There is no question that program evaluation is an important endeavor. It helps us measure impact and learn how to improve our programs in the future. However, it can be intimidating. Many extension professionals don’t know where to start or don’t feel like they have the time or skills. Georgia 4-H has developed a suite of evaluation tools that are a great starting point for your evaluation efforts. Our templates can help you quickly develop different types of surveys, tabulate your data and develop impact reports. These tools are free, easily adaptable, and available online.

Our clinician will be Jeff Buckley, jbuckley@uga.edu, Extension 4-H Faculty, University of Georgia

The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University has a handout entitled Verbs for Bloom’s Taxonomy for helping you write GREAT learning objectives.  (You’ll want to print it… you’ll understand why once you click the link.)

Introductory level type activities, such as booth’s at fairs, newspaper articles, tweets etc., typically target learning objectives in the left hand column under Remember.  Workshops, hopefully, help our learners move into more in-depth understanding of a topic, which are characterized by verbs under “Understand”, “Apply”, maybe even “Analyze”.  However, to make a huge impact on our learners, we should be engaging them in such a way that we are reaching those long term learning objectives that we find under the “Create” column.

In Bloom’s terms… Nebraska Extension is on a mission to help Nebraskan’s Analyze, Evaluate, and Create!

Enjoy!!!

1. Go to http://www.wordpress.com
2. Login with your username and password
3. Click My Blogs at the top of the page and select Next Generation Extension*
4. Go to  in the upper left hand corner, and select New Post
5. Select what you would like to post: text, photo, video, quote or link
6. Once your done editing, click the blue Publish Post button
7. Congratulations!  You’re an author! 
8. The public can now see your post at http://nextgnerationextension.org

*Note:  If you do not see Next Generation Extension as one of your blogs, send an email to deb.weitzenkamp@unl.edu indicating your WordPress email address and we’ll get you set up to be a Next Generation Extension blog author.

“Altmetrics expand our view of what impact looks like, but also of what’s making the impact.  This matters because expressions of scholarship are becoming more diverse.  Articles are increasingly joined by:

• The sharing of “raw science” like datasets, code, and experiential designs
• Semantic publishing or “nonpublication,” where the citeable unit is an argument or passage rather than entire article.
• Widespread self-publishing via blogging, microblogging, and comments or annotations on existing work.

Because almetrics are themselves diverse, they’re great for measuring impact in this diverse scholarly ecosystem.  In fact, altmetrics will be essential to sift these new forms, since they’re outside the scope of traditional filters.  This diversity can also help in measuring the aggregate impact of the research enterprise itself.”

J. Priem, D. Taraborelli, P. Groth, C. Neylon (2010), Altmetrics: A manifesto, 26 October 2010. http://altmetrics.org/manifesto

Basically they were talking about the speed with which one can measure scholarly success through non-traditional channels (Google Scholar, Datacite, Twitter stats, blog followers) versus the traditional channels of article citations and journal impact factors.  Are traditional means of measuring scholarly achievement still important, you bet, but when was the last time you incorporated your Bibliometrics into your Activity Insight?

Just a thought!  :)

This past fall I had the pleasure of meeting Veronika Nunez, Senior Learning & Engagement Specialist the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and I asked her how the OMSI does it.   Veronika has one of those really cool jobs…she helps design STEM programming at the OMSI. Anyway, this holiday, Veronika gave me a fabulous present….a listing of the key strategies they identified through a research study about how to engage Latina girls in engineering at the OMSI (Sinkey, A., Rosino, L., & Francisco, M., 2014) and currently utilize when developing new exhibits in order to reach out to girls.  Here’s the list:

1. Feature female role models
2. Make it social
3. Engage the senses
4. Tell a story
5. Highlight altruism
6. Make it personal
7. Use inclusive language
8. Encourage creativity
9. Make activities open-minded with no “right” answers

The study itself is posted online, and provided even more insight into encouraging girls to pursue careers in engineering.  My personal strategy has been to tell girls how many jobs will be available, and that in particular the industry is seeking women…all of it factual…but through their research, indicators are that this isn’t a selling point.  Rather altruism is the biggest selling point and the ability to create new things comes in at second place. Job prospects was only important to 5% of the respondents.

In reviewing the research, the participation age was quite young, with 67% of respondents between 9 and 11, and 33% between 12 and 14 years of age.  Perhaps it’s the age of the respondents….but regardless, the age of the respondents reflects the bulk of my youth clientele.

Note to Self: Leave the number of engineering jobs for women stats in when speaking to stakeholders, and leave it out when speaking with the middle school girls.

Hmmmm!  Now that’s research based information I can use to make an even greater impact!

Join us on Tuesday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m. CST for our Next Generation Extension webinar “How Can We Effectively Tell Our Story?” presented by Sue M. Roush, Director of Marketing and Communications, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Communicating Nebraska Extension’s impact on the state is important: it shows our commitment to making difference. When we showcase what we do, we inform stakeholders, inspire supporters, and spread awareness. Sue will discuss techniques to effectively tell the story using a variety of channels – from news release to social media.

Building Blocks to Success and Excellence: Skilled Communicator, Leadership, and Impactful

How to Join Webinar:                                                                                                      Adobe Connect URL: https://connect.unl.edu/nextgenerationextension
Conference Call Number: (888) 820-1398
Enter Attendee Code: 9894805#

*NOTE: Sue will be joining through conference call only; she will not have slides to present. Adobe Connect will be used to post questions and to record.

Any Extension professional is welcome to attend. The webinar will be recorded, and the link will be posted right here on the Next Generation Extension blog to view at a later date.

Participants will develop their own course while also learning research based techniques for increasing engagement, reducing the stress of course development and maintenance, and understanding the basics of online course infrastructure so that the technology works for you, not against you.

Participants must bring:

• Course title
• Target audience
• Course objectives
• Any materials/assessments that they have previously created to teach the course/workshop in person
  • Documents/Handouts
  • Games
  • Powerpoints
  • Any assessments used for the course AND assessments used within their issue team
• eXtension Moodle login/password (if participant already has an account)
• Laptop

To register contact Kimmel Education & Research Center with your course name and the names of course instructors, 402-873-3166 or debora.heidzig@unl.edu.

UPDATE 10/29/15: The link to view the recording is https://connect.unl.edu/p1om4gnjbyb/ 

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20 at 10:00 a.m. CST for our Next Generation Extension webinar “The Value of Membership in a Professional Organization” presented by Allan Vyhnalek, NCEA President and Platte County Extension Educator, and Lindsay Chichester, NCEA Secretary and Saunders County Extension Educator.

The benefits of membership in a professional organization include enhancing your network, broadening your knowledge, and taking charge of your career. Nebraska Cooperative Extension Association is Nebraska Extension’s professional organization. NCEA promotes professional improvement to keep you inspired; provides scholarship, awards and leadership opportunities; and cultivates relationships between extension colleagues necessary for optimum work on Extension teams. Join Allan and Lindsay to learn why involvement in NCEA matters and how you can engage with NCEA at Nebraska Extension’s upcoming fall conference.

Building Blocks to Success and Excellence:Professionalism, Citizenship, and Engagement

How to Join Webinar:    

Adobe Connect URL: https://connect.unl.edu/nextgenerationextension
Conference Call Number: (888) 820-1398
Enter Attendee Code: 9894805#

Any Extension professional is welcome to attend. The webinar will be recorded, and the link will be posted right here on the Next Generation Extension blog to view at a later date.

1-Direct Messages

You will recognize this graphic from an earlier post. Direct messages are like an email message sent through Twitter directly from one Twitter account to another…so no one else can see the tweet.  These messages are still limited to 140 characters. I’ve found this is the way younger farmers I serve prefer to ask me questions as they don’t wish other farmers to see their questions. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with direct messages themselves, but it is the #1 way that accounts get hacked. How does this happen?

This is an example of a direct message sent by someone I was following that would result in my account being hacked if I clicked on this link. Often these messages look like spam Facebook messages that often contain a question like “What?” “Did you see this picture of you?” “Want to Lose Weight?”…DO NOT click on any of these links. Yes, the link looks like it would be legit since it came from someone you know, but all it does is allow hackers into your Twitter account who then take over your account and spread spam through it. I will never forget being at a field day when Twitter seemed to “blow up” with several people within various commodity boards getting their accounts hacked and many of us at the field day getting direct messages from all of them. So what happens if you accidentally click on a link and your account gets hacked? Simply change your Twitter password as soon as possible and the hacking/spamming will stop. This is something most new Twitter users experience and I wanted to make sure you were aware of this so you could avoid it!

2-Unfollowing and Blocking People

All media tools can be used for good and for bad and I’ve always made sure to mention this but haven’t gone into detail. Here’s an example: Two young men in our system recently approached me saying some women retweeted their tweets so the men followed them as they seemed legitimate at the time. Then they noticed what they deemed as “inappropriate content” showing up from these women in the women’s tweets…even at times mentioning these men’s Twitter handles in these tweets…and the men wanted to get rid of them. You can unfollow anyone at any time even if you’re not interested in their tweets by simply clicking on your blue “following” button and it will change to a green button which says you are not following the person. However, with “inappropriate content” and if people are harassing you like I’ve experienced, I recommend blocking those people from Twitter so they can no longer follow you either. How you do this is right click on the “settings wheel” and then click on “Block”. You can also report someone if you’d like and Twitter will review and consider removing their account from Twitter.  Often “inappropriate content” or harassing occurs through direct messages but not always.  We need to also remember we are representing our organization with these professional accounts.

Something that I need to do more regularly is look through my “followers” to see if these are really people I desire to follow me or people that I want others to see are following me. There are people who will pay to obtain Twitter followers and who follow everyone in hopes of having everyone follow them back…it’s a number’s game…and you will notice some of these have 25,000+ followers. So periodically I go through my “followers” tab, click on profiles and look at tweets. If I see the tweets are mostly inappropriate ones, I choose to block that person. I also tend to block people who don’t have anything written in a profile, profile pic, etc. that I don’t know. It seems like a lot of Extension, commodity group, and ag folks learn how to tweet at various seminars/conferences and never complete their profiles. Normally I keep all of those unless I notice the tweets from the person are looking like spam. But it is an important thing for all of us to at least quarterly if not monthly go through this list as I realize how many people I miss who choose to follow me that I may wish to also follow back.

3-Security

It’s important to also make sure you go through your security settings to ensure your Twitter profile is set up to the security level you prefer. You can do this by right clicking on your profile picture by the “tweet” button and click on “settings”.

You will then see a left-hand menu of various settings options that you can change for your Twitter profile and account. The first menu item goes to your account information (not shown). The second menu item is “security and privacy” where you can alter settings however you wish. For some Twitter accounts, you will notice a padlock icon by them indicating they are “protected accounts”. Some people choose this option because they wish to have extra security by screening who follows them and who sees their tweets. You may choose whatever security and privacy settings you desire. I just wanted to mention that particular setting does not allow for anyone not following you to see your tweets and may be counter-productive for us in Extension. It would be nice if we could choose this option to screen out the inappropriate stuff without limiting the reach of tweets, but that currently isn’t the case.  A few security settings to consider include:  allowing others to find you by your email address to improve discoverability, only receiving direct messages from people you follow, and deciding what you’d like to receive in regards to email and web notifications when people mention, retweet, or follow you.

4-Don’t be a Machine-Engage!

When I first started using Twitter, I was so excited to share as much information as possible thinking people wanted information.  What I missed was the fact that people quickly catch on to what each of us Tweets about, timing, and our attitude about it. It has been so much fun over time to meet various people at conferences in person after engaging with them on Twitter or seeing their tweets for months or even years!  In many ways, you feel like you have a connection because of what that person tweets about.

It’s also important to not schedule all your tweets.  Scheduling tools are great and I use them nearly every week…but it’s also important that others see you’re tweeting sporadically or your tweets seem more like a machine than like a real person behind the tweet.  Remember, your Twitter handle is your personal Twitter brand for the information you’re sharing.  Are you personable or robotic?

I say all of that to say, don’t be a machine in only spitting out information.  I often use Twitter to “lurk”…follow conversations between farmers who are tweeting to each other from their tractor cabs…sometimes I even jump in-which is the beauty of Twitter as these are all open conversations!  Engaging means asking questions of the people we follow, retweeting their information, mentioning them in a tweet and asking what they think about a particular idea, etc.  Twitter is a great way to gather ideas around a topic or to engage in thought-provoking side-conversations and questions during conferences/business meetings while others are speaking.  It’s a great overall resource!

Tip 1:  Goals

The most critical piece rests on what are  your goals for using Twitter.  Once you know this, what you share, how often, etc. all falls into place.

Tip 2:  Tweet Components

Make sure to include components of a good tweet in each of your tweets to increase effectiveness.  Not all four things have to be included each time, but incorporating most will be helpful.  What are these components?

• Including a website url, photo, or video that will further engage your audience
• Including a hashtag critical to your particular subject matter area that will further extend the reach of your tweet
• Potentially mention someone of influence you wish to also spread your message
• Leaving around 20 characters unused so your tweet can be retweeted without losing any of the originally intended message

In this example, I’ve added two hashtags…one for those following the word “soybean” and also our “nebext” hashtag to alert others in our UNL system. I shared a photo that visually explained the message and shows what farmers/consultants should look for. I mentioned “@UNL _CropWatch”  as my tweets also directly show up on that Twitter feed expanding my reach to a broader audience. I didn’t do as well in leaving 20 characters at the end of this tweet…more like 15. Result of doing these things: 739 people saw this tweet, 44 people engaged with this tweet (retweeted, mentioned), and 23 people clicked on the photo url/photo.

Let’s dig a little deeper on this tip.  How do you know what hashtags to use and who are influential people?

Hashtags:  A great Free resource to help you determine hashtags to use is a tool called Hashtagify.me.  Simply put in a word you’re interested in “food” “families” “water” “crops” “beef” “4-H” “communities” “gardening” and see what other hashtags appear.  For those involved with crops, #plant15, #grow15, #harvest15 occur every season (with the last 2 digits becoming the new year)…so a great way to expand audience reach for your tweets and gain followers.

Influential people:  Who are the people in your subject matter area with 1000 or more followers?  Who are the people in your subject matter area you wish to help spread your message?  Who are the people in your subject matter area who tweet often and whose tweets you often see?  Those are some people to consider.  There are also tools for determining influential people that I will share in another post.

Tip 3:  Engage People

People like to interact with a person behind the brand so instead of always sharing something, take time to ask questions of others or engage with others’ tweets.  Ask people their thoughts, mention their Twitter handles, view the conversations occurring and listen to what they’re saying.  This is a very important and valuable part of Twitter.  I’ve gained ideas for Extension programming by listening to what the farmers were sharing with each other during planting and harvest seasons…things they may not have directly shared with me but were willing to share with their peers.

Tip 4:  Twitter Lists

This is probably the most under-used and mis-understood for new Twitter users but can greatly reduce the overwhelming sensation Twitter provides.  What is a Twitter list?  It is categorizing the people you follow into topic areas so you can quickly view what people are saying without having to view tons of tweets at one time in your home feed.

For example, I put together a list of Extension/University people…so anyone I follow that is employed with Extension or UNL, I put into this list.  I have a list for people who tweet about social media.  I have a list for news and for politics.  I have a list of farmers I follow and another for ag industry people.  This allows me to quickly scroll through these lists when I’m waiting in line or have 15 minutes to get a brief glance of what’s going on in the world regarding news or ag.  It cuts down on the overwhelming sensation of Twitter and gives me the information I want at a quick glance.  You can assign a person to a list for anyone you follow on Twitter!  You can also follow other people’s lists!

If you go to who you are following on Twitter from your profile, you will notice the “settings wheel” next to the blue following button. Right-clicking on this wheel you see “add or remove from lists”. Click on this and you can then create a new list or add a person to an already existing list you created. This helps keep the people you’re following more organized so you can view the information you want easier without feeling like you miss as much of what’s being shared.

These are just a few examples of my lists: farmers/agvocates, university/extension folks, and ag-industry. You can see how in a short time-frame I get a snapshot of tweets from these different categories of people.

Tip 5:  Simplifying Twitter

I often receive the question,

How do I make time to tweet too on top of everything else we do every day in Extension?

Great question!  I haven’t been a good example of this for some time, but there are tools to greatly help simplify this process for you.  In 15 minutes…whether at beginning or end of day or over lunch, you can schedule tweets that will allow you to share information on Twitter, particularly on busy days that you don’t have time to spontaneously tweet.

There are many free tools that allow you to do this such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and others.  Really, the tools themselves come down to your personal preference so you can use whatever works best for you.

When using a tool like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, it’s as simple as typing in the tweet you wish to send, using the calendar to schedule when you wish the tweet to send and pushing “schedule”. You can also share the same message to Facebook and LinkedIn if you wish by connecting those accounts to Hootsuite as well. Sometimes I do this and other times I schedule specific posts for each of these social media platforms.  There are also tools to know when are the best times for you to schedule tweets, but that is for another post.  For now, staying on the hour is a good approach for scheduling and sending something out 3-5 times/day will help share your messages.  You can share the same tweet more than once a day…or several times in a week as not every tweet is seen by all your followers at the time you send it.

Additional Resources:

Setting Up Twitter Account

Creating Twitter Account Screenshots

2014 Fall Conference Twitter Presentation