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PARTICIPANTS ACCEPTANCE OF WEB-BASED EXTENSION PROGRAM DELIVERY

Teaching & Educational Technologies

Stephen Komar
Agricultural Agent
newton

Abstract

In recent years, distance education has become an important outreach tool in some areas of cooperative extension. This tool allows educators the ability to host what would traditionally be viewed as face-to-face educationa programs over the internet using specialized software. In 2009, a series of educational webinars consisting of three equine science-related and two homeowner garden disease seminars were conducted by extension faculty from Rutgers University, Cornell University and Penn State University. The objectives of this study were to evaluate participant’s acceptance of web-based technologies and to quantify the impact of web-based programs. Two hundred eighty one (281) individuals participated in five webinars hosted during 2009. Participants were surveyed to quantify the educational impact of these programs using a Likert scale (1= poor, 5= excellent). Respondents rated the quality very high (4.38), the content very high (4.58) and the educational value very high (4.54). Most respondents (>98%) reported having little to no problem utilizing the technology. Among respondents, 70% reported attending traditional extension programming. Most (53%) reported that that they enjoyed web-based programming as much as traditional extension meetings, while 35% reported that they enjoyed them more than traditional extension programs. Most (55%) of the respondents reported the ideal length of a web-based program to be 45 minutes. Webinars appear to be a viable alternative to traditional classroom extension programming and may increase efficiency for certain programs. Authors: McGrath, M., Gugino, B., Kluchinski, D., Kline, W., Bamka, W., Casella, M., Komar Jr, S. J., Williams, C., Mickel, R., Wyenandt, A.
  1. McGrath, M. Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, 16802
  2. Gugino, B. Associate Professor, Cornell University, New York, 11901
  3. Kluchinski, D. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08901
  4. Kline, W. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08332
  5. Bamka, W. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08060
  6. Casella, M. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08312
  7. Komar Jr, S. J. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 8863
  8. Williams, C. Extension Specialist, Rutgers Cooperative extension, New Jersey, 08901
  9. Mickel, R. Agricultural Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08822
  10. Wyenandt, A. Extension Specialist, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey, 08901