report that YES there were similar outcomes in terms of understanding and willingness to act from both onsite and online forums.
Figure 9 - From onsite and online forums, outcomes of understanding and willingness of participants to act
Note: Quantitative data from the 2021 online forum provided evidence that participants shifted their responses in a positive direction from the pre to mid to post forum points in time. When compared to data from the 2018-19 in-person forums, collected by sticky notes, the slope of the arrow is upward in both cases - an indicator that the forum affected their self-rating. From: Pippidis, M. (2021, August). Strengthening health, resilience and farm vitality through online forums. New Technologies in Agriculture. 4th quarter and final report.
For the 2018-19 forums, we conducted surveys to determine on-going actions and longer-term outcomes. We collected data on what the strategic action teams chose to do, what they did and additional ripple effects. We chos e to measure what is known as “ripple effects” because we learned that end -of-forum and short-term data collection doesn’t capture changes over time that emerge from forums and other community engagement work. As Extension educators, we dedicate our time and energies to making change. Monitoring change over time motivates us and helps to show the relevance of Extension within the community and the importance of our work to our supervisors. Additionally, ripple effects from the two forum initiatives occurred both in the short and long term.
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