WELCOME! This is the eXtension UPDATE for February 2008. For up-to-date information on eXtension, go to http://about.extension.org. For back issues of this UPDATE go to: http://about.extension.org/wiki/eXtension_Monthly_Updates ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- NATIONAL eXtension LAUNCH FEBRUARY 21 & 22 -- eXtension STRATEGIC PLANNING UNDERWAY -- FEBRUARY 2008 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES -- eXtension PRIVACY POLICY UNDER MODIFICATION -- CONTRIBUTOR AND BUSINESS AGREEMENT UPDATE -- FEBRUARY 19 NATIONAL VIDEO CONFERENCE CANCELLED -- REMINDER: GET YOUR eXtension ID NOW! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NATIONAL eXtension LAUNCH FEBRUARY 21 & 22 eXtension will formally celebrate its launch on February 21 & 22, 2008 as part of the 2008 USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum in Washington, D.C. The USDA Ag Outlook Forum is a large annual event involving hundreds of people involved in agriculture and related topics-just like eXtension! Those who attend include association members and staff, commodity and non-profit organization staff, lobbyists, government agency staff, agribusiness and other corporate staff, D.C. based think tank staff members, charitable foundation staff members, etc. The Launch Celebration ceremony will include: •A "ribbon-cutting" by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture [invited] to officially launch eXtension. •Recognition of Cooperative Extension, USDA, CSREES, and Congressional supporters of eXtension. •Recognition of 16 Communities of Practice who will be a part of the launch. •Broadcast via Adobe Connect to "official" sites in each of 75 Cooperative Extension institutions supporting eXtension. The URL for official sites is: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/launch/ •Local celebrations throughout the U.S. at state, district, and county Extension offices. •Video streaming of the ceremony will be available for other sites at: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/webcast/ • Video streaming of the ceremony, and three days of virtual events celebrating the launch, will be available at the eXtension Virtual State Fair in Second Life: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/168/123/28 .More information about the Second Life launch celebration can be found at http://about.extension.org/wiki/Second_Life_Virtual_State_Fair_to_Celebrate_eXtension_Launch As a part of the Ag Outlook Forum, eXtension will staff a large exhibit area with exhibits on each of the 16 Communities of Practice: •Beef •Cotton •Dairy •Disaster Education •Diversity •Entrepreneurship •Family Caregiving •Fire Ants •Horses •Gardens, Lawns, & Landscapes •Livestock & Poultry •Map@syst •Parenting •Personal Finance •Wildlife Damage Management •Youth SET for Life Following the Launch Celebration ceremony, eXtension will host a series of "Briefings" on various aspects of eXtension, its Communities of Practice, and collaborative tools. These briefings are found in more detail at: http://about.extension.org/wiki/Briefing_Final At 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, February 21, eXtension will feature a "Stump the Expert" event. A national media panel will query experts from four eXtension Communities of Practice: Horses, Personal Finance, Parenting, and Gardens, Lawns, & Landscapes. This event will also be broadcast via Adobe Connect for interested persons and the media. eXtension's iTeams are hard at work organizing each institution's local celebration, determining an official Connect site for the Celebration Ceremony, and continuing their efforts to get more of their faculty and staff to get eXtension IDs. eXtension STRATEGIC PLANNING UNDERWAY eXtension is now engaging in a new strategic planning effort with the goal of producing a new 3-year operations, financial and marketing plan. To assist us with this planning effort, we have hired Russ Roberts, a management consultant and adjunct Professor in the Management and Organizations Department at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. For more information about Russ please see: http://www.russrobertsltd.com/. The planning process involves: 1) data collection (interviews and survey); 2) a strategic planning retreat; 3) action planning; 4) a pre-launch of the plans; and 5) the launch of new strategic plan. To date, interviews have been conducted with various stakeholder groups and eXtension staff. Next, a survey will be used to collect additional information from a broader number of stakeholders throughout the system. Complimentary to this planning process, the eXtension staff will be engaged in various strategic implementation efforts, as well. FEBRUARY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration. Please share this announcement with others and encourage them to pick a topic and try it out! We have a variety of 30 Minute sessions as well as other educational opportunities for Moodle, Second Life, and the eXtension Launch. 30 MINUTE SESSIONS This month we are offering "30 Minute Sessions" on a several topics including the use of Open ID, and wiki basic skills. Give us 30 minutes and we'll teach you something useful! These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Each session will be held at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. CT, 1:00 p.m. MT, 12:00 noon PT, 11:00 a.m. AT; 9:00 a.m. HT) unless otherwise noted. * February 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET, a "30 Minute Session" on MediaWiki Bare Essentials by Beth Raney. We'll cover the basics you need to get started working in a wiki. Whether you're part of a Community of Practice, helping to copy-edit articles in CoP wiki, or working in Collaborate wiki, join us so you can get started! (for all Extension) * February 12 at 3:00 p.m. ET, a "30 Minute Session" on OpenID by Kevin Gamble. Are you tired of creating a new account on every web site you visit? Do you not sign-up for new sites because they require you to create yet another account? Do you go to sites and can't remember your login, password, or both? OpenID is a new technology that aims to solve these problems. Everyone with an Extension ID already has an OpenID. Come to this session to learn how it works and about the growing list of Web sites where it can be used. Once you go OpenID you'll never want to go back. (for all Extension) * February 19 at 3:00 p.m. ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Using Google Webmaster Tools by Brian Webster, Iowa State Extension, in conjunction by ACE IT SIG. Google Webmaster Tools is a system where you can get information about how Google sees your site and troubleshoot potential problems. This presentation will show you how to configure your site to use the tools. It will also show what information Google Tools will tell you about your site. (for all Extension) * February 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET, a "30 Minute Session" on Google Presentation by Kevin Gamble. Google Presentation is a new tool introduced in September for the collaborative development of slide shows. It is cut from the same cloth as Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets and shows great promise as a new collaboration technology. Participants will be given an introduction to the tool's use, discuss its advantages and disadvantages, and see how this tool can be used to facilitate online learning. The session will include a demonstration of several recent enhancements to the Google Presentation system. (for all Extension) eXtension Launch: Celebrate the launch of the eXtension with colleagues from across the country...and people from all over the world... at the eXtension Virtual State Fair in the 3-D online community Second Life! Come to Morrill Island in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/165/136/29 to join in the festive atmosphere and watch the ceremony. Watch real life video of the eXtension ribbon cutting ceremony streamed into Second Life from the USDA Ag Outlook Forum in Washington DC. Visit the Expo Tent spotlighting 16 Communities of Practice. Take a virtual horseback ride, tour the animal barns, try out the bumper cars…and the virtual cotton candy is calorie-free! Fireworks, games and live music performances will be scheduled throughout the three day celebration, on February 21, 22 and 23, 2008 For more information and a schedule of events, go to: http:// about.extension.org/wiki/eXtension_Launch_Celebration_Announcement Second Life Avatar Orientation: To visit Second Life, you must first sign up for a free account at www.secondlife.com, and create your personal avatar. Second Life can be a confusing place, so eXtension is offering orientation for new avatars two times a week, Mondays and Thursdays from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET. Just bring your new avatar to the eXtension building on Eduisland, and Second Life resident "Thynka Little" will be there to answer your questions, or you can send your questions via email to luann.phillips@extension.org. In-MoodleMeets: Feb 4's topic is Using the Moodle Glossary; Feb 18's is on Usability - Teaching to different learning styles & preferences. Held the first and third Mondays of every month from 2-3:30 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT; 12 noon MT; 11 a.m. PT), in the chat of the Moodle 101 course. Enter as a guest. During the In-MoodleMeet, get together in Moodle text chat to share stories, ideas and provide support for Moodle. To join go to http://courses.extension.org/mod/chat/view.php?id=96. Past chats are also available from the "View past chat sessions" link from within the chat. To get a course shell to begin developing in or get more information about Moodle email moodlehelp@extension.org. The recording of last month's 30 Minute Session on Moodle is at http://about.extension.org/wiki...search on Recordings. Second Life Round-table: Feb 8 We will meet using Web conferencing, at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/Learn at 12 p.m. SLT (1 p.m. MT; 2 p.m. CT; 3 p.m. ET). Please add discussion to the Collaborate wiki at http://tinyurl.com/ytsp2s Second Life Meet-ups: Feb 15 at 11:30 a.m. SLT (12:30 p.m. MT; 1:30 p.m. CT; 2:30 p.m. ET) join us to get some free clothing, and to learn about enhancing your appearance. Feb 22 come anytime to enjoy the festive atmosphere on Morrill Island during the eXtension Launch event. Twice a month CES Second Life educators meet in-world to learn new skills and visit interesting educational builds. The learning part of the meet-ups is led by fellow participants, and is designed to be lightweight and appropriate for all skill levels. Meet at in Second Life on Morrill Island at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/65/136/29. ADD these dates & topics to your calendar, and plan to join us on for one or more of these sessions in February!! TO PARTICIPATE in any of the sessions held in our Web Conferencing Center: 1. Five minutes before the start time, go to our Web Conferencing Center meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn. 2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an "Enter as Guest" option. 3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/ university, click the "Enter Room" button to join the conference. 4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe's Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone. EMAIL LIST: If you or a colleague would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https:// lists.extension.org/mailman/listinfo/learn and subscribe to the "Learn" email list. RECORDINGS: Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki and scroll down under Professional Development heading and find "Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions", or search on the word Recordings. Looking forward to having you join us to learn something new in February!! eXtension PRIVACY POLICY UNDER MODIFICATION As eXtension continues to grow and develop, it’s important that we regularly review key policies and procedures. Recently, we have been making modifications to our privacy policies as we introduce new services such as the ability for users to rate and submit comments about content, use our Ask an Expert services and allow young people 13 years of age and younger to participate in eXtension. The new policies will be made active when the national launch takes place. CONTRIBUTOR AND BUSINESS AGREEMENT UPDATE eXtension has now received 38 signed institutional contributor and business agreements and almost 3,000 individual contributor and business agreements. Both agreements are important as they together protect contributor’s intellectual property and allow eXtension to copy distribute, display, perform and create derivative and collective works. We continue to encourage institutions that have yet to submit a signed institutional agreement to do so and for all Extension employees to get an eXtension ID and accept an individual contributor and business agreement. People interested in getting an eXtension ID may do so at: https://people.extension.org/. For a current list of the institutions that have submitted a signed institutional contributor and business agreement, please visit http://about.extension.org, select Quick Links and select Contributor and Business Agreements. FEBRUARY 19 NATIONAL WEB CONFERENCE CANCELLED An eXtension national web conference scheduled for Tuesday, February 19 has been cancelled due to its proximity to the eXtension National Launch Celebration. The next national web conference will be May 14, 2008. Other dates for 2008 national web conferences are: July 30 and October 1. REMINDER: GET YOUR eXtension ID NOW! As of February 1, 2008, nearly 6,200 of all approximately 15,000 Cooperative Extension Service professionals had eXtension IDs. We’re working to increase that number! We would LOVE to share with the Secretary of Agriculture at our February 21 Launch Celebration that 50% or 75% or even 100% of all Cooperative Extension workers have eXtension IDs. Help us move toward that goal! One of the first steps to being fully engaged with the eXtension initiative is to create this eXtension ID. By doing so you’ll be allowed to work in the eXtension collaborative space, you can become a member of one of 21 Communities of Practice, and you’ll be registered to receive routine email updates on the initiative. If you’ve already got your eXtension ID, members of your iTeam (institutional team) will be contacting you to give you a button recognizing that fact! Wear it proudly! If you don’t have your ID yet, it’s a simple process! Just go to http://people.extension.org and you’ll be taken to the registration page. Encourage your friends and colleagues in Cooperative Extension to do so today! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Terry Meisenbach, eXtension Communications & Marketing 26600 Avenida Quintana Cathedral City CA 92234 760-318-0276 office phone 760-318-2942 fax 760-641-9354 cell phone Terry.Meisenbach@eXtension.org I have an eXtension ID. Do you? Get one at https://people.extension.org