National Extension Water Outreach Education
Facilitating Access to Resources and Best Practices
Increasing Citizen Involvement Using Target Audience Information
Content redirected from https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/wateroutreach/
Introducing two initiatives at the University of Wisconsin 1996 – 2012, which were developed in collaboration with multiple partners and funded primarily by the United States Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension program office. Content has been rebuilt on Convenor.com because the original website is no longer available.
Project goals:
Unique Water Outreach Education tools and techniques were developed to aid natural resource professionals and agencies realize their water management goals.
Changing Public Behavior resources highlight a community approach to education about water. Tools and fact sheets are designed to help conservation and outreach professionals use social assessment resources to design an outreach initiative with measurable impacts.
How is this project relevant today?
University of Wisconsin experts along with public and private funders invested in this initiative to address a gap in providing effective education about the environment to adult audiences – that is, the lack of an audience and community-specific orientation to enabling groups and communities to improve their understanding of how to maintain and improve environmental quality.
Materials are designed to support the work of outreach educators focused on natural resources. Resources include audience and behavior research syntheses, an educator self-assessment rubric, self-study modules, a decision-tree, and content resources.
Project outputs build on original research and previous University of Wisconsin-based initiatives to improve the quality of outreach education for a variety of audiences whose activities affect the quality of water.
Outreach educators use project resources to build skills for choosing the most effective methods to meet specific goals. Educators consider:
- A specific community or audience “of interest”
- Consultative vs collaborative teaching & learning techniques
- Short-term vs long-term change
- Emphasis on:
- A problem-solving approach
- Identified audience skills & barriers
These pages summarize research, activities and key projects for enhancing outreach educator effectiveness. Learning guides and training resources will be available soon.
Watch this space!
Use Best Education Practices to plan an effective natural resources outreach strategy.
Resource and research examples focus on water:
- Connect the situation with the people
- Choose achievable goals
- Select relevant outreach techniques
- Get measurable results
Water Outreach: Project summary
Water Outreach: Building the case for value
Water Outreach: Organizing a system for access
Use social assessment resources to design a natural resources outreach initiative with measurable impacts:
- Become familiar with the “community of interest”
- Define and assess the target audience
- Actively engage the target audience in planning
Changing Public Behavior: Project summary
Changing Public Behavior: Tools
Changing Public Behavior: Impacts