Excellence in Extension for Educators

Extension professionals are respected (people know and trust you), knowledgeable (data/research driven), and creators of products of exceptional quality. They uphold the standards expected by the professional’s peers as well as Extension clientele.

Extension Educators are…

• Knowledgeable as evidenced by a rigorous professional development plan and by our more sophisticated clientele utilizing educators as key sources of technical information.
• Valued Community Resources as demonstrated through important contributions or differences (impacts) resulting within the community or region.
• Respected by peers, industry professionals, community leaders, and clientele as evidenced by faculty being sought out for leadership roles around critical educational needs/issues or teams.
• Creators of learning experiences that surpass our customer’s expectations relative to producing significant client reach and/or documented value to helping learners make informed decisions and changes in behavior.
• Actively engaged with learners as demonstrated by involvement in stakeholder groups or advisory boards

Many organizations provide outreach, Extension embraces engagement. Engagement involves the development of sustained, long-term working relationships with a target audience, collaborator or partner. Extension professionals practice engagement by working with learners to assess their needs, developing and evaluating educational experiences and remaining connected with learners as transformational changes are considered or made by the learner.

Extension Educators …

• Develop relationships with stakeholders who influence program support and learners that will foster extension program growth and meaningful impact.
• Connect with peers, teams, and partners for action and productivity as demonstrated by the resulting educational opportunities.
• Foster public/private sector partners in the community and industry to create new and leverage existing educational opportunities.
• Lead and contribute meaningful value to high performing extension teams.
• Engage all people in Nebraska Extension regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or disability.

Extension professionals create and deliver educational experiences that are based on sound science and research, provide multiple opportunities for reaching a targeted audience with content that is available 24/7/365, provide in-depth learning opportunities, and reach the full range of learners from the novice to the most sophisticated.

Extension Educators produce learning / educational experiences that …

• Mentor and collaborate with specialists to assist with understanding learners and their educational needs.
• Deliver direct learning experiences for learners (plan, design, implement, and/or evaluate).
• Create just in time learning experiences supportive of critically timed decisions.
• Involve learners in co-learning and critical thinking experiences.
• Design learning objectives and experiences appropriate to the learner’s age and knowledge base.
• Are invited to present/teach regionally or nationally.
• Utilize opportunities for demonstrations or translational research.
• Facilitate informed learner decisions. Innovative decision tools and curriculum should enhance our learners’ ability to make informed decision.
• Result in knowledge gain and behavioral change.

Extension professionals will initiate creative and innovative work that includes risk taking. They may utilize unique approaches to assemble and leverage resources, creative methods packaging research into educational products for reaching targeted audiences, and innovative methods for creating impactful learning experiences.

Extension Educators demonstrate or create…

• Unique partnerships with local/regional Nebraskans viewed as early adopters, entrepreneurs, or innovators.
• Translational or field-based research opportunities in educator’s community/region.
• Resource entrepreneurship through grants, program fees and partnerships that leverage the university resource base to expand a program’s reach.
• Educational experiences that will engage diverse audiences.
• Innovative and engaging educational products, teaching methods, or methods for reaching clientele that have significant reach and impact.

Extension professionals invest in identifying critical issues for their learners and adapting educational programs to respond to those critical issues. Their engagement in advanced professional development as well as efforts to assess learners’ needs and impact is part of the on-going continuous improvement expectation for the learning experiences delivered by Extension. This results in Extension professionals being change agents for issues of high relevance and value for Nebraskans.

Extension Educators will …

• Maintains a significant local/regional customer base as documented by the number of people accessing educational programs.
• Target issues of high relevance to Nebraska based upon sustained engagement with learners, key stakeholders and other important decision influencers.
• Anticipate issues/needs and have content/programs/partnerships available addressing delivering just-in-time learning.
• Use stakeholder connections to constantly assess needs and adjust priorities.
• Align individual educational and translational research contributions with extension action/signature outcome team priorities.

Extension professionals create just-in-time learning to help people make informed decisions at the time of greatest value or need to our learners. Extension professionals also recognize that the learning interests of clientele on any one issue lie on a continuum ranging from improved awareness on one end to in-depth learning expectations on the other.

Extension Faculty create and deliver:

• Curriculum and decision tools that produce effective decision making experiences.
• A series of educational experiences and interventions for connecting with clientele (process rather than single event) ranging from awareness development to in-depth learning.
• Learner-centered educational experiences accessible 24/7/365 and responsive to learners’ needs and schedules.

Extension Professionals make a difference economically, socially, environmentally in the lives of Nebraskans and contribute to the measurement of indicators of that impact for those Signature Outcomes identified as critical to Nebraskans. Those measures of impact contribute to continuous improvement of the educational initiative and to the public’s recognition of the value created by Nebraska Extension.

Extension Educators will/are …

• Make a difference – physically, economically, socially, and environmentally as evidenced by measured behavioral or conditional change indicators.
• Answer “So What?” This requires Implementation of evaluation procedures that capture actual behavioral change and changes in economic, environmental, or social changes resulting in part from our Extension programming.
• Skilled in Evaluation best practice – Practices such as establishing baseline data/needs assessment, use of appropriate evaluation tools and processes and cooperation with primary action team’s evaluation procedures are all practiced.
• Publish scholarly works on evaluation results in peer reviewed journals.
• Communicate the impacts of Extension education programs to university administration, relevant funding agencies, and important stakeholders.
• Communicate the Public Value of Extension education programs to learners, stakeholders, and those involved in public policy.

Extension professionals use research as the foundation for educational experiences. Extension professionals recognize that our clientele make many decisions based upon some degree of balance between science, economics, and values. Extension professionals strive to deliver education that contributes to the science and economics aspects of those decisions and rely on individuals to weigh their individual values into their final decisions. Extension professional develop and deliver outstanding research that contributes to the economic, environmental, and/or social understanding of learner’s decisions.

Extension Educators will …

• Review and remain current on research/evidence in focused subject matter discipline.
• Deliver outstanding research that translates into solutions for clientele.
• Partner with researchers/industry/ specialists to conduct translational/action research and discovery.
• Identify issues that need further study.
• Collaborate in development and implementation of applied or translational research efforts as appropriate.