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:
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)
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.
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
Keep up with IT Tuesday and new IT learning
opportunities! Join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ITTuesday
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.
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.
