Annie's Project is a widely known risk management program emphasizing five areas of risk and creating support networks for women in agriculture. Designed as an 18-hr course delivered through a series of face-to-face classes, it can be adapted to meet the learning needs and time constraints of the target audience and instructors. This article…

This article describes and encourages use of a curriculum that was developed for Extension educators to provide farm families with information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the procedure to become certified to use it. It also describes features of the ACA and unique challenges and opportunities that this law provides to farm families,…

Twitter is increasingly being used by Extension educators as a teaching and program-marketing tool. It is not enough, however, to simply use Twitter to disseminate information. Steps must be taken to evaluate program impact with quantitative and qualitative data. This article described the following Twitter evaluation metrics: unique hashtags,…

The critical incident technique (CIT) is a qualitative research method where subjects are encouraged to tell personal stories that provide descriptive data. Researchers who use the CIT employ a structured methodology to encourage respondents to share their experiences regarding a particular topic. Incidents are considered effective/successful when…

In recent years, libraries have become increasingly involved in financial education, and Extension educators are collaborating with them to deliver programs for their staff and the general public. Benefits to Extension educators include increased visibility, access to new audiences, having program logistics and marketing provided by others, access…

This article describes the development and evaluation of an online health and personal finance behavior change challenge that can be adapted for other Extension subject matter areas. The Small Steps to Health and Wealth™ Challenge is a behaviorally focused activity in which registered users self-report health and financial behaviors and receive…

This article describes results of an online survey conducted by the eXtension Financial Security for All (FSA) Community of Practice (CoP) to determine the social media capacity and activity of its members. The survey was conducted to inform two subsequent FSA CoP programs: an archived webinar on social media programs and impact evaluation methods…

An important step in the acculturation of new Extension professionals is a mentoring process that includes the input of experienced Extension colleagues. The wiki is a technology tool that can be useful by providing an online venue for Mentor Team communication and a place to share articles, curricula, and other critical tenure documents. This…

Effective advisory committees are the cornerstone of relevant, quality Extension programs. They provide stakeholder input to Extension personnel, which is required under the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act (AREERA) of 1998. This article describes the implementation of a virtual statewide Extension program advisory…

When users of an extension home study course on investing (68 print, 127 online) were surveyed, 44-45% rated it valuable/very valuable; those with no prior experience found it most helpful; 70% had made investments. Changes included use of new resources (63.4%), increased knowledge of fraud (56.1%), and investigation of specific investments…

An adult-education course familiarized participants with online consumer resources. Beyond teaching the mechanics of Internet use, it showed how to use the Internet as a tool for consumer decision making. (SK)

Money 2000, an extension program to teach saving money, included a longitudinal behavioral monitoring component over an extended period of time, computerized financial analysis, and individual financial counseling. The personal finance programs and evaluation procedures enabled staff to document almost $2 million of economic impact on the lives of…

Evaluation of MONEY 2000(TM), a savings education program with behavioral monitoring, by 520 participants indicated their motivations were to reduce debt and increase financial knowledge. Most helpful were the newsletter, tips/ideas/information, extension publications, and workshops/classes/conferences. Three of four respondents both increased…

Comparison of 124 participants in MONEY 2000, an extension program of savings education, with 101 who attended other personal finance workshops, revealed differences between the two groups in investing funds wisely, setting financial goals, paying more than the minimum on credit cards, and paying bills on time. (SK)