Examining Volunteer Management Needs and Preferred Professional Development Delivery Methods Among Extension Educators

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate Penn State Extension educators’ volunteer management needs and desirable professional development delivery methods. The participants were 92 Extension educators who participated in the online survey. The response rate was 47.4%. We found that the top five most preferable volunteer management content area needs among educators were volunteer communication, motivation, training, risk management, and coaching. The most desirable delivery methods of volunteer management content were webinars, one-time in-service training, factsheets, and series of workshops. The point-biserial correlation coefficient was used to show the correlation between specific volunteer management content area and professional development delivery method. Face-to-face training was preferred for topics such as needs assessments, utilization, teaching ethics and ethical decision making, motivation, coaching, risk management, and communication. Published content was the most preferred delivery method for topics such as writing position descriptions, selection, teaching ethics and ethical decision making, and risk management. Online education was a preferred delivery method for most topics, with the exception of marketing skills and utilization. Staff development personnel should consider these preferred delivery methods when designing training programs for Extension educators. Such consideration will enhance training effectiveness and learning.