February 10, 2025, at 1 PM (EST)/ 10 AM (PST)
Get the Dish!: Collaboration to Extend Extension’s Educational Reach
Surine Greenway, Idaho - Theta Chapter and team members Amy Robertson, Joey Peutz, Katie Hickok, Katie McFarland, Jennifer Brown, Elizabeth Renfro, Keishon Thomas, and Jessie Parker
Across the nation, Extension professionals encounter similar clientele needs that must be addressed through educational programming opportunities. They often get tasked with multiple topics and needs that can be difficult for one professional to cover with the necessary knowledge and expertise. In addition, transportation, cost, and time are common barriers to program participation (Vargas & Klish, 2022; Case, Clusky & Hino, 2011). This continued desire and need to prepare food in the home leads to the demand for Extension to provide up-to-date proper food handling, food safety, and food preparation method educational opportunities and information for clientele. When funding is limited, and travel and personnel dollars cannot accommodate the need to reach multiple locations, partnering with colleagues to deliver virtual programs can expand Extension’s reach without increasing costs (Zimbroff, 2023).
Presenters of this session are eight Extension Educators from four states who will share their experiences in structuring this educational program. They will share how this program is designed to accommodate multiple learning styles, including hands-on activities and visual demonstrations, throughout this multiple-week virtual program series. This program model will be shared as it relates to participants’ content comprehension, retention, and ability to immediately implement within their home.
Session participants will be able to:
• Identify how to structure an effective virtual program series to educate clientele.
• Identify successful practices for offering this program for their content area.
• Identify strategies to recruit and retain new and returning Extension clientele to the series.
Presentation content will include evidence-based practical resources and multiple supplemental publications provided to program participants.
The idea may seem simple when considering the “How To” method of offering a virtual program series to clientele; however, the reality of building a quality program series can be very complex. Presenters will share barriers encountered in rural and urban communities when offering this program as a University-based Extension partnership. They will also include the many successes that have been encountered through implementation, evaluation, and continued adaptation. This team’s experiences in this series development can be applied to a variety of Family & Consumer Sciences professionals and Extension programs.