Using Technology Tools to Improve Your Program's Effectiveness

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Using Technology Tools to Improve Your Program's
Effectiveness 

• We are Leaders for
• Youth Financial Literacy (YFL) and
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Ask the
  Expert (ATE)

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eXtension Community of Practice (CoP) 2007
Leaders for Financial Security for All
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• Judy H. Branch, Ed.D.
• Extension Specialist
• Family and Youth Development and the
• Youth Financial Literacy (YFL) Leader for
• Financial Security for All (FSA)
• Community of Practice (CoP)

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Barbara ONeil, Ph.D.

• Extension Specialist
• Financial Resource Management
• eXtension Key Word Team Leader  for
• Frequently Asked Questions and Ask The Expert

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Toolbox--Agenda

• Bingo
• Tools --eXtension collaboration (a case study)
• Tools for internal collaboration
• Tools for external collaboration
• Tools for distance education

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Lets Play BINGO
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What Type of Technology User Are You?

• Digital Native
• Grew up with computers/cell phones
• Computers were integrated into classes since
  childhood
• Well versed in the use of technological tools
• Ample time to play and experiment with new
  technology

• Digital Immigrant
• Can remember a time without computer/cell phone
  technology
• Had to learn the language in adulthood
• Younger people are often teachers
• Limited time to play with technology tools

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Your Professional Section?

• Business.
• Colleges, Universities and Research
• Elementary, Secondary and Adult Education
• Extension
• Home and Community
• Human Services

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A really big discontinuity has taken place. One
might even call it a 'singularity' an event
which changes things so fundamentally that there
is absolutely no going back. This so-called
'singularity is the arrival and rapid
dissemination of digital technology in the last
decades of the 20th century.

• Marc Prensky, 2001

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Social Computing is not a fad. Nor is it
something that will pass you or your company by.
Gradually, Social Computing will impact almost
every role, at every kind of company, in all
parts of the world.

• Forrester Research, Social Computing - How
  Networks Erode Institutional Power, And What to
  Do About It 
• (from Spannerworks report)

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• About being human sharing ideas, cooperating and
  collaborating to create art, thinking and
  commerce, vigorous debate and discourse, finding
  people who might be good friends, allies and
  lovers its what our species has built several
  civilizations on. Thats why it is spreading so
  quickly, not because its great shiny, whizzy new
  technology, but because it lets us be ourselves,
• only more so And it is in the more so that the
  power of this revolution lies. People can find
  information, inspiration, like-minded people,
  communities and collaborators faster than ever
  before. New ideas, services, business models and
  technologies emerge and evolve at dizzying speed
  in social media.

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eXtensionwww.extension.org The Transformation
of Cooperative Extension
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Collaboration Tools eXtension (a case study)

• Just-in time learning opportunities
• Anytimeanywhere
• Communities of Practice (CoP)
• Communities of Interest (CoI)
• See www.extension.org

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eXtension internal and external transformation of
Cooperative Extension

• a complement and marketer for community-based,
  face-to-face education
• a platform for Cooperative Extension to work as a
  nationwide System
• a way to engage faculty, extension educators, and
  strategic partners in meeting the anywhere,
  anytime learning needs of Americans

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CoP Collaborative Work Space (internal)
Registration (5,197 accounts, 11/2/07)
(http//people.extension.org) CoP Wiki
(http//cop.extension.org) Newsroom
(http//news.extension.org) Calendar
(http//events.extension.org) FAQ
(http//faq.extension.org)
Collaboration (http//collaborate.extension.org) W
eb Conferencing Mail List
Tools Services
extension.org
CoP Web Sites / Public Portal
(http//preview.extension.org)
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FSA CoP Leadership Team
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www.extension.org

• FSA launched in February 2007
• eXtension launched in January 2008
• The Web Interface
• Localizes content by zip code
• Navigates content by sorting and filtering the
  most useful, most recent publications, events
• Integrates Google maps with events

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FSA CoP Gateway Page Extension.org/personal_financ
e
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Three Communities of Interest (Consumer-Focused)

• Financial Security in Later Life
• Financial Stability
• Youth Financial Literacy

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FSA CoP Featured Content

• Learning Lessons
• CoP-Approved Resources
• FAQs
• Ask the Experts
• Financial Calculators
• Chats
• News Stories
• Glossary
• Links to Educational Partners

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Tools for internal collaboration

• Wiki http//cop.extension.org/wiki/Main_Page
• Instant Messaging
• Web cam computer conferencing

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Working in a Wiki

• Wiki Wiki-Hawaiian term for fast or quick
• Wiki web site quick web site
• CoP members work together in real time to
  develop and edit content
• Wikis are used to accumulate knowledge and
  information
• Example Wikipedia

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About Wiki Web Sites

• Collaborative sites
• Pages can be written and edited by anyone with
  proper access (e.g., eXtension password)
• Anyone can add content and anyone can edit
  content that has already been published
• Edit pages using a browser
• Simplified markup language
• Easy to read and update or correct
• Can be published immediately

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More About Wiki Web Sites

• Revision history
• Record of changes made to wiki pages
• Enables comparison to any earlier versions
• Discussion area
• Users can share comments about a wiki page
  without impacting actual content of the page
• Comments enable users to address queries and
  suggestions about content

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eXtension Wiki http//cop.extension.org/wiki/Main
_Page
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What If You Dont Have Access to a Wiki? Create
Your Own!

• Use a private wiki provider such a PB Wiki
  (www.pbwiki.com) or Wikia (www.wikia.com)
• Create your own collaborative work environment
  for specific projects

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Wiki? Create Your Own!

• Invite who you want to join
• Example 1 Three Rutgers colleagues
  collaborating on a journal article via a wiki
• Example 2 Family members planning a big family
  reunion via a wiki (invitation, menus)

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Wiki Collaboration Guidelines Based on Personal
Experience

• Set ground rules and time deadlines before
  beginning work in a Wiki
• Example Number of content peer reviewers before
  content is published
• Leave comments about your additions and edits so
  others can easily understand them
• Dont forget to press SAVE
• Create traditional scholarly deliverables from
  Wiki work (presentations, publications, awards,
  grants)
• Check your ego at the door
• Must feel comfortable with others changing your
  content

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Internal collaboration Instant Messaging
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Internal collaborationWeb cam conferencing or
meeting
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Tools for external communication

• Blogs (instead of newsletters?)
  http//jbranch.blog.uvm.edu
• Video streaming
• Surveying/evaluation of programs
  http//www.instantsurvey.com/login.asp
  http//www.surveymonkey.com

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Blogging http//jbranch.blog.uvm.edu
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Tools for distance education

• Moodle
• http//campus.extension.org
• Connect
• http//breeze.extension.iastate.edu/iteam/
• Second Life
• http//secondlife.com/whatis/

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Interactive Learning Tools

• Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented
  Dynamic Learning Environment http//www.slideshar
  e.net/ialja/moodle-presentation-65881/
• Example at http//campus.extension.org
• eXtension CoP-sponsored online courses

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http//campus.extension.org
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Connectfor 1 Meetings, 2 Educational
Sessions, 3 Researchhttp//breeze.extension.ias
tate.edu/iteam/
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http//connect.extension.iastate.edu/p89519476/
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Second Lifehttp//secondlife.com/whatis
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Why should it be important to you?

• What is it?
• Growth
• Uses
• Basics
• of Second Life

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• Gartner (a leading information technology
  research and advisory company) says 80 percent of
  active internet users will have a "Second Life"
  in the virtual world by the end of 2011 !
• http//www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id503861

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Multi-User Virtual Environment

• Real time interaction
• Open navigation within 3D world
• Visual representation of self within the
  environment Avatar
• Opportunities to construct or enact change within
  the environment (e.g. create, move, store objects)

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Growth
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Growth
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Second Life Uses

• Online courses
• Live music streaming
• Virtual meetings
• Knowledge repositories
• Marketing promotion (e.g. virtual art
  galleries, showrooms, billboards, etc.)

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Technology Requirements

• All you need is a web browser to
• create content in a Wiki
• answer questions (FAQs, ATE)
• submit an upcoming event
• participate in a professional development
  workshop

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Develop Your Skills

• Get involved!
• Participate in professional development
  opportunities
• Explore the available articles, resources, and
  help documents
• Learn new technical skills through practice
• Create!

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Questions