Packaging Yourself As An Extension Professional

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Packaging Yourself As An Extension Professional

• Reginal M. Harrell, Roger G. Adams, Deborah J.
  Maddy, and Daniel J. Weigel

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Balancing Service and Education

• Dealing with the perception of Extension
• Relevance
• Service-Centered or Learner-Centered
• Partner-Linked
• Engaged

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Defining the Role of An Extension Professional

• How are we appointed?
• Public Service faculty
• Tenure-track faculty

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Public Service Faculty
public service is principally involved in the
identification, development, and rendering of
service to individuals, communities,
organizations, and public service agencies in
support of their own purposes and functions.
Public service activities deal basically with the
public-policy needs of society. Problem
oriented, they rely heavily upon the integration
of knowledge from many disciplines as well as the
application of an experience-based understanding
of real-world relationships and phenomena
(University of Georgia 2000).  
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Tenure Track Faculty
Academic Extension Agent
Is not an oxymoron!
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Defining the Role of An Extension Professional

• Who are our peers?
• Relevance to whom?
• Peers?
• Clientele?
• Institution?
• Agency?
• Accountability, Impacts

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Guiding Principles of Extension Scholarship

• Supports the Land-Grant, Sea-Grant Mission
• Adds distinction to the profession and/or
  discipline
• Exists in several forms including outreach,
  research, and teaching

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Guiding Principles of Extension Scholarship

• Expects scholarship to be consistent with
  position descriptions
• Identifies standards for evaluating scholarship
• Conforms to the ethical principles of the
  profession.

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Definition

•   Scholarship of Extension is the creation,
  integration and application of research-based
  knowledge whose significance is validated by
  peers and communicated for the adoption and
  benefit of communities and citizens.
•  

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Boyer, 1990 Scholarship reconsidered Priorities
of the Professorate
To make complex ideas understandable to a large
audience can be a difficult, demanding task, one
that requires not only a deep and thorough
knowledge of ones field, but keen literary
skills, as well.
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Portfolio of Scholarly Products

• Newsletters or newspaper articles
• Fact sheets, bulletins, magazine articles
• New curricula and courses
• Educational manuals and teaching guides
• Books, published abstracts, proceedings
• Peer-review journal articles
• Computer programs, web courses, videos
• CD-ROMs, Video Streaming

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Summary

• Extension agents are challenged to stay current
  and objectively determine the truth of new
  information.

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Summary

• Develop and provide scholarly materials
• Adopt appropriate learning style techniques.
• Become Learner-Centered

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Summary

• Become Engaged, Partner-linked
• Assess impacts and outcomes

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Summary

• Change in attitudes between academic and
  Extension communities alike.
• Adopt national standards defining scholarship