When the pandemic forced ISU Extension and Outreach to close offices and cancel most in-person meetings, it impacted its connection with Iowans across the state.
Instead of pulling back, extension found new ways to reach its audience and draw in people along the way.
"We started using social media, podcasts and radio to reach people with educational information," vice president for ISU Extension and Outreach John Lawrence said. "It is more than just Zoom or Webex, it is a portfolio of ways we reach people in addition to in person."
Extension had the advantage of previous relationships with its audience, and its affiliation with Iowa State guided people to virtual offerings.
"They will follow us on social media and they will tune in to watch a webinar even though they may not like Zoom because it is the same entomologist they would have driven 60 miles to hear because they trust them," Lawrence said.
For all the virtual education extension offers, it will not totally replace the in-person experience, Lawrence said.
"It's about the relationships," he said. "Our staff likes to help people, and most are extroverts. Those personal connections and trust can be generational."
Successful offerings
Extension provided numerous opportunities for people to interact virtually in recent months.
The crop scouting school was held virtually for the first time and drew 560 participants, up from about 30 for in-person events. People from 17 states and four countries took part.
The beef team conducted an 11-part series on controlling cow costs on Facebook that had more than 1,500 views. Iowa Learning Farms held 11 virtual field days with 2,300 participants, and the research farm field days drew 1,058 participants from nine states. Extension also has made its experts available to a larger audience with Facebook Live Q&A sessions.
"In a virtual world, there are no boundaries," Lawrence said. "Going forward we will look where Iowa State may have particular strengths and has a national audience. Conversely, are there things we are not particularly strong in where we may partner with other state extensions to deliver programming?"
Quality matters
Lawrence said extension benefited from starting early with virtual offerings, and quality will be key to keeping the audience.
"Early on we had a lot of grace, but as we move on it needs to have better quality and branding," he said. "There was a lot of learning from each other, not just in Iowa, but seeing what other states were trying to do."
Extension unveiled CropsTV on Dec. 1 to provide crop production information directly to farmers and agribusinesses at the viewers' convenience. Forty-five topics will be delivered over the course of 10 weeks and can be viewed live or on-demand. Charging viewers a one-time payment of $45 helps offset the loss of the crop management conference and the crop advantage series, which draw thousands of participants each year.
"Revenue generation is an important part of our budget," Lawrence said. "It provides continuing education credits that our audience needs, and provides us a test run of something with a professional look."
Lawrence also sees the possibility of something similar to CropsTV for community development, human sciences and 4-H. However, some offerings like ServSafe are contracted with national associations and must be conducted in person.
CropsTV will give extension an idea of how much of an appetite there is for online content and the balance that will need to be struck when in-person events resume, Lawrence said.
Virtual education task force
To examine the move to virtual education, Lawrence formed the Virtual Education Task Force. The 17 members assessed extension's response and programming while dealing with COVID-19. They came back with several areas of success and areas where more work is needed.
"We wanted to see what was and wasn't working well and shared those ideas for the short-term," he said. "We all realize that when we go back to normal, it won't be the old normal."
The shift to more online content presented simple needs such as having the proper lights and cameras, but Lawrence isn't looking for everyone in extension to be tech-savvy. Identifying key people in each unit who can assist and help troubleshoot is important.
"Some of those things have already happened, and some will be investments made going forward," he said.
The task force also pointed out several long-term strategies to benefit extension:
- Conduct audience assessments
- Conduct program assessments
- Build and expand expertise
- Promote an organizational culture shift
