We are a week into the new year and moving past the holiday season to one of the busiest times of the
year. January brings a new start to our programs as we focus on our clientele
in addressing their needs.
With the dawning of a new year, comes an abundance of new opportunities for
Texas AgriLife Extension. The opportunities, accomplishments, and milestones we
celebrated in 2011 are not to be overlooked, as I review you programing at
recent future performance reviews I am amazed at all of the programs and successes
as you meet your and in many cases exceed your expectations.
As true leaders in your county and communities you should look to the future
and how you can continue your high quality programs in 2012. Texas Agrilife Extension
will excel if leaders and managers in our counties take steps to aggressively
advance our programs based our our grassroots issues identified by our
committees.
With the help of our RPD's you have designed a plan in the TeXas system. Use
this system as your calendar to make a difference at the end of each day. Make
it a priority to meet the tasks and goals that you have set for yourself in
2012. Remember you are in control of your calendar use your time wisely. In
just one of the many initiatives that I will try to continue to reinforce in
District 11 is our:
“Back
to Basics” Program Development Initiative- The hallmark of Extension programming
has been our involvement of clientele committees in identifying issues, program
planning, implementation of programs, and interpretation of programs. An
increased focus on committee effectiveness will improve programs, ensure our
relevance and enhance our interpretation capacity.
As you have noticed I have included the old or for some of you
the new program development spreadsheet in your performance
reviews documentation. I believe it is extremely important to show the
structure of your committees as you document the many meetings, and participation
of your members. We will continue to move back to the basics in program development
to strengthen our county programs.
District 11 Outlook Calendar
I would like to remind you that if you have district events or multi county events that you would like to place on the District outlook calendar please send those in to Sylvia Falcon at our district office. We are working on a new District website and if you have pictures of your programming please send those in to Diana Moglia so she can incorporate them in to the websites when possiable.
District 11 County Judges and Commissioners Conference:
The conference recently held in Sinton, at the San Patrico County Fair Grounds was a great success. I want to thank Kathy Farrow for her great leadership in chairing the event and working as a great host. Adrian Arredondo also provided much help during the conference. Thanks to Heather Ware, Becky Ham, Kayla Kaspar, Anthony Netardus, and JD Folbre for working to coordinate speakers. Thanks to Michael Donalson ,Matt Bochat and our office manager Barbara Moretich for helping with registration and facility arrangements. Others on the District Marketing committee provided posters of outstanding outcomes for the conference. We had 2 county judges, and 31 county commissioners with 11 counties represented, we also had 2 state representatives address the group. Also I want to thank Dr. Droomgoole for attending and addressing the group.
This Conference continue to provide me
with excellent opportunities to highlight educational program outcomes,
enhance relationships, solidify partnerships and provide County
Commissioners with valuable continuing education.
Reminder- Customer Satisfaction Counties for FY2012-2013
The customer satisfaction program within Texas AgriLife
Extension Service is designed to help ensure the agency continues to
provide timely, relevant, and effective educational programs to the
citizen of Texas. It is also a state-mandated performance measure for
our agency. Counties need to give attention and care to this data
collection effort as its critical to our agency’s continued existence
and programmatic success.
Organizational Development has designed two sets of scan forms
(standard and with client change) that counties can choose from to meet
their customer satisfaction reporting requirement
Counties required to participate in customer satisfaction reporting for FY 12-13 are listed below:
- Calhoun
- Dewitt
- Goliad
- Matagorda
What a Required County Must Do to Comply
- Each agent within a required county must use any version of a standard or customer satisfaction with outcomes scan form (click here to download forms http://od.tamu.edu/evaluation/scan-forms/download-forms/customer-satisfaction-scan-forms/) for at least two program events within the fiscal year (September 1 – August 31).
- Submit the scan forms from step 1 and a completed cover sheet to
Organizational Development for processing (click here for mailing
instructions http://od.tamu.edu/evaluation/scan-forms/sending-your-forms/).
Also, to ensure agents meet the outcome summary reporting deadline
(typically in early December) they should not sit on their completed
forms; send them in ASAP as processing volume around the deadline is
heavy and takes longer than usual.
- Steps 1 and 2 must be done by each agent within a required county for each fiscal year (FY12 & FY13)
Due to the oversight of various funding partners it is imperative
that Texas AgriLife Extension Service monitor the satisfaction of our
clientele as it relates to programs. Failure to comply with performance
measures, such as customer satisfaction, can severely impact
appropriated funding. Compliance with this performance measure will be
treated as a significant part of your professional obligations.
Success in Extension
Distance Education Initiative-
The utilization of technology in program delivery can add value to our
traditional program delivery methods and increase our effectiveness in reaching
certain audiences. Establish expectations for the utilization of technology in
program delivery. We must quit talking about technology assisted learning and
provide leadership to ensure the adoption of innovative program delivery that
adds value to our traditional program delivery.
Some of these include utilization of
Lync, eXtension, on-line learning modules and the future development and
utilization of Smartphone applications in program delivery. An example of the
utilization of distance education in program delivery is the organization of
five hands on workshops in District 1 and District 2 scheduled in January 2012
that will provide producers with information on how to optimize agricultural
applications for iPhones and iPads including a risk management "app"
developed by Texas AgriLife Extension Services' risk management team. This is
just one example of program delivery methods that are being utilized to address
the educational needs of clientele.
Such tools as our IT Tuesday workshps are ways to develop your skill set in moving toward real Distance Edcational Programing. Below is an upcomming workshop to help you work with your new websites.
This workshop: “Move your County Webpage from
the 90s to the 00s! ”
When: Tuesday January 10, 2012 9:30 to 11:00
a.m.
Instructors: Jeffrey SoRelle and Greg Thomas
Session Description:
This session will focus on simplifying and making your website's
landing "the first page on your website" look and feel like it has
had a makeover.
We will use before and after demonstrations to show you want you
can do make you county webpage landing look amazing.
All county websites were moved from the TECO system into the
Wordpress system with very little filtering or cleaning up of the
content.
This session will focus on:
1. Removing
that old content
2. Adding
new video to the video link
3. Adding a
podcast
4. Adding
and removing widgets
5. Adding
and removing page tabs
6. Adding a
photo slide show
7. And
customizing the look and feel of the site.
About signing up:
Login to Centra
Click on Enrollment
Search for IT Tuesday in the Event Name Search box Or select
the start date
Select the event
Click Enroll
Need help? Contact us – http://first-call.tamu.edu
Personnel News: Welcome to Erika Bochat , as our new Victoria County FCS Agent, Erika started this week and has already made an impact in attending committee meetings and setting up her office. Please join me in welcoming Erika to her new appointment.
