Curricula are planned and written by curriculum developers; they serve as instructional guides for educators. Educators make adaptations to written curricula to meet learners' needs and achieve intended learning outcomes. The efficacy of curriculum adaptations is enhanced when educators have a high pedagogical design capacity, which can be…

Leadership development programs are an exploratory journey that develop Extension faculty to better themselves in service to the organization. In an effort to mitigate potential barriers for participants, it is imperative that organizations work to create conditions conducive for success. We posit barriers for extension professionals include,…

This article describes the development, implementation, and exploratory evaluation of a professional development series that addressed educators' knowledge and use of the terms "research-based" and "evidence-based" within Human Sciences Extension and Outreach at one university. Respondents to a follow-up survey were more likely…

The Graduate Extension Scholars program represents a novel approach that brings together graduate students, 4-H agents, and secondary agriculture teachers in an educational resource development project. We conducted process evaluation research based on program goals for the pilot implementation year using participant interviews and program…

Two 4-H Camp-related bus tours offered new nontraditional professional development (PD) experiences that better align Extension's PD opportunities with the organization's experiential education pedagogy. Creating quality PD opportunities for employees is important because such experiences can affect overall work performance, community connections,…

Professionals in Extension who develop intercultural competence are better prepared to meet the needs of multicultural populations. This article addresses University of California Extension's formation of an intercultural competence professional development initiative. We describe our use of an integrated conceptual framework that includes…

Our study examined the relationship between improved personal health behaviors of Head Start teachers and the promotion of positive health behaviors in their classrooms. Thirty-three Head Start teachers across seven centers received six 30-min nutrition education lessons. Dietary intake, physical activity, and self-efficacy for promoting positive…

In recent years much attention has focused on the role of enhancing a teacher's professional knowledge and skills in helping to improve the quality of early care experiences for young children birth-5. In the study reported here, an environmental scan of the early childhood professional development programs offered within the Extension system…

Site-level assessment questionnaires (SLAQs) were developed to assess nutrition and physical activity practices and environments in schools and other places children spend time in order to facilitate program planning and evaluation. After expert panel review for content validity, questionnaires were feasibility tested by users in six schools,…

High-quality 4-H programming requires effective professional development of educators. Through a mixed methods study, we explored professional development offered through state 4-H programs. Survey results revealed that both in-person and online delivery modes were used commonly for 4-H staff and adult volunteers; for teen volunteers, in-person…

A middle school student and teacher watershed education project supports a large wetland restoration effort. It provides community-based, science education for urban, low-income, multicultural 6th-9th grade students and their teachers. This is a bottom-up approach to extending information to the local community about the restoration. The project…

University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and Khujand branch of the Technological University of Tajikistan (KbTUT) collaborated on the development of an Extension/outreach program in Tajikistan. Fifteen KbTUT administrators, faculty, and students from textiles, food science, and management engaged in training sessions at UNL on entrepreneurship, adult…

The use of blogs for informal professional development is a growing phenomenon in higher education. The purpose of the study reported here was to describe Extension faculty's preferences for and perceptions of using an online, particularly social media, environment for professional development. The LSU AgCenter Organization Development and…

Adolescents are an understudied, but meaningful, population when it comes to food safety education. With the proliferation of pathogenic microbes and changes in eating habits of Americans, today's youth are more at risk of contracting a foodborne illness than previous generations. Hands On: Real World Lessons for Middle School Classrooms provides…

Evaluation of public service programming is becoming increasingly important with current funding realities. The taxonomy of evaluation competencies compiled by Ghere et al. (2006) provided the starting place for Taxonomy for Assessing Evaluation Competencies in Extension. The Michigan State University Extension case study described here presents a…