Action Team Issues
In 2010, UNL Extension introduced the concept of Signature Outcome. The intent of a Signature Outcome was to identify those priority issues for which Extension is the “Go To” place for research-based information. Our intent was to engage a critical mass of specialists and educators (the multiple expert model) in the development and delivery of an educational program through sustained contact with our clientele resulting in real change. Signature Outcomes are also the focus of our statewide efforts to measure impact and succinctly summarize our value to Nebraska (see 2010 Impacts in left hand column of any UNL Extension web site). Signature Outcomes are not the only work we do in Extension, but they address the issues where we intend to make a visible impact for Nebraska.
Success of Signature Outcomes depends on faculty contributions. As a faculty member with an extension appointment, you should be able to answer positively to each of the following:
___ I contribute one or more roles (educational product development, teaching or other program delivery, evaluation, leadership) supportive of at least one Signature Outcome.
___ To evaluate success of my contributing educational efforts, I use the Signature Outcome evaluation tools for measuring common indicators of impact.
___ I contribute the resulting impact data to a central data base for statewide aggregation of impact.
___ I share my contribution to a Signature Outcome in my eARFA.
Action Team Updates
The Learning Child: One of the major benefits of the Child and Youth Training and Technical Assistance Project (CYTTAP) targeting military families is the opportunity for Nebraska child care providers to participate in the same training that is being offered in the targeted states. UNL Extension Educators took part in a three-day train-the-trainer training on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning this spring and will take part in a train-the-trainer workshop aimed at preventing childhood obesity (I Am Moving, I Am Learning) this fall. Each of these programs will be offered to Nebraska childcare providers throughout the coming year.
4-H: The 4-H Action Team has been collecting data this summer to help formulate their new strategic plan. Thanks to each of you who helped collect the 1,800 qualitative and quantitative responses that will be used to guide the signature outcomes and programs of 4-H. Once the draft plans are shared with the system and finalized, the team will be outlining the structure for reaching these outcomes and identifying curriculum that will be targeted during the next year. More details will be coming.
-- Kathleen Lodl and Rick Koelsch