Impact Collaborative, I have developed a full-scale perspective of the value of this program development offering. I have appreciated the opportunity to participate in these events and I know that I have become a better Extension Professional because of that participation. Furthermore, I believe that I have become a better teammate because of this involvement. And although it was never an explicit component of the experience, I feel as though I have become a better leader through these experiences.

The eXtension Foundation introduced this novel approach to program development with some innovative components that remain integral in their design today – namely, the concept of key informants. However, what I appreciate the most is seeing the evolution of this effort through the years. Taking a step back and comparing my two experiences leads me to think that perhaps the most impressive quality of the eXtension Foundation was their willingness to put forth an imperfect offering, learn from it and continue to reiterate it to satisfy the needs of the audience – a lesson in risk-taking and development that all Extension Professionals would do well to emulate. 

My most recent experience with the Impact Collaborative was simply brilliant. Having the opportunity to develop a program idea into an achievable project through numerous interactions with subject matter specialists – not programmatic subject matter specialists, but soft-skill subject matter specialists, teams of colleagues from across the country, identified coaches and my team from home was priceless. Our interactions not only gave us a more global perspective on our project – and our National mission -, it also provided us the opportunity to become a more cohesive team. 

We didn’t participate in the Innovation Skill-Building Experience, but I was impressed by the inclusion of a curriculum that was aimed at getting teams started off on the right foot. Knowing that there are some teams that need that and others that simply need the space to put their heads down and get to work is a demonstration of the eXtension Foundation’s mastery of determining how best to help the teams that they intend to strengthen.

In short, my experiences with this program – and all of my experiences with eXtension, quite frankly – have led me to develop a great appreciation for the Foundation, the people who serve it, and the national network of colleagues that they have developed. 

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Tag Archive for: innovation

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This website is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation.

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