Just In Time Parenting  (JITP) Community of Practice March 2011 Update

Welcome to the JITP March Update 🙂

WORK GROUP SESSIONS TAKING PLACE IN CHICAGO, LOUISVILLE AND ORLANDO!

Are you considering the possibility of attending any of these 2011 conferences?

• CYFAR/DoD in Chicago (April 26-29)
• National eXtension Conference in Louisville (Jun 28-30)
• NCFR in Orlando (Nov 16-19)

If so, the JITP Team enthusiastically invites you to join them during any of the workgroup sessions they will be scheduling around these conference opportunities.  Look for session scheduling information in future updates.

Your ideas and involvement are vital to the ability of JITP to move forward and make the national impact it strives for.  Even if you can’t attend any face-to-face meetings, you can participate in the same way that the JITP team normally works throughout the year — via email and Web 2.0 tools. Contact one of the JITP team leaders to find out more.

JITP SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

NEW!  We now have a JITP parenting blog and we are currently seeking guest bloggers. Our tag line is this:  “Child development experts with real lives, real families and real challenges.”  Do you have something to add to the conversation?

To get started as a guest blogger, contact a member of the JITP leadership team (Marissa.stone@gmail.com or abellel@auburn.edu ). We will help you get set up in the system to blog.  If you are familiar with WordPress you will feel right at home.  If you have never used WordPress before please see the following video to help you get started.  If you would like to be listed on the Guest Bloggers page, please send a short bio along with an image to  Marissa Stone and we will add you to the list. Happy Blogging and we look forward to reading your posts!

Also, check out these other JITP social media options:

JITP is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JustInTimeParenting

JITP is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JITParenting

JITP Blogs for Professionals: https://jitp.wordpress.com/

WANTED: A FEW GOOD…STATE CONTACTS

We have openings available in a few excellent states for a person to be designated as the “State Contact” for JITP. State Contacts have two roles to play:

(1)     as a liaison between the JITP leadership team and current or potential external partners in your state

(2)    as an information conduit about JITP resources and educational offerings

State contact opportunities are available for:

Arizona

Hawaii

Massachusetts

New Jersey

Mississippi

Rhode Island

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Washington DC

If you would like to learn more or volunteer, please email Ellen Abell.

Extension educators should be aware of the efforts in using social media to draw attention to the house resolution. The web conference on Tuesday will review those efforts.

Also, Cooperative Extension professionals are encouraged to:

1. Join the national efforts on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CooperativeExtension and Twitter at @CESValue and #coopext

2. Provide success stories from CES efforts around the country.

3. Ask their constituents to also join and share their stories in these spaces.

Attend the Web Conference to Learn More:

On Tuesday, March 1, 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 CT, 12:30 MT, 11:30 PT), a web conference will be held as a follow-up to the CES Budget Social Media Strategy web conference held February 22.

The web conference will serve to update people on the process, provide evaluation data, and offer suggestions for further educational efforts.

The agenda will feature:

·Jane Schuchardt (Cooperative Extension): Introductions, observations and ongoing activities

·Anne Adrian (eXtension): Observations, lessons learned, and next steps

·James Wade (APLU): Engaging constituents

·Michael Lambur (eXtension): Metrics

To join the conference please go to http://www.extension.org/learn/event/151 where additional information about the program may be found. Following the conference, a link to the recording will be posted on this page, as well.

We suggest joining the conference a few minutes before the starting time and login as a Guest.

Just In Time Parenting  (JITP) Community of Practice February Update

SAVE THE DATE!  SUBMIT A PROPOSAL!

Is the eXtension Conference, happening June 28-30 at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, KY, relevant for you?

The answer is yes if you are interested in…

• Knowing about cutting edge strategies for extending parenting and child development knowledge to today’s families.
• Learning how to network and collaborate more effectively and economically with colleagues.
• Broadening your impact.
• Sharing lessons YOU have learned about these and other topics of interest to Extension professionals.

If you have an idea related to the eXtension/CoP mission and think you might want to submit a workshop proposal. If you are first author on an accepted workshop proposal (consisting of a 200 word abstract), your registration is free!

**Abstracts are due March 8.

More details, as we get them, about the conference program will be forthcoming in future updates.

Just in Time Parenting TEAMS UP to SUPPORT MILITARY FAMILIES

In partnership with eXtension, supported by funding from the US Department of Defense, the JITP Community of Practice will be extending its expertise to family support professionals who serve military families.  Our plan of work aims to address the following objectives:

Connect family support professionals serving military families…

• with one another and with extension faculty and staff using social media.
• with existing resources and educational opportunities available from Extension.
• with other eXtension CoPs (e.g., Families, Food and Fitness, Family Financial Literacy).
• with extension staff and current educational programs in their communities.
• with other research-based organizations and consortia.
• with online professional development opportunities.

Andrew Behnke (North Carolina), Kim Greder (Iowa), and Aaron Ebata (Illinois) developed the successful JITP proposal. Funding will support the hiring of several part-time leaders to provide strategic oversight, marketing and professional development leadership, and social media expertise.

JITP workgroup sessions in Chicago, Louisville, and Orlando

Are you considering the possibility of attending any of these 2011 conferences?

• CYFAR/DoD in Chicago (April 26-29)
• eXtension in Louisville (Jun 28-30)
• NCFR in Orlando (Nov 16-19)

If so, the JITP Team enthusiastically invites you to join them during any of the workgroup sessions they will be scheduling around these conference opportunities.  Look for session scheduling information in future updates.

Your ideas and involvement are vital to the ability of JITP to move forward and make the national impact it strives for.  Even if you can’t attend any face-to-face meetings, you can participate in the same way that the JITP team normally works throughout the year — via email and Web 2.0 tools. Contact one of the JITP team leaders to find out more.

WANTED: A FEW GOOD…STATE CONTACTS

We have openings available in a few excellent states for a person to be designated as the “State Contact” for JITP. State Contacts have two roles to play:

(1)     as a liaison between the JITP leadership team and current or potential external partners in your state

(2)    as an information conduit about JITP resources and educational offerings

State contact opportunities are available for:

Arizona

Hawaii

Massachusetts

New Jersey

Mississippi

Rhode Island

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Washington DC

If you would like to learn more or volunteer, please email Ellen Abell.

STRATEGIC PLANNING PRIORITIES FOR 2011

Members of the JITP Community of Practice who attended NCFR met last month to identify our top three priorities for 2011:

(1)  Build awareness and use of JITP resources nationally.

(2)  Optimize the use of social media to engage our audiences.

(3)  Evaluate JITP strategically and more effectively.

Each of these priorities consists of specific steps and defined projects.  For example, under priority #1 we plan to host at least 4 webinars for parenting support professionals and/or parents.

If you have ideas for webinar topics or some time you are willing to put into one of JITP’s priorities in 2001, please contact a member of the JITP Leadership Team.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Have you considered how involvement in the JITP Community of Practice could broaden your professional network and strengthen your outreach efforts to parents?  We have a strong, active core leadership team that is looking to widen and sustain JITP’s impact. Could it be your ideas and involvement that will help lead JITP into the future.

DID YOU MISS JITP’s BULLYING WEBINAR?

Over 400 people tuned in to our November 15 webinar on bullying. They heard the latest science-based research about bullies and victims and the conditions that support these destructive interactions.

If you missed it, it’s been archived HERE. Or go to the webinar link in the Bullying feature article on the JITP home page .

WANTED: A FEW STATE CONTACTS

We have openings available in a number of states for a person to be designated as the “State Contact” for JITP. State Contacts have two roles to play:

(1)     as the liaison between the JITP Leadership and external partners in your state

(2)    as an information conduit about JITP resources and educational offerings

States without a confirmed state contact are as follows:

Arizona

Hawaii

Massachusetts

Michigan

New Jersey

Mississippi

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Washington DC

If you would like to learn more or volunteer, please email Ellen.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE JITP LEADERSHIP TEAM!

Announcing the eXtension Virtual State Fair in Second Life – Oct. 6-10, 2010

Enter contests. Go geocaching. Enjoy live music every evening. Attend 30-minute learning sessions put on by Cooperative Extension educators on topics such as parenting, home gardening and food safety. It’s all part of the Cooperative ExtensionVirtual State Fair in Second Life.

Activities abound 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Second Life Time (Pacific Time) each day Wednesday, Oct.6 through Sunday, Oct. 10 on Morrill 131/12/24. You can enter contests, learn and enjoy the sights. There’s even a midway and line dancing. Make plans to join us in-world.

Second Life is a virtual world which enables its users to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, socialize and participate in individual and group activities.

State Fair Schedule (Second Life Time, Pacific Time) Oct. 6-10, 2010
Wednesday through Friday 12 noon to 2 p.m. Give Us 30 Minutes and We’ll Teach You Something Useful. Learn about lawn care, food safety, parenting and more from Extension experts who have information you can trust from the nation’s largest and oldest network of universities.

Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Polls open for public voting for photo contest; hunt for hidden treasure in the Morrill Geocache event

Thursday 5 to 6 p.m. Fashion show with Lissa Maertens
Friday 5 to 6 p.m. Poetry Reading with Riven Homewood
Saturday 5 to 6 p.m. Cake Decorating Contest – Prizes awarded
Sunday 1:30 to 4 p.m. Vocal Talent Search – Prizes awarded
Sunday 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. SIMTASTIC Parade – Prizes awarded

Every day
11 a.m. – 12 noon Ice cream social mixer
2 – 4 p.m. Expo featuring animal care & management, community & economic development, crops, energy & environment, home & family and yard & garden
4 – 6 p.m. Midway, line dancing at Gertrude’s barn
6 – 8 p.m. Live musicians – folk, blues, pop and country
8 p.m. Fireworks after music shows

What a great lineup of real live music!
Wednesday, Oct. 6 Folk
6 p.m. Capos Calderwood
7 p.m. Woodsong Zapatero

Thursday, Oct. 7 Blues
6 p.m. Von Johin
7 p.m. Noma Falta

Friday, Oct. 8 Pop
6 p.m. Montian Gilruth
7 p.m. Tamra Sands

Saturday, Oct. 9 Country
6 p.m. Savannah Coronet
7 p.m. Reno Segall

eXtension is an educational resource designed to provide you and others in your community with skills and knowledge that help you grow and empower you to improve your quality of life. You can trust eXtension to take the best university-based research and turn it into hands-on programs and practical information you can use to solve today’s problems and develop skills to build a better future.

JITP Update

TASK FOR THIS WEEK: Tune into the JITP Evaluation Webinar

Explore and learn how to use the evaluation tools available to document the impact of the JITP newsletter in your state or county.  Register now!

Thursday, September 9, at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern) Or Friday, September 10, at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern).

It’s easy to participate.  Here’s how:

1)       Click on the URL for the meeting:  http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/jitp/

2)       Log into the meeting room and select the option to enter as a Guest.

3)       Type the name to be used as your identifier in the meeting and click Enter Room.

~   If the meeting has started, your browser immediately displays the meeting room.

~   If the meeting has not started, you will receive this message:  “The meeting has not yet started.  You will be able to access the meeting once the host arrives.  Please wait.”

Take a couple minutes and test your computer’s ability to participate. At any time before the meeting, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/testconnect and follow the prompts.

JITP and Social Media

JITP offers some of the best parenting information available for parents with young children. How can we help more parents connect with it? Especially for today’s parents, one answer is to expand our reach through the use of social media. Check out JITP on these social media sites.

JITP is on Facebook! We have 61 friends now, join us!

JITP Twitter Account:  http://twitter.com/JITParenting

JITP Blog for Professionals: https://jitp.wordpress.com/

Website for Extension professionals: http://www.parentinginfo.org/

Website for parents: http://www.extension.org/parenting

If you are a savvy social media user, we’d love to hear your ideas for supporting JITP’s outreach efforts via this technology. Contact any of the JITP leadership team.

A “Just in Time” Update for the eXtension Parenting Community of Practice

JITP Evaluation Webinar Broadcasts on September 9 and 10

Join us for a 30-minute webinar to learn about the evaluation tools available to document the impact of JITP resources on the parents and children in your state or county.  The webinar will broadcast on two dates, September 9, at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern), and September 10, at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). Look for more information in future updates.

What Are Parents Saying about the JITP Newsletters?

We have compiled decades of great evaluations distributing mailed print Just in Time Parenting newsletters. Now, we are beginning to learn how readers evaluate electronic distribution of JITP.  The first national e-newsletter evaluation  was compiled in December of 2009 with a small sample of 21 subscribers whose babies had turned a year old during that year.  The results are preliminary, but promising.

Parents reported that JITP helped them with these behavior changes:

100%  provide opportunities for baby to explore and learn

100%  talk and listen to my baby

97%   be less angry when my baby was difficult

95%   show my baby books and pictures

91%   feed baby safe and healthy foods

91%   have patience when baby was fussy or annoying

87%   protect my baby from accidental injuries

86%   calm baby and help baby stop crying

82%   find other information or websites to meet their needs

77%   take care of themselves so they could be a better parent

59%   talk about parenting with others close to them

In terms of knowledge gain from JITP, subscribers said they learned:

100%    more ideas about ways to play with baby to help baby learn

100%    some of the annoying things my baby does are normal for age

100%    that baby is not trying to be bad or make me mad on purpose

96%    what to expect my baby to be able to do at each age

95%    to feel more confident in my skills as a parent

87%    to notice my baby’s cues (what baby needs/is trying to tell me)

87%    to feel more comfortable about talking with doctor about a question or concern

86%    more ideas about disciplining baby without spanking/slapping

86%    to know when my baby is hungry and full

77%    to know when to schedule well-baby checkups or immunizations

Track Your JITP Marketing Efforts — Get A Coupon Code

With a coupon code, you can find out how many parents (by county) have signed up for JITP as a result of your marketing efforts. To obtain a coupon code, contact Aaron Ebata and provide him the information below. Then, just have parents enter that code on the subscription page when they sign up for JITP.

1. Title of your marketing effort (if any)
2. Organization
3. Contact name and email address
4. Brief description of your marketing plan (e.g. scope – state or county wide – or if you are targeting a specific population)

Discover more JITP marketing ideas at  (for Extension professionals) or (for other professionals).

Publicize JITP with Bookmarks

Find downloadable files of colorful bookmark templates in Spanish and English.

This Month’s Tip for Getting Involved — Try Out Drupal and Provide Feedback to eXtension

eXtension is working to improve Community of Practice communication tools and is asking for input from all CoP members. eXtension would like to hear from as many members as possible by August 6^th to get initial data, but will be accepting input through August 27.  Here are the instructions:

• Go to the Drupal environment. You will be asked to log in using your eXtensionID. Once logged in you will see the eXtension dashboard, which displays content from eXtension. This dashboard will contain content eXtension provides the communities or those developing content. You will also notice that all the eXtension recognized communities you belong to are populated in the right hand column.

• Drupal is linked to the People application to provide you with your communities. When you select a community (JITP) you will go to the community’s dashboard. The community dashboard allows a community to post information that community members need to know. Try posting a blog entry, an event on the community calendar, or article content.  (It’s all internal as we try it out and see if we like it.)  Look at the content created. The community dashboard is also where you can create or edit content.

• Complete the Drupal Usage Survey

Thank you for your help!

Just In Time Parenting

A “Just in Time” Update

Save the Date! JITP Evaluation Webinar September 9 and 10

Join us for a 30-minute webinar to learn about the evaluation tools available to document the impact of JITP resources on the parents and children in your state or county.  The webinar will broadcast on two dates, September 9, at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern), and September 10, at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). Look for more information in future updates.

JITP Newsletters (and their Reminder Emails) Are More Attractive Than Ever!

On June 1st, we “turned on” a revised and expanded version of the JITP e-Newsletter email delivery system for subscribers. JITP now supports expecting parents prenatally, as well as parents of children from birth through age 5!

For each of the three Prenatal issues, as well as Months 1-12, subscribers will see in their emails more content and pictures, as well as links to the complete issue on the web. Subscribers receiving the Newborn and Months 13-60 e-Newsletters will see a picture of the PDF newsletter, a table of contents, and links to the complete issue on the web.

We expect that these improvements will encourage even more subscribers to open up their JITP e-Newsletters. Kudos to Aaron Ebata and his small and mighty team at University of Illinois for the painstaking work required to make these many improvements!

Are Your JITP Marketing Efforts Having an Effect? Use A “Coupon Code.”

Would you like to find out how many parents have signed up for JITP as a result of your marketing efforts?  If so, you can ask parents to enter a designated “coupon code” when they subscribe.

To obtain a coupon code, please contact Aaron Ebata.  You will be asked to provide:

• Title of your marketing effort (if any)
• Organization
• Contact name and email address
• Brief description of your marketing plan (e.g. scope – state or county wide – or if you are targeting a specific population)

Aaron will send you a code.  Then, just have parents enter that code on the subscription page when they sign up for JITP.

Tune in to JITP on Twitter and Facebook

• Click here to follow JITP on Twitter
• Click here to become a member of the JITP Facebook group page
• Click here to access the Official Just In Time Parenting Blog

Many thanks to Marissa Stone for putting us on the social media map!

This Month’s Tip for Getting Involved –  Blogging Anyone?

Increasingly, people are using social media to seek answers to their parenting and child development questions. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Second Life are just the beginning. As JITP continues to reach out to parents in ways relevant to their lives, we’ll need professionals able or willing to learn to communicate through these channels.

Do you have any interest in blogging for JITP? Or in developing short videos, podcasts, or presentations for the on-line JITP audience? If so, send an email to Leslie Forstadt and we’ll team up to learn how to connect with parents in the world of social media.

Registration is Open for the 2010 National CoP Workshop: June 6-8, 2010, Austin, TX

The eXtension National CoP Workshop is for everyone involved in and/or interested in eXtension and Communities of Practice. Learn from colleagues who are innovative in their approach to digital content delivery through a “hands-on” workshop format. Bring your laptop with WiFi connection so you can participate in sessions showing how to effectively engage online learners.

Go to eXtension National CoP Workshop to find out more. Here’s a small sampling of the many workshops that will be offered:

• Getting Your Wiki On – Beginner & Advanced sessions
• Networking and Collaboration 101
• Photo’s and You – Photo management, rights, issues
• Second Life for Dummies
• @Twitter Learning – Using Twitter for Outreach and Education
• Integrating Social Media: Using multiple tools for maximum effecting Your Client
• Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs, engage your client

Click Here To register

To make a room reservation (The room block will be released May 6th. eXtension is working to extend the block another week or so.)

This Month’s Tip for Getting Involved

Write a feature article for the JITP Front Page. Like the rest of the resources found on JITP, the Feature Article provides authoritative content that is topically relevant, jargon-free, timely and attractively packaged for today’s web-using audience.  If you are interested in this opportunity, contact Ellen Abell to discuss the possibilities or call: 334-844-4480 .

Interested in Spreading the Word about JITP?

Check out sample flyers and bookmarks at http://www.parentinginfo.org/extension/marketing.php

Do You Know the Difference Between…

… http://www.parentinginfo.org and http://www.extension.org/parenting?

parentinginfo.org is packed with information designed to help professionals like you make the most of the Just in Time Parenting resources – and increase the impact of parenting education efforts.

extension.org/parenting is where we hope more and more parents go to find the information they are looking for to help their children grow up healthy and ready for success.

Extension Just in Time Parenting (JITP) is an outreach innovation that brings high quality, research-based information to families at the time it can be most useful and make the biggest difference in their lives.

Our vision is to reach all parents — starting prenatally and continuing through adolescence – with the key information that can help their family unit thrive and support their children as they grow up healthy and ready for success.

This multistate initiative is starting with the best that already exists within the Extension system and transforming that into two national interactive internet resources on parenting. This JITP blog is one of those resources!

JITP educates Parents! In partnership with eXtension, Just in Time Parenting offers parents direct access to age-paced resources and expert advice, when they need it most.