Source: MICHIGAN STATE UNIV submitted to
EXTENSION: CATALYZING INNOVATION THROUGH THE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SYSTEM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1007923
Grant No.
2015-41595-24254
Project No.
MICL12052
Proposal No.
2015-09835
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
AA-R
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2015
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2020
Grant Year
2018
Project Director
Geith, C.
Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
Extension
Non Technical Summary
The Cooperative Extension System (CES), with funding from state Extension directors and administrators, and USDA-NIFA, shares resources and tools through eXtension that enable the CES workforce to scale up its local and national impact. Four key CES capacities are enabled through eXtension: (1) National-scale professional growth for the CES workforce; (2) Formation of national CES communities to co-create and disseminate scalable programs and knowledge-based resources for the public; (3) identification, incubation and adoption of a pipeline of CES innovations resulting in new tools and new methods for achieving impact on priority issues; and (4) New ways of reaching non-traditional and underserved populations.With CES, eXtension is designed to function in unique ways. These include providing best-in-class systems and the management capacity of an agile evidence-based organization. Integrating with state capacity while enabling national scalability is another unique aspect. eXtension is designed to build partnerships and contractual relationships within CES and the land-grant university system to tap the best of the best talent and innovations. It is designed to create formal partnerships with local, state and federal government, companies, non-profit organizations and citizens with the CES. eXtension is embedded in CES and serves as a critical enabler of scale and innovation.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90374103030100%
Goals / Objectives
Michigan State University, a leading land-grant university with a global reputation in online learning and research knowledge systems, is submitting this proposal in partnership with the Cooperative Extension System and the member institutions of the eXtension Foundation. Together, Michigan State University, Michigan State University Extension and eXtension are collaborating with the expertise of North Carolina State University, University of Kentucky and Auburn University to deliver on the goals and objectives of Electronic Extension in service to the Cooperative Education System. This will be accomplished by providing professional development offerings and participation in Communities that offer education and Extension programming to inform public and private decision-making in support of rural and community development. This project develops human capital and engages local CES professionals in professional growth opportunities that support sustainable agriculture systems.The project builds on the strengths and assets of the existing eXtension to serve the Cooperative Extension System to meet the following goals: 1. Foster opportunities for innovation by connecting CES personnel with new and innovative technologies that engage a wide array of learners; 2. Provide professional development opportunities that promote use of open networked learning and other forms of online-based teaching resources; 3. Build capacity within and across the CES to effective engage strategic partners so more customers can be reached across multiple platforms in real time with science/research-based content; 4. Update existing and develop necessary new policies to support the business aspects of the Electronic Extension; 5. Develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation, communication and marketing effort for Electronic Extension.The following objectives are planned to meet the goals of the project:Goal 1 objectives: (a) Advance eXtension technology infrastructure; (b) Tailor member and partner support; (c) Provide infrastructure support for technical and architectural standards.Goal 2 objectives: (a) Advance and expand the network; (b) Create and provide training and informal learning resources; (c) Build and launch partnerships; (d) Advance communities to global levels; (e) Assess and expand learning systems; (f) Identify professional growth opportunities for under-represented and non-traditional populations.Goal 3 objectives: (a) Incubate digital state-based initiatives; (b) Grow network communities; (c) Continue the Fellows program; (d) Launch the Innovation Hub/Lab.Goal 4 objectives: (a) Create new policies and procedures for management and operations as needed and publish on the eXtension web site as appropriate; (b) Review policies and procedures annually and make adjustments as needed.Goal 5 objectives: (a) Refine and share performance metrics; (b) Apply summative evaluation and implement developmental evaluation practices; (c) Optimize a comprehensive analysis of the current communication market and opportunities throughout the land grant system; (d) Renew communication and marketing plans for each community; (e) Develop and maintain a social media mapping strategy; (f) Evaluate the Fellows program; (g) Establish a technology advisory group; (h) Develop high-quality leaders and staff; (i) Train an exceptional CES Workforce; (j) Create binding contractual and financial instruments.
Project Methods
Formative, summative and developmental evaluation methods will be used to provide evidence of eXtension's efforts in effectively enabling the CES workforce to achieve greater impact. Planned evaluation studies include the following: (a) By the end of the year 1, user experience analysis will be conducted and used to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of tools and resources for the CES workforce and the public.(b) Public value evaluation will be conducted with the top 10 most active eXtension communities in the first year to measure the impact and the scale of knowledge dissemination enabled through eXtension.(c) Learning analytics will be used continuously to measure performance on learning goals of the professional growth offerings for the CES workforce offered through eXtension. (d) Developmental evaluation methods will be used continuously to optimize the innovation pipeline of the hub/lab and measure its effectiveness at enabling new ways of working to achieve local impact on selected critical issues. (e) During the first six months, focus groups and surveys will be used to determine the baseline for use and reach of CES through eXtension to under-served and non-traditional populations. This process will be repeated in year 2 to evaluate progress toward increasing use and increasing reach of eXtension to these populations.

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:This project provides both the general public and Cooperative Extension professionals nationwide with up-to-date science and evidence-based information and education--as well as opportunities to collaborate, co-learn and co-create--through its virtual network of more than 15,000 Extension educators system wide. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided training and professional development through 469online courses from 40institutions offered through the Campus platform which was used by over 57,600active users (accessed in past 18 months) with 29,600Certificates of Completion issued September 1-May 7, 2019. eXtension hosted 35Zoom webinars and held Impact Collaborative Designathons in 7states. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results are disseminated through eXtension's blog site, email announcements and Monthly News Round Up. The email announcement contact list is made up of over 20,000eXtension ID holders. Communities of interest receive these email announcements. Results have also been shared through direct discussions with Extension Directors, ECOP, NIFA and Impact Collaborative participants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? GOAL 1. (a) Advanced technology rolling out the PeBL e-book specifications and launching Engage and Empower Online using LUMApps, (b) Tailored member and partner support by continuing to offer shared technology platforms for state, multi-state, regional and national delivery of free and fee-based programs with technical support and on-demand training. Tools include Ask an Expert, Campus, Catalog, Create, Learn, People, Search and web site hosting, (c) Provided infrastructure support for technical and architectural standards by expanding use of open source tools: Personalized eBooks for Learning (PeBL) specification funded by the Department of Defense Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) the open source CASS (Competency and Skills System). GOAL 2. (a) Advanced and expanded the network by growing the Impact Collaborative to nearly 900 participants and innovation facilitators at 43 land-grant universities; (b) Created and provided training and informal learning with Designathon One, Innovation Kit Workshop, Virtual Bridge, Designathons, Impact Collaborative Summit and Innovation Facilitator Training. (c) Built and launched partnerships with the National Pesticide Safety Education Center; (d) Advanced communities to global levels with Digital Green exploring global solutions. (e) assessed and expanded learning systems by publishing an Extension Nutrition eFieldbook, and a Diversity, Equity and inclusion eFieldbook, (f) identified professional growth opportunities for under-represented and non-traditional populations with a new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Fellow. GOAL 3. (a) Built capacity within and across Extension through the Impact Collaborative; (b) Grew the network through partnership with NPSEC and a new Partner Forum event; (c) Continued the Fellows program with 3 fellows in partnership with Extension professional organizations (NUEL, NAEPSDP JCEP) and two Fellows in technology topics (customer relationship management, artificial intelligence); (d) Advanced the Innovation Hub/Lab by developing the Online Innovation Skill Building Kit. GOAL 4. (a) New employee evaluation procedures were developed; (b) Employee Handbook and Business Policies and Procedures manuals were reviewed and maintained. GOAL 5. (a) Refined and shared performance metrics in innovation competencies for Extension professionals; (b) Applied summative and developmental evaluation; (c) Optimized communication across the Extension system by launching the social intranet Engage and Empower Online; (d) Implemented communication and marketing plans by supporting Impact Collaborative projects with marketing and social media support through Designathon key informants and the services of the eXtension website, news releases, invited blot posts and feature success stories; (e) Maintained a social media mapping strategy included twitter channel, Facebook page, iTunes Channel and YouTube Playlist; (f) Strengthened the fellows program by partnering with associations; (g) served on the ECOP Program and Personnel committees; (h) developed competency frameworks and resources to support diversity, equity and inclusion; (i) expanded the Impact Collaborative to train exceptional CES workforce; (j) strengthened contractual and financial instruments.

Publications

  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Luster, S. ed. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion eFieldbook. 1st ed., rev 2. Kansas City: eXtension Foundation, 2019.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Engage and Empower Online https://impact.extension.org/2020/02/engage-empower-online-assists-with-co-creation-of-farm-and-farm-family-risk-and-resilience-guide-for-extension-educational-programming/
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: La Valley, K. J., Sagor, E. S., Sheely, D., Thomas, J., Meyer, N., & Meisenbach, T. (2018). Exploring innovation in extension. Journal of Extension, 56(5)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Geith, C., Immendorf, M., Griffin, A., Stigler, T. (2018). Informing Innovations Through Deeper Insight on Strategic Priorities and Expansive Ideas


Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:eXtension provides both the general public and Cooperative Extension professionals nationwide with up-to-date science and evidence-based information and education--as well as opportunities to collaborate, co-learn and co-create--through its virtual network of more than 15,000 Extension educators system wide. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?eXtension provided training and professional development through 429 online courses from 32 institutions offered through the Campus platform which was used by 48,200 active users (accessed in past 18 months) with 11,880 Certificates of Completion issued September 1-February 28. eXtension hosted 59 Zoom webinars and held Impact Collaborative Designathons in 5 states. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results are disseminated through eXtension's blog site, email announcements and Monthly News Round Up. The email announcement contact list is made up of 17,562 eXtension ID holders. Communities of interest receive these email announcements. Results have also been shared through direct discussions with Extension Directors, ECOP, NIFA and Impact Collaborative participants. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continued development and implementation of the Impact Collaborative and expansion of the current objectives.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? GOAL 1. (a) Advanced technology infrastructure by updating the learning management system to Moodle 3.4., using an app to tag content using Competency Frameworks, pilot testing PeBL e-book specifications, offering new WordPress web site hosting and developing an Extension Ontology to tag content.(b) Tailored member and partner support by continuing to offer shared technology platforms for state, multi-state, regional and national delivery of free and fee-based programs with technical support and on-demand training. Tools include Ask an Expert, Campus, Catalog, Create, Learn, People, Search and web site hosting. Currently 17,912 accounts with over 1,630 active colleagues per month. (c) Provided infrastructure support for technical and architectural standards by adopting two open source tools: Personalized eBooks for Learning (PeBL) specification funded by the Department of Defense Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) the open source CASS (Competency and Skills System). GOAL 2. (a) Advanced and expanded the network by establishing the Impact Collaborative with 226 project participants and innovation facilitators at 27 land-grant universities; wrote and received USDA funding with Fort Valley State University for 60 professionals across all 1890 institutions to participate in the Impact Collaborative; added the ECOP Rapid Response Civil Dialogue network, the ECOP Opiod Response network and Well Connected Communities network. (b) Created and provided training and informal learning with 6 new products: Designathon One, Innovation Kit Workshop, Virtual Bridge, Designathon Two, Impact Collaborative Summit and Innovation Facilitator Training. (c) Built and launched partnerships with 3 organizations: non-profit Digital Green to explore new farmer needs; National Pesticide Safety Education Center; received a 5-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for the Pesticide Safety Education Funds Management Program. (d) Advanced communities to global levels with Digital Green exploring global solutions. ( e ) assessed and expanded learning systems by upgrading the learning management system to better track and report competencies, pilot testing an Extension Nutrition eFieldbook and expanding the professional growth hub to inlcude 28 offerings through the Impact Collaborative. (f) identified professional growth opportunities for under-represented and non-traditional populations with a new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Fellow. GOAL 3. (a) Built capacity within and across CES through a Digital State Capacity Hub (now called the Impact Collaborative) including Designathons One and Two, Summit, Innovation Kit Workshop, Innovation Facilitators Training and Virtual Bridge. Innovation is fostered through the Impact Collaboratives, newly developed competency frameworks, eFieldbooks, the professional growth hub and the Impact Collaborative Fellows. (b) Grew the network with membership of the 4-H Council. (c) Continued the Fellows program with 6 fellows in: Foods Systems; Digital Green (co-funded with Digital Green); Behavioral Health; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Evaluation Fellow co-sponsored with the National Association of Extension Program and Staff Development Professionals. (d) Advanced the Innovation Hub/Lab including sponsoring a special issue on innovation in The Journal of Extension (September 2018) and an ad hoc ECOP Report on Technology and Innovation (September 2017). GOAL 4. (a) New procurement and travel policies and procedures were developed; (b) Employee Handbook and Business Policies and Procedures manual were reviewed and revised Spring 2018. GOAL 5. (a) Refined and shared performance metrics in innovation competencies and local impact of Impact Collaborative projects. (b) Applied summative evaluation and implemented developmental evaluation. (c) Optimized a comprehensive analysis of the current communication market and opportunities throughout the land grant system and maintained our focus on use of email and the Impact Collaborative. (d) Renewed communication and marketing plans by supporting Impact Collaborative projects with marketing and social media support through Designathon key informants and the services of the eXtension website, news releases, invited blot posts and feature success stories. (e) Developed and maintained a social media mapping strategy included twitter channel, Facebook page, a new iTunes Channel and YouTube Playlist. (f) Redesigned the fellows program. (g) initiated an ECP ad hoc Technology and Innovation Committee; (h) developed competency frameworks to support quality assessment of leadership development outcomes; (i) created the Impact Collaborative to train exceptional CES workforce; (j) strengthened contractual and financial instruments.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: ECOP Technology and Innovation Ad Hoc Committee Report
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Griffin, B. & Braman, K. (2018). Expanding Pollinator Habitat Through a Statewide Initiative. Journal of Extension, 56(2), Article 2IAW6.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kiss, E., Katras, M. J., Koonce, J., Martin, K., Wise, D., Mielitz, K., & Brown, V. (2018). Advancing methodology: From concept mapping to mobile messaging campaign. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 6(2), 57-70.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Brown, V., Koonce, Joan C., Martin, K., Kiss, E., Katras, M. J., & Wise, D. (2017). What extension professionals say about teaching health insurance: Results from a nationwide survey. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 109(3), 37-44.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Impact Collaborative Innovation Kit (V5/21/18)
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Opioid Response - the clearinghouse of resources created by the Extension Opioid Crisis Response Workgroup. https://opioidresponse.extension.org/


Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:eXtension provides both the general public and Cooperative Extension professionals nationwide with up-to-date science and evidence-based information and education--as well as opportunities to collaborate, co-learn and co-create--through its virtual network of more than 15,000 Extension educators system wide. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to what was reported for the Issue Corps participant results, seven webinars were organized by eXtension to support the Issue Corps and other CES professionals. There were 720 attendees and over 500 archive views to date. Educators completing the post-survey (27.9%) indicated: 27.9% Use a LOT of information right away; 29.4% Use a MODERATE amount of information right away; 41.3% Use SOME information right away. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results are disseminated through announcements, blog posts and webinar opportunities throughout the Extension system nationwide through the national leadership group ECOP and their weekly news; to over 15,000 users of our system through emails and monthly news round ups; to communicators at Land-Grant Universities; tothe 7organizational members of the Joint Council of Extension Professionals; and to morethan 70 Communities of Intereston extension.org through our Content Management Board. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Cooperative Extension System (CES), with funding from Cooperative Extension directors and administrators, and USDA-NIFA, shares resources and tools through eXtension that enable the CES workforce to scale up its local and national impact. The USDA-NIFA New Technologies for Agriculture Extension (NTAE) funding enables Michigan State University through eXtension to 1) advance CES educators' use of technology, 2) advance professional growth capacities, and 3) increase the capacity of the CES to adopt new and creative technology applications for delivering science-based education resources to the diverse general public. With CES, eXtension is designed to function in unique ways. These include providing best-in-class systems and the management capacity of an agile evidence-based organization. Integrating with state capacity while enabling national scalability is another unique aspect. eXtension is designed to build partnerships and contractual relationships within CES and the land-grant university system to tap the best of the best talent and innovations. It is designed to create formal partnerships with local, state and federal government, companies, non-profit organizations and citizens with the CES. eXtension is embedded in CES and serves as a critical enabler of scale and innovation. eXtension's increase Extension professional's effectiveness in addressing issues of importance to the nation through fostering creativity and innovation in developing solutions and methods of work, and advancing the visible and measurable impact of their work for the public good. Much of this work is done through exploring, adopting, and disseminating new digital and networked learning approaches and skills. eXtension continues to develop, advance and maintain an innovative, national technology-enhanced learning environment, including extension.org. eXtension's content and expertise is built on land-grant university research-based knowledge and cooperative Extension faculty, staff, programming and leadership resources. eXtension provides both the general public and CES professionals with up-to-date science and evidence-based information and education, as well as opportunities to collaborate, co-learn and co-create through its virtual network of more than 15,000 users system wide. Goal 1 objectives: (a) Advance eXtension technology infrastructure; (b) Tailor member and partner support; (c) Provide infrastructure support for technical and architectural standards.Implemented new tools and activities to support Competency-Based Education, including: (1) an upgraded Learning Management System (Moodle); (2) a new open sourcetool for online Competency Framework development, storage and sharing (Competency and Skills Assessment (CASS ); (3) a new app for the Learning Management System that enables digital Competency Frameworks to be seamlessly integrated for tagging content; (3) a new custom reporting tool for the Learning Management System (Intelliboard). The 412 courses offered from 37 Land-Grant Universities are offered through eXtension's Catalog (catalog.extension.org) and delivered through eXtension's online course system. We also customized the delivery infrastructure for thenew National Pesticide Safety Education Center for state-level Pesticide Safety Educators nationwide. Goal 2 objectives: (a) Advance and expand the network; (b) Create and provide training and informal learning resources; (c) Build and launch partnerships; (d) Advance communities to global levels; (e) Assess and expand learning systems; (f) Identify professional growth opportunities for under-represented and non-traditional populations.eXtension continues a steady growth including all forms of engagement such as communities, learning networks, events, Issue Corps members, fellows, innovation projects and use of professional development resources. In addition to over 7,000 experts participating in Ask an Expert, and thousands that are members of Communities of Practice and Learning Networks, over 1500 CES professionals engaged with eXtension during Year 2 as community leaders, leaders of webinars, recipients of innovation fellowships and project funding participants in advisory groups such as the Horizon Report, and being members of the Issue Corps. Year 2 expanded theIssue Corp model launched in Year 1 with:i-Three Issue Corps 2016 - 126 educators in 68 projects in Food Systems and Climate; the Community Issue Corps 2017 - 63 educators in 8 projects; andDiversity & Inclusion Issue Corps 2017 - 84 educators in 39 projects. Results indicate: 83% were exposed to new or different ideas and/or viewpoints; 50% gained significant new ideas that moved their projects forward; 82% interacted with other Extension professionals outside their normal professional circle; 68% feel they can influence either their institution and/or their professional field in new ways after participating in the Impact Collaborative. Goal 3 objectives: (a) Incubate digital state-based initiatives; (b) Grow network communities; (c) Continue the Fellows program; (d) Launch the Innovation Hub/Lab.The Innovation Lab incubates digital state-based initiatives, fosters adoption, and contributes to the evidence base of new innovations for the practice of Extension professionals through Fellows, Innovation Grants, Innovate Events, EdTech Learning Networkand supporting the Issue Corps. The number of Fellows doubled in Year 1which created additional links to institutions and partnerships including a new Fellow with Global Open Data for Ag and Nutrition (GODAN) and a new Fellow with Digital Green. This year, 5 Innovation Projects were funded, 5 Innovation Fellows were named and 5 state-level Innovate Events were held fostering new models and new state-based innovations. Goal 4 objectives: (a) Create new policies and procedures for management and operations as needed and publish on the eXtension web site as appropriate; (b) Review policies and procedures annually and make adjustments as needed. Employee Handbook was developed andimplemented in Spring 2017; Business Policies and Procedures Manual was developed and implemented in Spring 2017; Terms of Use werereviewed and revised for implementation in Summer2017. Goal 5 objectives: (a) Refine and share performance metrics; (b) Apply summative evaluation and implement developmental evaluation practices; (c) Optimize a comprehensive analysis of the current communication market and opportunities throughout the land grant system; (d) Renew communication and marketing plans for each community; (e) Develop and maintain a social media mapping strategy; (f) Evaluate the Fellows program; (g) Establish a technology advisory group; (h) Develop high-quality leaders and staff; (i) Train an exceptional CES Workforce; (j) Create binding contractual and financial instruments.New engagement metrics were developed and reported to institutions in Year 2. A new evaluation team was implemented to focus on (1) changes in behavior, changes in acitvity and changes in competencyamong Cooperative Extension professionals participating in the Issue Corps; and (2) how those changes resulted in increased local impact. An advisory group completed a review and made recommendations for strategies and tactics for communications. Communication, marketing and social media plans are an integral part of each Issue Corps experience. Evaluation of the Fellows program is underway. Ourtechnology advisory Board is established and is focusing on advisinga new Knowledge Project. A new competency framework for Issue Corps members nearly complete which will provide the assessment backbone for high-quality leaders, staff and an exceptional Extension workforce.

Publications

  • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Freeman, A., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M. (2016). NMC Technology Outlook for Cooperative Extension 2016-2021: A Horizon Project Sector Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Civil Dialogue Resources for Cooperative Extension https://publish.extension.org/civildialogue/
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Fox, J. "What is Unique About Extension Personnel in the City? Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, Special Issue: Urban Extension, Volume 5, Number 2, June 2017


Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:eXtension provides both the general public and CES professionals with up-to-date science and evidence-based information and education--as well as opportunities to collaborate, co-learn and co-create--through its virtual network of more than 15,000 CES educators system wide. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? eXtension provides a national platform for all Land-Grant institutions, regardless of membership status in the eXtension Foundation, to help them make a more visible and measureable local and national impact. Recipients of USDA AFRI grants are supported where applicable, regardless of whether the grantees are from member institutions.In addition, all citizens have access to the content on eXtension. Members of the eXtension Foundation receive additional benefits including special discounts and advanced tools and services. See https://extension.org/membership/extension-benefits/ GOAL 1. Foster opportunities for innovation by connecting CES personnel with new and innovative technologies that engage a wide array of learners. (a) Advance eXtension technology infrastructure: Strengthened capacity by moving to cloud hosting from North Carolina State University servers by September 2016. Created contractual agreements to expand the platform including team chat, project management, video conferencing and webinars, application review, customer relationship management and a new marketplace; (b) Tailor member and partner support: Added a custom registration feature to the webinar events listing service and added custom landing pages/portals to the new listing service called Catalog; (c) Provide infrastructure support for technical and architectural standards: Implemented a mobile-first design strategy, redesigned eXtension.org to be mobile, responsive and accessible, adopted Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition principles. GOAL 2. Provide professional development opportunities that promote use of open networked learning and other forms of online-based teaching resources. (a) Advance and expand the network: New communities include pollinator habitat and Well-Being of Vulnerable Populations. Increasing the capacity of the Climate Learning Network with competency-based professional development. Established the i-Three Issue Corps by selecting 126 CES professionals representing 69 individual or team projects in food systems and climate. This first cohort represented 33 states and 36 institutions. Corps members began their work on January 1, 2016 and will complete in August 2016 making a more visible and measureable local impact; (b) Create and provide training and informal learning resources: Launched a Professional Growth Hub which lists courses, webinars, eBooks, and other learning resources. Created competency frameworks for climate literacy and working out loud. Testing a new learning management system which includes features for defining competencies and associating them with learning activities; (c) Create at least two training and informal learning resources: Made the Impact Reporting Course available Fall 2015, a self-paced online course produced by Oregon State University. Developed and offered the first 12-week Working Out Loud learning circle around working differently in the network era. Launched the Virtual Communications Camp, funded in 2015 as an Innovation project and led by North Dakota State, providing virtual training and coaching to plan communication strategies; (d) Build and launch partnerships: Partnered with the New Media Consortium and the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) Innovation Task Force to create the inaugural report, NMC Technology Outlook for Cooperative Extension 2016-2021 to be published Fall 2016. Partnered with the Pesticide Safety Education Programs privately-funded consortium and the national Pesticide Education Center Task Force to create a national portal to state offerings and provide a national delivery platform; (e) Advance communities to global levels: Partnered with the One Agriculture-One Science Consortium to create a portal of agricultural and CES courses offered by the One Ag consortium member Land-Grant universities globally; (f) Assess and expand learning systems: Identifying gaps and finding and promoting existing learning resources through the new Professional Performance Hub; (g) Identify professional growth opportunities for under-represented and non-traditional populations. Conducted an environmental scan of eXtension communities to identify vulnerable population focus. The Well-Being of Vulnerable Populations community will be using this information to grow a community of experts in the field, curating stories and lessons learned around these efforts and sharing their findings and strategies. GOAL 3. Build capacity within and across the CES to effectively engage strategic partners so more customers can be reached across multiple platforms in real time with science/research-based content. (a) Incubate digital state-based initiatives: Launched a redesigned service for member-institution Innovation Teams using lessons learned to create readiness criteria and success. These new teams focus on the adoption of innovation within a single institution with opportunity to share innovation across state and institutional borders. Over 10 states are planning to create Innovation Teams in Year 1; (b) Grow network communities: Refined the growth metric to align with the new eXtension strategic framework and are putting reporting in place to report by the end of Year 1; (c) Continue the Fellows program: Selecting four new Fellows to begin their work by August 2016; (d) Launch the Innovation Hub/Lab: Supporting 12 innovation initiatives including 3 Innovation Fellows (funded by NTAE the previous year) and 9 Innovation Projects funded by member funds. GOAL 4. Update existing and develop necessary new policies to support the business aspects of the Electronic Extension. (a) Create new policies and procedures for management and operations as needed and publish on the eXtension web site as appropriate: Implemented 6 new policies; (b) Review policies and procedures annually and make adjustments as needed: Reviewed Terms of Use and Membership Handbook and approved new versions. GOAL 5. Develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation, communication and marketing effort for Electronic Extension. (a) Refine and share performance metrics. Surveyed eXtension communities in the fall of 2015 with a follow-up listening session to capture the importance of the tools and resources to communities. Responses helped inform decisions in planning for the i-Three Issue Corps and adding new tools to the eXtension platform. Refined the eXtension growth metrics; (b) Apply summative evaluation and implement developmental evaluation practices: Developing new reporting features and evaluations for year 1; (c) Optimize a comprehensive analysis of the current communication market and opportunities throughout the land grant system: Progressing with a special study to be completed Fall 2016; (d) Renew communication and marketing plans for each community: Progressing as planned as communities get involved in the Issue Corps and focus on issues, innovation and impact; (e) Develop and maintain a social media mapping strategy: Established new strategic messaging team. Implemented social media strategy for eXtension communications; (f) Evaluate the Fellows program: Progressing as planned for Year 1; (g) Establish a technology advisory group: Established a new advisory group of CES and Land-Grant professionals to meet in Summer 2016; (h) Develop high-quality leaders and staff: Launched the first cohort of the Issue Corps, a blended model for CES professional development. Identifying and developing new competency frameworks to measure our progress against this objective; (i) Train an exceptional CES Workforce: Launched the Professional Performance Hub including competency capacity to target high-priority skills and foster mastery; (j) Create binding contractual and financial instruments: Implemented new and revised policies and procedures including vendor agreements, service agreements, terms of use and revenue-sharing agreements with partners.

Publications