130 Comparison of program evaluations for an extension short course offered in-person and virtually

Abstract

The COVID pandemic forced many traditional in-person extension programs to become virtual. The Equine Environmental Stewardship Short Course (EES) focuses on pasture and manure management and their impacts on surface water quality. In 2020, EES was converted to a virtual format due to pandemic restrictions. The objective of this project was to compare the program evaluation results of the EES short course when offered virtually versus in-person. The EES consists of 4 2-h evening sessions (2017 in-person, 2020 via Zoom). Handouts were given in class in 2017 and mailed in 2020. Information was presented via PowerPoint on 10 different topics. Discussions were facilitated in 2020 using breakout rooms and in 2017 with normal event breaks. Evaluations were collected after each night (2017 via paper, 2020 via Qualtrics). Data were collected on demographics, knowledge increases (1–4 scale with 4 being high), and intention to complete management practices. Welch's t -test and Fischer's exact test were used to analyze data, with significance set at P < 0.05. The 2017 EES had 25 people register (from 1 state), while 29 registered (from 6 states) for 2020. Survey response rate varied by night (2017: n = 17–22; 2020: n = 6–11). Demographics between the years were similar ( P > 0.05). Participants kept an average of 6.4 horses on 10.7 acres and rated the quality of their pastures as 2.8 on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 as highest quality). The overall mean knowledge increase was higher in 2020 (3.4 vs 2.9; P < 0.001), with 2020 participants reporting higher knowledge gains on forage biology, resting pastures, weed life cycles, soil test interpretation, methods for pasture renovation, and ideal manure storage features ( P < 0.05). Mowing pastures was the only adopted practice that differed ( P < 0.02). On night 1 of 2020 EES, 18% of participants had technical difficulties, but that dropped to 0–9% for subsequent nights. Breakout rooms were used 2 nights in 2020, and 90% and 67% of participants liked them on nights 1 and 2, respectively. Improved knowledge scores in 2020 could be due to slightly shortened talks (same content as 2017) and some different presenters. Overall practice adoption plans did not differ, possibly because each cohort reported similar quality pastures and thus had similar goals for improvement. In 2020, most participants reported few technology issues, but virtual challenges included lower evaluation response rate and some registrants opting to view recordings instead of participating live. Offering an in-person extension program as a virtual program is a viable option with the potential to reach a geographically wider audience.