The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
(Vol. 19 No. 3)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Today I am in Denver having just accepted the gavel on Monday evening to take on the responsibility of chair of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy. Basically, that is the governing committee for Cooperative Extension nationwide. As the name implies, we engage in issues relating to positioning Extension to seek better ways to partner and acquire resources, to increase strategic marketing and communications, to enhance leadership and professionalism, and to strengthen the overall functioning of the organization nationally. This coming year we are going to work on developing a national framework to enhance our work in nutrition, health, and health care reform. We are looking at ways to increase our visibility and public value at a national level. We will be emphasizing the importance of participation in building leadership for succession and the future of Extension. We will be setting in place a plan for celebrating our 100th anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act and setting a course for the next 100 years. And, we'll be working on various issues within the Extension family to make us a stronger, more cohesive federation of Extension Services across this nation.
Many of the goals we've laid out for 2013 actually align quite well with what is happening here at home. Partnering, professionalism, marketing, communication, and setting a course for our future are all critical and valuable to pursuit of our mission.
I've come to like thinking about who we are from an issue-based perspective. When I listen to our stakeholders identifying big issues in this state that Research and Extension must play a huge role, those stakeholders are usually talking about enhancing and growing the comprehensive agricultural industry in this state, improving the comprehensive health of Kansans now and in our future, creating avenues that will preserve and protect the water resources for our economic strength today and for future generations, to encourage entrepreneurship, job creation, and opportunities to enhance and sustain our communities across this state, and to grow our future leaders. It depends on how we respond to that set of challenging issues and how stakeholders see us from all angles bring value to the people of this state.
I encourage you to think about how your contributions and your responsibilities play into the ability of Research and Extension to respond to each of the challenges above. Have a great week! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
STRENGTHENING CLUB 1 - CHAPTER 2 TRAINING, DECEMBER 6
This training is for all staff, those who have attended Strengthening Club I training and those who haven’t.
Please join us as we continue to focus on strengthening 4-H clubs. The purpose of this training is to strengthen your capacity to work with volunteer adults and youth to develop and support strong, effective 4-H Clubs. You will take home new resources and ideas to share with 4-H Club Leaders.
Sessions will be held at the K-State Salina campus in Salina and the Scott County 4-H Building in Scott City, both on December 6. Training will start at 9:45 a.m. and conclude at 3:15 p.m. Area 4-H Youth Development Specialists will facilitate the training: Beth Hinshaw and Diane Mack in Salina and Rod Buchele and Deryl Waldren in Scott City.
If you attended Strengthening Club I training, this is chapter 2 and if you haven’t attended it, you are welcome too. We will again spend time on traits of a strong club and on how to build them. Topics include: Essential Elements; Youth and Adult Partnerships, Getting input from members, Keeping Youth in 4-H-Retention of members, and Club Management including finances, elections and club leader succession plans.
Cost is $25 which includes materials and lunch. Make checks payable to the Kansas 4-H Foundation. Register by November 19 on google doc https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGNzS2RobGJ0YmhLRG1pWmJQSGFhV2c6MQ. --Diane Mack dmack@ksu.edu
KANSAS TURFGRASS CONFERENCE
Kansas Turfgrass Conference
December 4, 5 & 6, 2012
Kansas Expocentre, Topeka
This conference is an excellent way to learn about turf and landscape management, visit with old friends, network with new ones, place orders with and see all the latest and greatest equipment and supplies from local and national vendors. Sessions include Basic Turfgrass, Disease, Insect, Weed Management, Golf Turf Management, Trees/Flowers/Shrubs, Sports Turf Management, Irrigation workshop and much more.
The conference has been approved for commercial pesticide recertification credit as follows:
1 Core Hour
3A - 7.5 hours
3B - 8.5 hours
GCSAA education points and International Society of Arboriculture CEUs can also be earned by attending this conference.
To download a copy of the conference brochure, or to register online, go to http://store.kansasturfgrassfoundation.org/. --Christy Dipman cdipman@ksu.edu
DESIGN FOR LEARNING - NO REGISTRATION FEE!
There is no fee to register for Design for Learning, January 18 - March 15, 2013. Just go to Employee Resources Registration and select Design for Learning. Registration is Due December 14 to Dorothy Ireland, direland@ksu.edu. There is also a detailed course description link on the registration site.
Design for Learning is a hands-on process to help Extension faculty
design creative and effective educational experiences. While it is
designed for adults, the principles may be applied to other audiences as
well. Faculty will learn at their own pace over a three month period.
They will also maintain a sense of connectedness, accountability and
closure. Design for Learning uses distance learning to maintain a sense
of connectedness between participants and facilitators of each session.
Chris Petty, Amy Lorenzen, Denise Dias, Kristina Snyder, Tina Remig and Bruce Chladny participated in the 2012 class.
North Dakota, South
Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas are cooperating to offer Design for Learning
to extension professionals in the four states. Five learning sessions
are conducted using Adobe Connect. The 2013 dates are January 18, February 1, February 15, March 1, and March 15.
Concepts reinforced in Design for Learning include: • Understanding adult learners • Organizing and designing content • Creating an effective learning environment • Selecting appropriate teaching tools • Teaching for transfer • Assessing learning outcomes
Sessions are 1 1/2 hours long and take place from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. CST. --Margaret Phillips margaret@ksu.edu
ASK THE OEIE EVALUATOR: EVALUATION WITH LOW-LITERACY AUDIENCES
Extension professionals serve a wide variety of audiences,
including some marginalized and vulnerable audiences. Programs may be difficult to evaluate if
working with low-literacy audiences and children since standard approaches,
such as written surveys, cannot easily be used with participants who have low
reading or writing skills.
Q:
How can I design an evaluation
for participants with low-literacy abilities?
The
participants’ needs must always come first. Participants may feel the stress of
the education process (even though your program is not “school”); that stress
increases when literacy is an issue. Four evaluation strategies are useful when
working with low-literacy audiences: interviews, oral surveys, visuals, and adapting
existing written evaluation instruments.
Interviews: A
common strategy when working with low-literacy audiences is to conduct
interviews with participants. This approach allows the interviewer to ask for
clarity and to probe for additional information. While this approach may
provide a large amount of informative data, it can be labor-intensive and
potentially unreliable if the questions are sensitive and participants do not
feel comfortable responding face-to-face. Interviews can also lead to bias if
interviewers ask questions inconsistently or in a leading way.
Oral Surveys: In
this approach, a blank answer sheet and pencil are given to each program
participant. The answer sheet includes the number for each survey question
followed by two columns, one marked “Yes” and the other marked “No.” Survey questions
are read aloud, in order, and participants are instructed to mark one of the
two columns. Depending on the audience level, multiple choice and open-ended
responses may be included on the answer sheet.
Visuals: The use
of realistic, colored images are effective in eliciting feedback from low-literacy
audiences. For example, children can point to “happy” or “sad” faces to provide
feedback about a program. Low-literacy adults may select from a group of
pictures to provide an example of the types of foods they would eat for a
nutritious meal. Demographic data could be collected by asking each participant
to select pictures from a set that best represents him or her.
Adapt existing written
evaluation instruments: Modify existing written evaluation tools by limiting
the total number of words and using words with less than three syllables. Two
popular readability formulas for English text consider vocabulary, word
complexity, sentence length, and writing style: Flesch-Kincaid Reading and
Flesch Reading Ease. You can assess the readability of the instrument in
Microsoft Word and adjust as needed for the audience. Visuals and layout can
also improve readability.
When
participating in an evaluation, low-literacy audiences should feel confident that
they can understand the questions and provide their feedback. Evaluation tools can
capitalize on verbal abilities or feature visuals and wording that facilitate
understanding and participation. This kind of user-friendly evaluation tool gathers
valuable evaluation data and helps promote trust with low-literacy audiences by
minimizing frustration with the evaluation process.
Questions about
evaluation? Visit the ExtensionEvaluation Resources website or contact Amy Hilgendorf, aehilgen@k-state.edu, 785-532-5538; or Mandi Peters, mpeters8@ksu.edu, 785-532-0648; at OEIE.
Selected References
Gliem, R., Lackman, L., &
Nieto, R.D. (1997). Instrument development for low literacy audiences:
Assessing extension program personnel teaching effectiveness. Journal of Extension, 35(1). U.S.
Cooperative Extension System. http://www.joe.org/joe/1997february/rb1.php.
Johns,
M.J. & Townsend, M.S. (2010). Client-driven tools: Improving evaluation for
low-literate adults and teens while capturing better outcomes. The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues, 15(3).
Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University. --Amy Hilgendorf
MARIE'S PICKS...
This
week my picks are additional outcomes and success stories from our emergency
preparedness programming. Included are reports from Cindy Evans, Laurie
Chandler, and Leroy Russell, Shawnee County; and Cindy Williams, Meadowlark
District:
**
Shawnee County Commissioners asked all departments to complete a Continuity of
Operations Plan (COOP) by June 1. The purpose of the COOP Plan is to prepare
agencies and staff for the possibility of relocating to continuity facilities
and being operational within 12 hours.
**
Shawnee County Emergency Management Livestock Group now includes Extension,
FSA, NRCS, Farm Bureau, CAART team, City of Topeka Animal Control Officer,
KDHE, USDA APHIS VS, Kansas Watershed Specialist, Shawnee County Sheriff’s
office, Shawnee County Emergency Management, local producers, and the Shawnee
County Veterinary.
** A
complete Shawnee County Foreign Animal Disease Standard Operating Guideline
plan has been written for Shawnee County. This approximate 80-page guideline
covers what will be done step-by-step in case of a foreign animal disease
outbreak in the US.
**
About 250 "All-Hazards Preparedness for Rural Communities" booklets
were distributed to local farm producers at four educational meetings. These
booklets have guidelines for family, pet, farm, and livestock preparedness in
emergencies in floods, thunderstorms, tornadoes, diseases, winter storms,
terrorism, agrochemicals, biological, drought, excessive heat, and power
outages.
**
Shawnee County now has some plans in place for animal and crop emergencies, as
well as a Foreign Animal Disease Plan for the county. We started a listing of
large animal owners and the location of these animals in the county. A group of
large animal professionals and producers have been meeting most months to do
more plans for emergencies. We are now working on MOUs for a cattle ranch,
burial sites for animals, and other details for animal emergencies.
Outputs
and intended outcomes:
**The Family Resource Management PFT
completed the program Get
Financially Prepared: Take Steps Ahead of
Disaster. Eighty-five agents were trained during August Update. The main objectives of the
program are to increase knowledge of what a household inventory is, its value,
and uses; become familiar with resources for compiling and storing a household
inventory; learn the importance of adequate insurance coverage and how to
conduct an insurance review; understand how to create a grab-and-go document
box in anticipation of an emergency and learn the importance of creating a
system to document damage, expenses, and recovery efforts following a disaster.
The long-term intended outcomes are to
help clients to be better prepared financially to endure a disaster. Many
disaster preparedness resources focus on physically preparing for a disaster by
stockpiling food, water, and other items to shelter in place. Fewer resources
focus on the threat a disaster presents to financial stability and security.
Clients need to learn what they can do ahead of time, instead of learning from
experience and wishing what they should have done. --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
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