Program excellence in Extension is contingent on an Extension educatorâÂÂs ability to
identify issues, prioritize these issues, implement educational programs to address
these issues and resulting in measurable outcomes, evaluate these issues and utilize the
results of these evaluations to redirect educational programs, and utilize these
evaluation results as the foundation for program interpretation. The future success of
Extension programs is dependent on the capacity of Extension to retain highly
qualified Extension educators and the ability of these Extension educators to
implement the process of Extension program development.
A comprehensive professional development intervention, entitled the âÂÂSouth
Region Excellence in Programming Academy,â was designed and implemented from
May 2006 to November 2006 to provide early to mid-career Extension educators with
comprehensive instruction related to program planning, program implementation and
evaluation and interpretation. A Pre-experimental research, One-Group pre-test-post test, involved the administration of a pre-test (O1) to research subjects followed by the
Academy (X) and then followed by a post-test (O2) to determine if Extension
educatorsâ knowledge in program development increased as result of participation in
the Academy. Extension educators perceive that their proficiency in the Extension
program development process increases as a result of their participation in the
Academy. Extension educators incorporate principles covered during the Academy
and were satisfied with the Academy in terms of providing skills that will enhance their
ability to execute the Texas Cooperative Extension Program Development Model.
This study showed that as an Extension educatorâÂÂs knowledge of the program
development process increased, and their perception of the elements of program
development increased, Extension educators will incorporate the principles of program
development covered during the Academy, and Extension educators were satisfied with
the Academy. Recommendations are offered to improve future professional
development interventions focusing on program planning, implementation, evaluation,
and interpretation. The results of this study will contribute to the body of knowledge
that will enhance the ability of personnel to provide quality professional development
related to program development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/5967 |
| Date | 17 September 2007 |
| Creators | Dromgoole, Darrell Allen |
| Contributors | Cummings, Scott R., Fraze, Steven D. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Record of Study, text |
| Format | 2859695 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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