The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
(Vol. 19 No. 27)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
My thanks and congratulations go to all our Research and Extension faculty and staff who were part of the planning and implementation team for the National Urban Extension Conference held this past week in Overland Park. As I said in my closing remarks, you all made me VERY proud! It was a wonderful conference and you added to the depth and breadth of the great experience for the roughly 300 in attendance. A special shout out to Nozella and Bruce in our Wyandotte office! Great job!!
The principles used in resourcing, building, and sustaining successful Extension programs in urban settings are unquestionably relevant anywhere regardless of population. Opportunities abound, and success depends on listening, connecting, focus, and follow-through. The exchange of successes, failures, lessons learned, and creative methodologies was rich and very engaging. Relationships, communication, passion, and excellence in Extension teaching provided a common thread to success. I ran across this great quote on volunteering in one of the educational sessions while attending the conference.
Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections, but when you volunteer, you vote about the kind of community you want to live in. Source: Unknown
Have a great week! - Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
MYSOCIALSECURITY
Remember receiving a Social Security Statement around the time of your birthday? Wondering where those are now? Social Security no longer mails these statements, but you can access them online by creating an account at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount/.
To create an account, go to the above URL and select create an account. You must provide some personal information about yourself and give answers to some questions that only you are likely to know. Next, you create a username and password that you will use to access your online account. This process protects you and keeps your personal Social Security information private.
If you don’t currently receive Social Security benefits, you can use your mySocialSecurity account to get your Social Security Statement, which used to be mailed annually. Your Statement provides estimates of your retirement, disability, and survivors benefits; your earnings record; and the estimated Social Security and Medicare taxes you’ve paid. To print the full statement, after logging in scroll down to 'Print/Save Your Full Statement'. Your letter will be displayed and you may print it or save it for later use. You can also view your earnings record and estimated benefits on the screen. We would recommend checking your earnings record annually to make sure it is accurate.
If you receive benefits, you can check your benefit verification letter, check your benefit and payment information, and your earnings record. You can even change your address and phone number, and start or change direct deposit of your benefit payment online. --Debra Wood, on behalf of the Family Resource Management PFT
4-H FOOD & NUTRITION PROJECT OPPORTUNITY
Boost
your 4-H Foods & Nutrition project this summer by attending the
National Festival of Breads bi-annual event on Saturday, June 22, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan.
4-H’ers are also invited to
get involved by donating baked goods (such as cookies, cupcakes, breads
or rolls) to the Share Your Strength Great Bake Sale held at the
National Festival of Breads event. Baked item donations will be
collected from 1-4 pm on Friday, June 21 at the Hilton Garden Inn. We also invite Senior level 4-H’er volunteers to work a shift at the Great Bake Sale on Saturday, June 22.
All money raised at the Share Your Strength Great Bake Sale stays local
to help feed hungry children in Kansas.
For more information about the
event, visit www.americasbreadbasket.com/nfob, or to donate/volunteer, please contact Kansas Wheat Spokesperson Julene DeRouchey, julene@wamego.net or 785-437-6488. --Sharolyn Jackson sharolyn@ksu.edu
KARL CLASS XI TRIP TO PERU #8
Thank you for sticking with me as I walk through my travel journal.
Your email comments have been quite lovely and appreciated. Now, I
will take this time to finish up Tarapoto, as you may remember, is in the high
jungle plateau of San Martin in the Upper Amazon. After we heard from and spoke to community
and regional leaders, we headed to a cacao/chocolate
processing plant, La Orquidea, the orchid. The
cacao (ca-cow) plantation’s scientists blend the beans for the best product
similar to practices of coffee producers.
Vintners do the same thing with grapes for the best wines. There are 160 cacao growers in the St.
Martin region, and different places produce different flavored beans since
cross-pollination can affect flavor. The
growers do practice a unity-control process in place that keeps quality at its
highest. All the growers are indigenous
to the region, and there is no government assistance to aid in production. There are educational programs available to
help inexperienced growers work with inferior soil conditions.
The jungle area surrounding the plantation was magnificent
with lush foliage of trees, shrubs, and bushes that I could not readily
identify. All I knew is that it was spectacular. I did take pictures for later identification.
Before we were allowed to venture into the chocolate
processing quarters, we were required to deck out in white lab coats, head
coverings, masks, and shoe coverings. This picture is of me, waving, and Paula Landoll-Smith preparing to
enter the processor.
While inside the processing plant, we watched the preparation of chocolate
bars. The soft chocolate was “tempered” on
marble slabs before it was poured into molds.
We were treated to a few squares of the dark chocolate, which melted the
moment it touched our warm tongues. Its
creaminess coated our throats as it made its way to our stomachs.
The tour of the local tobacco plantation and cigar
manufacturer did not work out because of a death in the family. We were still able to purchase cigars as
gifts from a local market before boarding Star Peru to head back to Lima to
catch another plane to Cusco. I do have
a few more entries from my journal.
After telling you about Cusco and other high points, I plan to cover
food, the people, and a few other interests. Thank you for reading. KARL, Inc., is a non-profit leadership
program with its office based in Umberger Hall on our K-State campus. My thanks go to former Dean, Gary
Pierzynski, and the Finnup Scholarship fund at my Church in Garden City for
supporting my KARL tuition. --Debra Bolton dbolton@ksu.edu
ASK THE OEIE EVALUATOR: DISPLAYING EVALUATION RESULTS
You have several methods at your disposal to display your evaluation results, and there is not one “right” way. However, all “right” ways will focus on clearly presenting the results in a way that leads to an accurate interpretation of the data and in a manner that is most useful to the audience. In this installment, we cover options to help you make informed choices on displaying data.
Q: How should I present my data?
No matter the type of data, quantitative or qualitative, the way you display the data needs to be interesting and relevant to your audience. An executive brief with bullet points and a couple of charts that display your key findings may be the best approach with advisory boards. A PowerPoint presentation largely focused on graphic displays will quickly convey important information from your evaluation to a group of community members.
Quantitative data can be presented in narrative text, tables, and charts. Try to keep your data presentation simple. It can be sufficient to present results in the text for items that have relatively few levels of information (for example, gender or age groups). Tables help organize several pieces of data to make it easier for the reader to process. For example, crops grown or livestock raised have several bits of information to organize that may be difficult for your audience to read in a paragraph. You may also choose organizational strategies, such as sorting the response options from most to least frequently selected, to make data in tables even easier to process.
Charts may make it be easier to see differences or trends. Select the chart type that most clearly displays the data in a format that is legible and easy to read and decipher, and that accurately portrays the data. - Bar charts are usually effective for comparing data. For example, if you place pre- and post-participation results into a bar chart, it will be very easy for your audience to compare these results and see the impact of participation.
- Pie charts should be used to show pieces of a whole, such as the breakout of participants’ educational and income levels.
- Line charts are a clear way to present trends over time.
Qualitative data are typically analyzed and organized (coded) by themes, general descriptive topics designed to encompass multiple responses. Coding these comments into overarching themes allows you to understand the topics of focus for your participants, as well as allowing you to succinctly summarize these comments to your stakeholders. When few themes have emerged, a sensible choice is to list these themes within the text. On the other hand, if there are many themes, a good choice is to present these themes in a table or a bulleted list. Another decision may be whether or not to display how often (frequency) you identified each theme in the responses. The inclusion of frequency can provide a general idea of the relative importance of each theme. If you provide frequencies along with the themes, it is important to explain the method used to obtain the number (coded themes within responses) and what it represents (number of respondents providing a comment that supports the theme).
Including a few select quotes as illustrative examples offers more context in interpreting the themes. You can choose to provide all supporting quotes or a sample of quotes. This choice may be guided by the total number of responses and/or the distinctiveness of responses within a theme, as well as how you’ll display the data. A combination of sample quotes within the narrative and the inclusion of a full list of quotes in an appendix may be ideal for situations where you want to be brief, but also need to include all of the fine details. If presenting to a group, you may choose to share a few charts and quotes that support your key findings, and then share a report of the full findings afterwards.
Questions about evaluation? Visit the Extension Evaluation Resources website or contact Kathy Gary, ksgary@ksu.edu, 785-532-5127; or Mandi Peters, mpeters8@ksu.edu, 785-532-0648; at OEIE. --Amy Hilgendorf aehilgen@k-state.edu
SAVE THE DATE - MULTI-CULTURAL SUMMIT - GARDEN CITY
If you've been in Extension for a while, you may remember that FCS Specialist, Carol Young, was one of the original organizers of the 5-State Multi-Cultural Conference. The 2-3 day workshop ran a most successful course from about 1992 to 2005. Some of the major players moved on, and it was given a hiatus.
Mark your calendars for the Multi-Cultural Summit, October 10-11, with some activities planned for Saturday, October 12, for those who want to stay longer.
The Summit, an activity of the City of Garden City's Cultural Relations Advisory Board, is a collaboration of Garden City Community College, Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and K-State Research & Extension. We are looking for more collaborators if you're interested.
It will be an opportunity to learn about the state's burgeoning ethnic populations including Hispanic, Burmese, East African, and others.
For more information, please send an email to Debra Bolton, dbolton@ksu.edu. --Debra Bolton
BE A DIFFERENCE MAKER: ADD VALUE, ADD VOICE
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6115/40.full
Edwin Schlossberg once said, “The skill
of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.” As more of us are increasingly using online
vehicles, like blogs, to communicate to our learners and clients, Elaine
Edwards offers these suggestions to aid your programmatic blogging endeavors…
More of us are using online vehicles,
like blogs, to provide information to our learners and clients.
A reason for posting comments on a blog
is to add value and voice to the conversation about a specific topic. As
university and extension professionals, one of our missions is to help people
understand a certain subject area or provide useful and relevant information to
improve their lives.
In the January 2013 journal, Science, an article “Science, New Media
and the Public” by authors Dominique Brossard and Dietram A. Scheufele
from University of Wisconsin-Madison, reported 9 out of 10 people online
use search engines to find information. The internet is also the primary source
of science information for 60 percent of U.S. citizens. The authors noted three
realities for those of us communicating science.
1.
Less space is devoted to science
journalism in traditional media, so more people turn to online sources, such as
blogs. Almost half of us rely on nontraditional online sources for science
information, and only 12 percent seek online science information from
traditional news (print, magazine) sources.
2.
There is a trend to prioritize content
by using metrics, such as how often a story is shared, commented on, or viewed.
The authors ask: are we moving towards an environment in which knowledge gain
or opinions are formed by how search engines presents results, directs traffic
or chooses the information we see?
3.
The tone of civil or uncivil comments
can polarize the views among proponents and opponents of scientific topics.
Many people may be helped by you contributing
information or commenting on a blog post. In addition, it provides a way to
link people with our research-based website or to the university’s educational
or informational materials.
Stick
to the facts
A caution when posting comments online
is to make sure you are providing thoughtful, helpful information and dialogue.
Many instances of passionate debates demonstrate the political leanings of
commentators towards a particular topic. As deliverers of research-based
information, our mission is to not take sides, but provide useful information
to narrow knowledge gaps.
On
the flip side
Ignoring the new realities of online
communication or failing to provide feedback and comments in an online
community in which you have expertise or knowledge means you may be left behind.
The online community may move on without a voice from K-State Research and
Extension. Be our voice for the future.
Thanks Elaine. Colleagues, what do you
think? Please post your comments or questions by using the comments function at
the Difference Makers site, or feel free to email Elaine and/or I at elainee@ksu.edu
and ghadley@ksu.edu.
Until next week, keep being Difference
Makers! --Gregg Hadley
FOLLOWING 150 YEARS OF KSRE HISTORY 1863 - 2013
1935 Position of Research Forester created at KSAC
1935-1937 Louis C. Williams, Assistant Director, Division of College Extension and In Charge of Agricultural Specialists
1935 Soil Conservation Act authorized formation of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). The KCES readily approved of the new organizaton, assigning Extension Specialists to assist in organizing county soil conservation districts. By 1950, all counties except Shawnee had a soil conservation district.
1936 Department of Home Demonstration Work and Home Economics Extension were combined and named Home Economics Extension
1936 Extension Publicity and Radio combined into Extension Publicity and Information
1936 Live stock Auction held for 4-H at State Shows
1937 Georgiana Smurthwaite became State Home Demonstration Leader; title later changed to State Leader, Home Economics Extension; retired June 30, 1954
1937 First USDA Forest Service Inventory - shows 1.2 million acres of KS forest resources
1937 Better Farm Homes Train - 37 stops; 67,192 in attendance (the last train program)
1937 Lisle L. Longsdorf, extension editor, reported the year's schedule of talks on KSAC radio had been laid out in advance, 3500 talks by 370 different speakers.
--Steven Graham sgraham@ksu.edu
|