Extension & Delivery
Getting Started
As a University of California Cooperative Extension employee, you have several key responsibilities aimed at extending research-based knowledge and resources to your audience.
Your audience, communication, solutions, and evaluation
Starting your program best practices and resources
Your audience, communication, solutions, and evaluation
Audience
Learn about your audience so that you can collaborate with them in a way that is relevant, meaningful to them, and provides them with positive outcomes and impact. It is important to engage your audience, community members, local organizations, and other relevant parties in the planning and development process. Learn more on this page Audience (Web page).
Solutions
Developing solutions for your audience it is important to consider many factors including their specific needs, cultural, economic, and environmental factors. Solutions should be tailored to the specific conditions and resources available in the community. Learn more about Solutions (Web page).
Messaging & Communication
Consider best practices to package and communicate so that you reach and engage others in your work. These include knowing your audience, making your content accessible, incorporating adult learning principles, using the ANR brand, following copyright guidelines, planning and strategizing your communication, including all Californians, and more. Dive deeper into Messaging & Communication (Web page).
Evaluation & Impact
Evaluation and impact assessment are crucial in cooperative extension in order to demonstrate to you and your collaborators, to funding agencies, and policy makers that your program is achieving their intended goals. Additionally, regular evaluation provides feedback on what is working and what is not for making decisions to refine and improve programs and services. Evaluating and sharing the impacts of the program can increase engagement and support. When various collaborators see tangible benefits, they are more likely to invest time, resources, and trust in the cooperative extension services. Read more about Evaluation & Impact (Web page).
Starting your program best practices and resources
10 tips to starting your program
Successful extension needs time, trust and continuity. Here are ten steps to help you start well. More information can be found in this fact sheet 10 tips to starting your program. (PDF).
What a good program looks like
A good program has a positive impact (i.e., positively changes conditions) on one’s targeted clientele. We explore here briefly, what is involved and what you can do. Fact sheet - this is intended as a practical summary to complement the academic advancement guidelines. Find out more in this online presentation What a good program looks like. (Google Slide Show).
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