10 pages, Extension faculty are tasked with developing and communicating educational programs to local clientele, and communication skills are a considerable piece of the Extension faculty job. Thus, UF/IFAS Extension included a communication portion to the on-board training for newly hired Extension faculty to develop their design skills so they can more effectively communicate through their educational and marketing materials. We used Rogers’ (2003) innovation-decision process to assess Florida early career Extension faculty’s adoption of design principles after completion of the 2019 UF/IFAS Extension Faculty Development Academy. Thirty-two Extension faculty completed the spring and fall sessions of the Academy. A mixed methods approach was utilized to gather survey data at the immediate completion of the Academy and qualitative, telephone interview data four to five months after completing the Academy. The faculty retrospectively perceived they increased their knowledge about design principles. They had an overwhelmingly positive attitude about learning design principles to better their communication efforts, but they decided not to fully adopt design principles in their work as other information and elements of learning their job took precedent.
8 pages., Article # 5TOT6, via online journal., To determine how Extension educators can use environmental education materials to develop life skills in youths, we correlated a national environmental education curriculum developed by Project Learning Tree (PLT) to the 4-H Life Skills Wheel. Youth development professionals can use the resulting correlations to determine which life skills the various PLT activities help develop. The correlation results also provide insights regarding how PLT activities help develop head, heart, and hands skills.
19 pages., This article reports on a technology stewardship training program to promote ICT leadership development with agricultural extension practitioners in Sri Lanka. Researchers used a multi-method approach with a single embedded case study. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, formal course evaluation, classroom observation, and semi-structured interviews with participants. Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation model was used to structure analysis of the results. Findings from this study show a positive response to technology stewardship training among agricultural extension practitioners in the course, that learning objectives of the course are achievable when offered as an in-service training program, that self-confidence with ICT is improved, and that some participants applied their learning in a post-course activity. Results from the study also raise a number of considerations for future course design in order to better support digital leadership development in practice. Technology stewardship training shows promise as a form of ICT leadership education for agricultural communities of practice in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. This article contributes to a better understanding of the role of social learning among communities of practice in agricultural extension services, and in contributing to effective use of ICT for agriculture development more broadly.
