Commitment to Extension

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Commitment to Extensions Mission the Role of
Continual Learning

• Maxwell H. Mayeaux, Ph.D.
• Aquaculture Program Specialist
• Cooperative State Research, Education, and
  Extension Service
• United States Department of Agriculture
• Washington, DC

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Extensions Mission

• Educational programs
• Timely
• Relevant
• Science-based information
• Help people change!

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We are Extension Professionals

• Committed to providing the latest science-based
  research findings to our clientele
• Producers, processors, marketing agencies,
  consumers, commodity organizations, environmental
  groups policy makers, etc.

4
Personal Commitment to Aquaculture

• Why did you get into aquaculture?
• Do you believe in the future of aquaculture
  development?
• Do you believe that aquaculture will help feed
  the hungry of the world?
• Do you believe that aquaculture will help relieve
  some of the pressures off of threatened, wild
  fisheries resources?
• Do you believe in aquaculture?
• Why?

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Personal Commitment to the Extension Mission

• Extension mission more important that ever?
• Does helping people make you feel good about
  yourself?
• Just a job or is it a passion?
• What do I get out of this?
• Do you believe that you are an agent of change?
• Are you comfortable with your role and
  responsibilities as an agent of change?
• Reassess your chosen profession because the
  American people deserve better.

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Soul Searching

• Passion for the work.
• Continual learning for the Extension professional
  as important as providing information and
  technology transfer to and for our customers
• Continual learning for the Extension professional
  is at the very heart of the Extension mission.
• Continual learning latest innovations and
  techniques in educational program content and
  delivery.
• Time, funding, and, more importantly, EFFORT

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Sir Winston Churchill

• Personally, Im always ready to learn, although
  I do not always like being taught

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We are Leaders

• We are in a leadership role
• We are agents of change
• Take the initiative to learn the newest, latest
  technologies and information
• Rework it into the proper format
• Deliver in a timely, appropriate, and
  professional manner

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Leadership Competencies

• Team Building
• Political Savvy
• Flexibility
• Human Resources Management
• Resilience
• Vision
• Interpersonal Skills
• Conflict Management
• among others

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Continual Learning

• Changing society with changing societal values
• Changing and new technological innovations
• Changing domestic and world political climates
• Changing personal views relative to a changing
  world around us
• Some societal values require long periods of time
  to change
• Others are forced to change abruptly, such as
  those values changed by the tragedy of 9/11.

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How do we do this?

• No prescribed methodology
• Personal decision
• Time constraints
• Budgetary concerns
• Clientele

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Personal Extension Paradigm

• Dont just become a subject matter specialist,
  become a people specialist.
• Without the necessary skills to reach the desired
  clientele, our educational programs can only
  focus upon content and we could miss the people
  component of program delivery.

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We are Agents of Change

• Subject matter specialists
• Employed to deliver technical information to our
  clientele because of our education and expertise.
  
• We must stay current with these technological
  changes.
• This is inherently obvious. However, since we are
  all agents of change, we need to value continual
  learning.
• Takes time, energy, and funding to become more
  knowledgeable and skillful as an agent of change
• We need to make it personal.

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What can we do?

• Request from your supervisors to take classes
  that will enable you to do your job better
• Take courses in leadership skills
• Learn how to get your clientele interested and
  excited about new things, new ideas, new
  technologies, and new paradigms
• Learn how to convince your clientele that it is
  in their best interest to keep up with these
  rapidly changing times.
• Learn how to pull people together and avoid
  conflict to work on a common issue this takes
  special skills.
• Learn how to motivate, not just educate!

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Antoine de St. Exupery

• If you want to build a ship, then dont drum up
  men to gather wood, give orders, and divide the
  work. Rather, teach them to yearn for the far
  and endless sea.

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Program Delivery

• Analyze define the learning objective
• Design plan a strategy for developing the
  instruction
• Develop develop instruction and materials
• Implement provide the instruction
• Evaluate measure the success in terms
  
  of learning
  outcomes

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Continual Learning Comes in Many Forms

• Formal training
• Spend time with others who are competent at a
  skill you are interested in acquiring
• Take on a challenging special assignment
• Recruit a mentor
• Serve as a mentor for others

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Continual Learning Comes in Many Forms

• Read books, articles, and other materials dealing
  with leadership skills
• Go out to lunch with someone with these skills
• Ask others around you for feedback to learn how
  you are doing in a particular leadership skill
  area
• Socialize with a goal in mind

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Continual Learning Comes in Many Forms

• Arrange a detail in another part of the
  organization or another agency or non-profit
  organization to gain experience
• Subscribe to a publication that covers an area
  with which you have not had previous exposure or
  experience.
• Try a new skill in a volunteer organization

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Continual Learning Comes in Many Forms

• Conduct interviews with professionals in
  unfamiliar disciplines to gain knowledge
• Work the net
• Spend time looking for information pertaining to
  your clientele
• Join Listservs and discussion groups
• Sign up for E-Newsletters

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Journal of Extension
Its FREE!
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Why is Extension Important Today?

• Change is at the heart of the Extension mission.
• Extension professionals are public servants and
  the American people are better-served by a
  knowledgeable Extension professional who is
  better-able to anticipate change.
• Avoid stagnation and embrace change.
• Embracing complacency reduces our competency as
  Extension professionals and our role as agents of
  change becomes moot.

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Take Personal Responsibility

• Competency in this role is imperative.
• Our employers expect it
• Our country deserves it!

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They always say time changes things, but you
actually have to change them yourself Andy
Warhol (1928 1987)