others. Users can customize their learning and communications experience through Connect Extension settings.
Connect Extension performs fairly basic tasks, and it performs these tasks in a way that makes it both enjoyable to use and easy for users to follow. It is designed for every experience level - from users that are not comfortable with technology to experts. Connect Extension provides an interactive social space designed for this specific community of educators and professionals. Its features - forums, blogs, a way to share media clips, surveys, calendars, chat features and more - are specifically designed to elicit engagement, foster learning, and support community building. Enlisting Individuals Willing to Make It Successful Connect Extension is driven by its users, not the Extension Foundation. The Extension Foundation uses this platform just like anybody else across Cooperative Extension can use it - to share professional development opportunities, collaborate in private and public groups on specific projects and programs, and stay connected with the system. When launching a national technology tool like Connect Extension , it’s critical to not just open the door and hope people start using it. In the few days prior to launch, the Extension Foundation began populating Connect Extension with existing content that was relevant to COVID-19. At that time, this content was desirable and something many wanted to engage with. Additionally, the Extension Foundation solicited assistance from several individuals across Cooperative Extension to begin using different features of the platform to start publishing content for colleagues nationwide. This started with existing users from the Learn platform, and providing those individuals early access to begin populating Connect Extension with their offerings. The Extension Foundation team pursued opportunities with others across Cooperative Extension to use Connect Extension in different ways: creating private groups for their own internal collaborations, sharing important content across the system on the main blog, and providing a platform for others to lead professional development initiatives in unique formats such as live virtual chats. In an era where virtual conferencing is causing fatigue for many, Connect Extension provides additional forms of digital engagement that Cooperative Extension professionals can leverage and adopt.
Video Resources:
The below video – created by Aaron Weibe - shows you how to navigate Connect Extension ’s Learn feature, a calendar where people from across Cooperative Extension can post events and archive event recordings. Learn is a vast collection of educational and professional development opportunities.
This 5-minute video demonstrates how to find event recordings in Connect Extension ’s Learn feature.
Video: https://app.vidgrid.com/view/ZVZnPv1ulBEI/?sr=O gwdrB
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