Dear cohort members –
Hope this finds you well! Excited to see your progress in the course and your engagement with the weekly updates (helpful for reflecting on where we are and the steps needed to move forward).
You may have noticed that I deleted this Friday’s Work Sess – I did
that because I’m taking some vacation time tail end of this week (my oldest is
graduating from Northwestern with an MS – so will be out of town celebrating
with her 😊). Feel free to keep the time on your calendar
(or coordinate with another accountability partner) for a work sess.
Other updates from me:
- Incentive#1: Weekly drawing winners have included Leslie, Adam, Eric A, and Sarah…if any of you did not receive a coffee card from me – please do let me know (they all went out the door at this point and should be received) – keep those check in messages coming…
- Thought you might appreciate seeing reflections from your colleagues (I really do love to read through the weekly reflections!).
Project Progress: Participants continued making progress on their projects, with the most common activities including:
· Completing Moodle modules/coursework (~35% of responses)
· Developing or refining logic models, needs assessments, and program plans (~25%)
· Advancing grant proposals and funding-related work (~20%)
· Engaging supervisors, colleagues, or stakeholders for project input and collaboration (~20%)
Course Engagement: Participants remained engaged with the cohort and learning process through:
· Participating in Moodle activities and discussion forums (~35%)
· Attending PDLC work sessions and cohort meetings (~25%)
· Applying course concepts directly to current Extension projects (~25%)
· Seeking feedback and support from supervisors, peers, and PDLC facilitators (~15%)
Learning Interests and Support Needs: The most frequently requested topics for additional learning (and where you can find resources) included:
· Grant writing and proposal development strategies (~20%) ********I want to point out a starter course that we created this year in workday learning – this is something that you can take at your own pace – completion shows up in your Workday Profile: CCE PDC 201 Grants and Grantmanship
· Evaluation methods, survey design, and Qualtrics (~15%) CCE PDC 144 Intro to Qualtrics for CCE Staff and list of shared resources amongst our staff: https://padlet.com/cjc17/program-evaluation-resources-i16oy4o1a3ba
· Needs assessment approaches and demonstrating program impact (~15%) Anyone wanting to work on a particular needs assessment approach – reach out to me…there are so many approaches, I’d like to be sure to meet your needs. As for program impact – I’m working on a public Extension page that demonstrates Impacts from Extension https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-cooperative-extension/news-stories/land-grant-impact There are some impact statements in here based on success stories, and some Smith Lever-funded projects that have been summarized, indicating impact. Need some help writing impacts? Draft and ask Qs from the Land Grant Impact Statement builder https://chatgpt.com/g/g-cr2fzXLic-land-grant-impact-statement-writer-gpt
· Facilitation techniques for advisory groups and stakeholder engagement (~10%) CCE PDC 105 Intro to Program Advisory Committees This one is also in Workday Learning – look at lesson 3 – Convening Meetings. Kelly Campbell @Kelly Campbell is our resident expert on building an environment where others want to contribute and keep coming back. The handbook as a stand-alone can be found here: https://staff.cce.cornell.edu/units/orgdev/cce-program-advisory-committees
I love what you are doing and asking – keep it going!
Based on your responses, your progress is being driven by:
Structured time planning
Collaboration and external accountability
Opportunities to reflect and refine project direction
Coursework Engagement (Moodle and Topics) – And I’m smiling at the evidence of peer learning, practical application of program development concepts, increasing project clarity, and intentional commitment to the professional development process
- "Going to the work session really helped and made me touch base with other cohort members - this helped me to understand where everyone was in their project which really helped."
- "I am gaining small insights on logic models that I didn't have in the past, and on mapping connections from the statewide plans of work to local plans of work to a specific program."
- "I began the actual work of the project itself, and the vision for the program is becoming clearer."
- "I am starting to carve out specific times that I can do focus work on PDLC and the project I am undertaking."
- At the Topic 4 Benchmark: Amanda, Daniela, Eric A, Heather, Ainsley, Jeremy! Way to go!!!
- Incentive: Reach end of Topic 4 and I will send along an incentive for ordering CCE Merch. I've worked something out with a local print shop for CCE promotional merchandise.
- Incentive: Coffee card to anyone who submits a blog post about your project or reflections on the program development process to me by the end of the month!
- Keeping it fresh….The equation for finishing PDLC (instructions for all of this are in our shared Google Folder) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bZ2sw_k3h8KFzsPFY653miLtdi_9T6Z4?usp=sharing (also findable in the "helpful links" section on our Moodle:
complete topic content (check things off as you do them)
Prepare a "one pager" + submit per instructions
Prepare a presentation
Sign up for a presentation time using the Google (dates are negotiable...you can suggest a different date reach out to me) form: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10usRzVDvzbzJQDAPL2t0F9i3RO6TpLswgGgSuR-SZF0/edit?usp=sharing
Benchmarks for Completion - updated weekly at the end of the week or you can review the "Completion Progress" in Moodle.
Look for my check-in form in your e-mail on Friday :) Keep investing time in your professional development and reflecting on things you are learning.
Celeste