The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
(Vol. 17 No. 37)
IN THIS ISSUE...
ASK THE OEIE EVALUATOR - WHAT ARE EVALUATION QUESTIONS?
As Program Focus Teams work on their action plans for the August 1st deadline they are asked to provide evaluation questions that align with the desired short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of the plan. Distinguishing between overarching evaluation questions and survey questions for evaluation tools can sometimes be challenging and overwhelming. Below we offer a brief explanation of evaluation questions.
Q: What are evaluation questions?
Evaluation questions guide the overall evaluation and help you to answer the big questions you have about your program or initiative. These are questions you ask of yourself as the evaluator. Evaluation questions drive the evaluation plan and point to the types of data to collect and how best to collect it.
Often evaluation questions ask whether we have achieved what we set out to achieve with the program, such as:
- What do participants gain from the program?
- To what extent have we reached the initiative goals?
However, you may have other big questions about your program or initiative, such as: What activities seem to be most helpful to participants? and, Who are we reaching in our program? Are we reaching our target audience?
Evaluation questions align with the desired short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of our efforts and help us to determine whether we have actually achieved those outcomes. An example of an evaluation question to assess short-term, knowledge-based outcomes for a specific PFT action plan may be:
- What knowledge did participants gain about issues facing older adults? [For the Adult Development and Aging PFT]
In an individual’s action plan, an agent or specialist would likely focus on only particular programs or pieces of a program focus area. For an individual action plan an evaluation question for medium-term, behavior-focused outcomes may be:
- Three to six months after participating in a soil management program, what conservation tillage practices are participants using? [For agriculture programs]
In our next installment we will talk about survey questions, their role and how to prepare them. Until then, if you have any questions related to evaluation questions or about the evaluation component of your action plans, please feel free to contact Amy Hilgendorf at OEIE, aehilgen@k-state.edu, or 785-532-5538.--Amy Hilgendorf
WEBINAR ON ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN RURAL KANSAS,’ ON JULY 26
The Office of Local Government, K-State Research and
Extension (KSRE), will be conducting a webinar entitled “Economic Development
Planning in Rural Kansas” on Tuesday, July 26, during the lunch hour, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
The main objective of this webinar is to provide
detailed information on the ‘Envisioning
Economic Prosperity for Your Community’ program--a Community Strategic
Planning and Visioning exercise, offered through KSRE. This program is offered
for rural Kansas communities, twice a year. We are currently recruiting two
communities to work with during Fall, 2011. The webinar will also shed light on
the current economic situation and trends of rural communities in Kansas and
the need for organizing and planning to address socio-economic challenges. We
will share some of the issues identified and action strategies being pursued by
a few Kansas communities that have already undertaken the planning effort
through the Envisioning program.
The webinar is an opportunity for County extension
agents to learn more about Envisioning
and inform their communities to take advantage of the opportunity.
To join the Envisioning
Webinar, simply click on the following link during the meeting time and date...http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/envisioning/.
Enter the meeting room as a Guest and please sign-in with your name.
For further technical information, help and resources, go to our TechWeb
site... www.ksre.ksu.edu/techweb.
Please test your computer
"before" entering the meeting room at... http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm. This will resolve most connection and interface problems.
Please RSVP to Biswa Das at bdas@ksu.edu
or at 785-532-1514 by July 25. --Biswa Das
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
This week my picks are short-term outcomes and success stories
from Dennis Patton, Johnson County; Jamie Hancock, Shawnee County; and Lynn
Loughary, Wyandotte County:
*** Our Extension booth at the Johnson
County Home and Garden Show featured displays on composting, rain barrels, tree
mulching, and pesticide and fertilizer safety. The booth stimulated a number of
questions on composting. This display provided an opportunity to increase
county residents’ understanding of the new solid waste changes. Discussions
were held that empowered citizens on how to handle their organic waste once the
changes take effect in 2012. Most residents were not aware of the changes and
will now be better able to make informed decisions.
*** The new Master Gardener
trainees have stated that they are excited about further learning as they
become more and more involved in the Master Gardener program. "I felt like
my brain is absolutely stuffed!" "I can't wait to begin my
volunteer hours." "This was intense. I have learned so much that I
never knew before."
Most, if not all, of the new trainees immediately got a soil test for their
yards. They realized the importance of not using and over using unnecessary
chemicals that damage the environment.
*A gentleman recently asked me to tell him how much lime he should apply to his
lawn. I asked him why he was putting lime on his lawn. He said that his lawn
service was going to do it and charge him for the effort. He thought he could do
it cheaper. I asked if he or the lawn service had taken a soils test to
determine the need for the lime. He indicated that no test had been submitted.
I helped him understand the possible waste of time and money putting down unnecessary
lime and causing future problems. He was very grateful for the information and
was going straight home to take a soil test.
*** Follow-up to the composting class: My son,
Robert, expressed a desire to plant tomatoes next year and to learn how to make
compost. Because I was no longer going to be using my tumbler composter, (I
don't have the time or patience to go out and turn it every day), I gave it to
Rob along with the K-State publications on composting "How-to's" and
other materials. We discussed the ratios of green versus brown matter. He took
a couple of buckets of soil/compost from the bottom of my compost pile to use
as starter. He and his wife have begun to save kitchen veggies for the
composter. Rob is very attentive and turns the tumbler every day. I think he is
well on his way to having some great compost for the spring planting.
* From Asparagus to Zucchini - "IT'S
MORE THAN JUST A GARDEN"
The community garden of Turner is taking
shape. It is a piece of land that has a helping hand from people just like you.
It is warmed by the sun and watered by the rain to create a place where people
can see how food is grown. The land is tilled, disked, and plowed. The rows may
vary, may be a bit crooked but measured. It is sowed with seeds and onion sets
and asparagus. There will be tomatoes aplenty, bell peppers, beets, carrots,
jalapeños, cabbage, squash, whatever our dear land of Turner will yield to us
with work and loving care. Remember, "It is more than just a garden."
It is a place where friends can meet, exchange ideas, help each other, pull
weeds, laugh and talk. Neighbors and churches, food kitchens, teenagers, are
welcome to join the group for the experience and the growing and the harvest.
It is a "green" way to serve our community, a healthy way and a good
way to get to know each other. -–Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
KANSAS 4-H AMONG NATIONAL GIS TEAM THAT HELPS, ACTS, LEARNS
Kansas 4-H was well represented at the recent Esri International Education and User Conferences in San Diego, California. 4-H teens, August Dunlop (Linn County) and Marta Payne (Walnut Creek District), along with Beth Hecht (State 4-H) attended as members of the 2011-12 National 4-H GIS GPS Leadership Team. The Team had fantastic conversations with some of the 14,000 attending geospatial professionals from all over the world, collected great ideas for projects and possibilities for mentors, and learned of the latest developments in ArcGIS Online and other tools. One of the many highlights was the Map Gallery. The Map Gallery consisted of nearly 1,000 maps showcasing the many ways geospatial technology is applied around the world. For the first time ever, Kansas 4-H had two entries in the gallery’s student category - Dunlop’s Wildlife Refuge Burn Patterns and Leavenworth County 4-H Tech Team’s Foreign Animal Disease Bio-security. The Team also worked with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in a community service project that allowed for the beta test of a new GIS mobile app by CitySourced. This project is featured on CYFERnet this week -- find it at http://www.cyfernet.org!
Geographic inquiry and geographic information system (GIS) technology are important tools that help educators, youth and volunteers answer personal and community questions with local to global implications. Today, more and more schools and youth programs are including GIS in their curricula to help youth gain valuable background knowledge and skills with which to face global challenges. Esri is a world leader in GIS and partners with 4-H with the intention of expanding 4-H Science programs. To learn more about 4-H GIS and how your program can benefit, contact Beth Hecht, bhecht@ksu.edu; Marta Payne, purple-mp@hotmail.com; or August Dunlop, dunlopfamily6@yahoo.com. --Beth Hecht
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