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eXtension Communities of Practice Answer Questions
By
Aimee Nielson
LEXINGTON, Ky., (Nov. 1, 2006) – With the combined expertise and
knowledge of Cooperative Extension professionals across the
United States, the eXtension Initiative is seeking to meet
consumers’ needs by providing answers to questions about
subjects that affect them where they live.
eXtension is developing communities of practice to address
consumer questions in a variety of areas including horticulture,
horses and finances, to name a few. Other communities are in the
works in many areas, and eXtension’s goal is to involve
Extension professionals from all 50 states.
“We are trying to serve all those people out there we call our
communities of interest,” said Dan Cotton, eXtension Initiative
director from the University of Nebraska. “What we know today
based on the customer is that they expect to go on the Internet;
they expect to ask a question; they expect to do a search; they
expect to communicate and build relationships with people who
have knowledge, and that’s why we are building these communities
of practice.”
The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s eXtension
team members are taking the lead in the horticulture and equine
communities of practice. The equine community of practice is
based on the established HorseQuest system which originated with
the Extension specialists from 13 southern land grant
universities to house a database of frequently asked questions
for equine enthusiasts and educators.
“HorseQuest, as we know it, originated as a frequently asked
question database then expanded to a few short learning modules
accessible online and that’s been in production for the last two
to three years, so the community of practice team has some
experience going into eXtension and working together and
collaborating,” said Ashley Griffin, eXtension Initiative
content design leader. “HorseQuest has evolved into a national
initiative for that frequently asked question system with a lot
of goals to meet the needs of the equine customer.”
The equine community of practice has tentative plans to publicly
launch the database sometime later this fall or early winter.
Griffin said it will serve not only as a question-and-answer
database but also a place to find news and events about equine
activities around the
United States. It will also offer up-to-date information about
hot topics and issues that emerge, such as diseases affecting
horses that require immediate attention.
“In addition, development of learning modules will be expanded
into certificate programs in a partnership with My Horse
University with Michigan State University and MSU Global,”
Griffin added. “In that partnership, they will be collaborating
to develop eXtension content and the certificate programs, so
that’s an exciting venture.”
The consumer horticulture community of practice is scheduled to
go live by summer 2007. UK Extension consumer horticulture
specialist Rick Durham is leading that effort.
“One in three Americans is involved in gardening in some way.
Whether that’s landscaping or cutting their grass, they are
involved in some type of gardening at the consumer level and
that’s roughly 100 million people,” he said. “We have a large
database of questions and answers that we collected from across
the country. … It’s a very rough database. Right now we are
going in and cleaning up that database and making sure we are
eliminating duplicate questions. Regionally specific and state
specific information will be served out only to the people in
those areas and not to everyone … there is still a lot of work
to do.”
Durham said Kentucky’s GardenData.org will become a part of the
eXtension system and that’s where Kentucky gardeners will go to
find answers to their questions. He said it will focus on
noncommercial horticulture areas.
“Specifically, we will focus on consumer horticulture, so
everything from lawns and backyard plants to water gardens,” he
said. “We won’t be telling commercial people how to do things or
how to market their products.”
Cotton is enthusiastic about the potential for the communities
of practice.
“When you look at Cooperative Extension nationwide, when you
look at all the talent that we have and then you think about how
we’ve been doing things separately, if you will, as individuals
or as states,” he said, “the power that comes when you put all
that together and build a community of specialization and
knowledge and information, it’s just incredible when you think
about the treasures and resources we can provide to those
communities of interest.”
Cotton went on to say that it’s all about Cooperative Extension
building relationships with people who need information.
eXtension’s communities of practice are just more tools in a
county Extension agent or educator’s tool box. It gives them
access to a nationwide knowledge base, he said. Communities of
practice will be available at
http://www.eXtension.org. |
Contact: : Rick Durham, 859-257-3249
Ashley Griffin, 859-257-4736, ext. 283 |
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The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
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