I'm sort of "fudging" the response here, but I definitely think it applies to the topic.

I'm bringing back an AARP Driver Safety Course, which is available to the general public, but intended specifically for aging drivers, and their caretakers.
The last time this class was offered by our CCE was in April 2020...which was obviously cancelled, and people have been clamoring for it to return ever since.
COVID restrictions at different points (our own CCE, County level, and even AARP's own standards) changed and were in conflict so many times, it just wasn't logistically practical to attempt this until I came on as Transportation Educator, and AARP had trained a new person to offer the course.

I was working as an "Essential Worker" in a Grocery Store for several years prior to CCE, so I have a LOT of experience in these conversations, and changed the course language accordingly.
"This is an in-person event, so please monitor your own health needs and be mindful of other participants and staff joining us. (We will be offering this course again, so anyone needing to reschedule will be prioritized for a future offering). Masks will be available at the door."

This audience in particular wants these in-person, not virtual (and I can't blame them), so we decided to try a single-day, 6-hour course instead of splitting it across two days to hopefully make it more accessible to many. The instructor is willing to go back to a two-day format, but we figured trying it on a weekend was a good initial attempt! I looked up local activities (students are back, Streets Alive!, Apple Harvest Festival, PorchFest), and picked the least-busy weekend of in the month.
It's not that any of those events in particular would be in direct conflict in terms of participants, but they might shy away those who are already leery of crowds and traffic.

All that is to say, we're taking the parts that made sense from the way we did it before, adjusting a few pieces to minimize number of courses and need to travel, and being mindful of the time of year, weather, and audience needs to cast the widest net.
(I'm also doing registration through my office number as well, when I typically prioritize web and email services - it's what the audience wants!)

Since I am new, I do not have a program previously in Extension, but I did start up a Teen Resiliency Program at my last job. It was a program that we developed with 12 lessons that we tailored to the needs of our students. We taught lessons on Body Image, Goal setting, Knowing your strengths, and a few others. We had a really good turn out. We two events where we the first time did 4 lessons in one day with a lunch provided between lessons. The second session we did after school for 4 days in a row. We also had parents come and learn about what they kids were learning so they could enforce the lessons at home. We got really good feedback and made adjustments with that feedback.
Feedback is one thing that is very important when it comes to making a program and really discovering the needs of what people want. People will not sign-up for what they are interested in. When it comes to learning strategies, it's important to know your audience and teach to their learning level as well as what they want to know. Always trying to improve your program and make it better will be a key to success. In the past I have run into many who do not like change and feel like since they did it that way for years there is no reason to change it. Change is good, embrace it and get better!

I am new to my program but have had many summer lessons which gave me the opportunity to practice old lessons and develop them into my own. The old lesson plans that I have access to are vague with a quick description of the lesson plan and lists 2-3 objectives. This was a good start but doesn't really allow a smooth transition for a new educator because it lacks dept and leaves questions on how the lesson was carried out, what topics did they incorporate and the flow of the lesson from start to finish. During the summer I have been familiarizing myself with the lessons, and the materials I have in the office to see what matches with what lessons or if there's overlap. I have been focused on developing context for future educators or so that anyone could understand the lesson plan and carry out a successful program with a smooth transition. I've also been developing variations of the same lessons based on audience, for example elementary, middle school, and high schools - need to follow simple to more advanced content. I am also trying to incorporate audio, visual, and create a hands-on experience for my lessons. Many of the high school lessons are just power point presentations in a lecture style format. I want to create an interactive aspect to those lessons to have students stay engaged. Maybe this would include a video or leaving time to do a hands-on activity just as I do with the younger kids? I feel like sometimes we forget that just because kids are older doesn't mean they won't enjoy a fun game. Even as adults we do ice breaker games that get us moving around the room for a break. I'm just not sure what these interactive parts will look like yet for the middle school and high school ages.

I am also new to CCE. I can't speak to programs that I have organized, but I did look back through documents detailing past programs organized by people in my position. There have been a lot of interesting an engaging programs over the years. I am focusing specifically on those with youth. One program that stuck out was a youth gardening program they did at the local environmental education center. It got me thinking about partnering with other organizations and the associated benefits of this practice. The center is well attended and I think they had a lot of children participate, more than it looks like came to most of the programs held here. I'm guessing this has a lot to do with the location the fact they were able to reach more interested families due to the connection to the education center. It seems like it was even more successful in the second year. I think there was some staff turnover and the program stopped due to that. I think it is important to consider the increased participation that came with the partnership. In terms of outcomes, I think it was successful in meeting many of the program goals I've identified through my research. Using hands-on activities and making the sessions fun would be the biggest motivator the participants (youth) and would also increase. I think the evaluation piece from previous programs would be really important her too.

My biggest program from the last year is Fruit and Veggie Rx program. It is modeled after other Produce prescription programs, adapted to our target populations.
We have used already tested EFNEP nutrition education programming and adapted to the diabetes population. We also spoke with other organizations that have a similar program to understand better the challenges, and successes.
At first, we did a basic power point presentation. We found that our participants were not only eager to learn, but also eager to have support, so we adapted to more open forum, allowing some conversation during the lessons. We also added a food tasting to our lessons, and a food demonstration. The participants were very eager to continue.
The biggest draw was a voucher that reinforces the lesson.
We asked questions along the way to understand what our target audience would be more drawn to. This allowed for adaptation during the program, which make a more successful program to continue.

Reflecting on a program we developed during COVID. It was an extension to our public presentation program, an effort to engage teens (who we often lose) and a spark for a potential program that could be done on a larger level and bring in revenue. It was called BOSS and we basically helped youth conceptualize and create a business plan, come up with a budget and then do an elevator pitch to our "bosses." We had 5 teens participate.

Instructional activities: virtual "lectures" and guest speakers and then practical handouts with assignments. We "designed" it on the fly and our Finance Director was one of the key presenters. Some of the financial material went over the youth's heads. Our guest speakers were of varying success. Outcomes were amazing despite our pilot program snafus. I believe the youth were encouraged to participate because their parents were their 4-H leaders.

Improving the program:
Creating a structured interactive version of all the activities vs. lectures
Getting feedback from the youth
Supporting our facilitators with more training on working with this age group
Creating a way to guide our speakers so there is more time for feedback and interaction
I love the idea of self reporting too--we did have some "assignments" for them that included a dream board but even more time for reflection would have been helpful
We had a final presentation and offered awards. That was met positively and provided motivation but I do think that parental support was the key factor in the program making it to the end.
We really want to move this to an in-person program. We also spent 6 hours doing this training, so making it meaningful in a digestible way--plenty of stretch breaks.
Combination of watching videos (ie elevator pitches), interactive activities, and reading and/or drawing so that all learners can find success.

How might knowing a previous strategy help you move your program closer to your outcomes?

Knowing what's been done in the past can inform your decisions for the future. If something has been tried, but was ineffective, you might not want to do that same thing because it "doesn't work" - or maybe you do, because the situation, audience, or some other factor has changed. Or, perhaps you want to change the method of delivery or some other approach you are taking. In some instances, a one-day workshop may be effective in accomplishing your goals; in other cases, a multi-day, or multi-week series is needed to make more significant change or more lasting learning/deeper understanding.

Consider the planned programs that you have done in the last year. What were they? Who came? Which instructional activities were a good match for your outcomes and why?

My favorite and most challenging part of my job is running our summer camp program. Summer camp is unique because we have youth of varying ages, abilities, and interests for many hours. It always surprises me which activities are going to be the best received and it's a great opportunity to pilot programs or test out changes in existing programs and get feedback. In the camp program, we were able to test out a program we've been trying to launch for schools and libraries - Amphibians and Beyond. The program itself was very well thought out. Different hands on activities with critters, a game, additional materials to read, discussion points, etc. The kids loved the program, but we learned, very quickly, the transportation of the critters needed to be better thought out. It just goes to show that we can put so much thought and planning into the program goals, teaching methods and engaging the youth but there's always more planning and improving that can happen (like how to transport an axolotl without spilling water everywhere ;)). We have since worked out some of the issues and hope to pilot in schools and libraries with our other programs in 2024 to youth in K-6th grades.

• What could you do to better understand your audience to motivate their learning?
So I haven’t had the opportunity yet to really run a defined program but I can relate to this with some of the hatchery work I do. Part of my job is to educate the public as well as various groups of all ages. I find it sometimes difficult while giving tours to younger audiences relating the material to them. With adults it’s much easier to talk to them about all of our processes because there is a sense of curiosity present coming into the hatchery. With younger people hatchery work may be of little interest to them. In that same breath the material during the tour I feel can sometimes go over their head. To get around this whenever I have a tour with a younger audience it really helps to coordinate with the educator or chaperone tying in the hatchery work to what they are learning currently. It seems to somewhat work…….sometimes but implementing strategies such as surveys could aid in making that aspect easier and more productive. In addition to that adding components that facilitate interaction throughout the tour could be beneficial. This could be something as simple as holding an oyster.

The horseshoe crab monitoring program site coordinator training workshop that we host annually was very well attended this year, which was good to see after COVID-19 had greatly affected how we could run the programs in the past. We had pivoted to online learning at that time, but it just isn't the same when it came to teaching and reviewing protocols for the citizen scientists. Since we had such a good turnout again, it was decided that we'd spruce things up a bit, including new powerpoint slides, more interesting facts about the program and what they are implementing and also try to be a bit more interactive with the audience. The fresh materials and approach seemed to be well received by the audience and we received positive feedback from the attendees. So, we have a new baseline to work off of and move forward with over time. Programs constantly change and evolve, so to keep a program running for over 15 years requires an open mind to change and adaptation; including learning strategies and understanding what your audience will be motivated by.

What is important to always keep in mind when teaching is awareness of the various learning styles. As educators we know that each student has a different learning style and the more engaged/invested a participant is in learning , the more likely to take away knowledge and skills. While is it important to be aware of different learning styles ( visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners, etc), the best teachers adjust and cater to each student's strengths to insure both the desire and ability to learn.
Quite a number of years ago, I took a class where we were required to take a learning type "quiz" and then plot the outcome on a grid. I found the results very interesting and it really clicked for me how very differently people learn and why and ultimately how to make modifications in the classroom setting. It helped me to better handle and address learning disabilities in my own home.