Tag: University of Delaware

eXtension Catapults Specialist into Diversity Leadership Role

Post author By Sandy Stegall
Post date September 12, 2017

The eXtension Diversity and Inclusion Corps provided the confidence and motivation Mannering needed to go forward with the Unity luncheon, online modules, and related activities, instead of just thinking about it.

Christy Mannering’s farmhouse office in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) at the University of Delaware is “off the beaten path,” says Adam Thomas, CANR interim director of communications. “She actually only sees two to three people per day, and they’re the same people.” Mannering is a digital communications specialist and web developer, and her job requires her to sit at a desk behind a computer most of the day.

At the same time, Mannering is very passionate about working with people. In fact, she and her son run a non-profit organization in her off-hours that feeds the homeless and provides additional help to those in need. Mannering found a way to work differently by squaring her desire for more on-the-job people involvement with her work duties through the eXtension Diversity and Inclusion Issue Corps.

“When I saw the request for proposals, it piqued my interest,” she says. “I’ve always been interested in why I behave as I do and why others act a certain way. You can’t do anything in this world completely alone, at least not very well. You need to be able to collaborate and work with others, especially if you are interested in service.”

Mannering reached out to the Office of Equity and Inclusion on her campus for help in putting her eXtension proposal together and for including benchmarks for measurable local impact. She submitted the proposal in December and cheered when it was approved in January 2017. Not one to let grass grow under her feet, she involved colleagues in her college, in the Equity and Inclusion office, and others to plan the first-ever Unity Event in CANR.

The Unity luncheon, held in March, brought together 55 graduate students and faculty. (Among other roles, Mannering is a grad student in public administration.) The event featured an exercise in which participants were asked to wind strands of colorful yarn around pegs on a board labeled with such titles as “veteran,” “LGBTQ,” “employee,” “parent,” “immigrant,” etc. The result was a work of art that the college dean keeps in a central area where people continue to add to the piece.

“The event showed everyone in the college that although you may have dissimilarities from others, you also have nuances that cross over. It was a very successful event,” Thomas says.

Participants in the Unity luncheon also were given an opportunity to anonymously write on cards scenarios they had witnessed where people were harassed or treated inequitably. Groups at tables then discussed the scenarios and came up with possible ways to deal with uncomfortable situations. One participant in the post-event evaluation said: “It made me feel better to see how many people are against bigotry but are too afraid to speak up. They’re intimidated, not apathetic. If I took the initiative to defend someone, others might also be supportive.”

“The way we live, the way we work, the way we present ourselves, our action and our inaction, can very much impact and shape the lives of the people around us. We need to be able to work differently so that we can ‘walk in each other’s shoes’ and not judge them.”

Mannering is taking her learning from her eXtension Diversity and Inclusion experiences a step further by creating online modules on emotional intelligence, which she sees as an antidote for bullying and harassment in the workplace. She has created the first two modules and plans up to eight more. (Mannering would value input from potential users to add to and improve the modules.) “Creating modules and researching this for the issue corps may be allowing me to provide some ‘aha moments’ for others,” Mannering says.

Thomas credits eXtension with giving Mannering the “confidence and motivation to go forward with the Unity luncheon, the online modules, and related activities, instead of just thinking about it.” He adds that the college will be willing to give Mannering time to work on the modules because “Christy is one of those people who can multitask until the cows come home, and a lot of people could benefit from her work.”

In the meantime, Mannering is less lonely in her remote office. The eXtension Diversity & Inclusion experience provided Mannering with on-campus visibility that she was previously lacking: “I was invited to participate in a diversity summit on campus, which I wouldn’t even have known about previously. I’ve met people from other parts of campus, and I’m still emailing with friends I met at the Unity luncheon. It’s given me a lot of hope; many other people at the university want things to improve, too. It’s opened my eyes to a lot, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity,” Mannering says.

“We’re all human, and we all deserve to be treated humanely.”

For more information, contact Mannering at 302-831-7217 or cmanneri@udel.edu

Tags christy mannering, diversity & inclusion, diversity & inclusion issue corps, northeast region, unity, University of Delaware, visibility

i-Three Issue Corps: We are the cultivators of our work environment

Post author By Christy Mannering
Post date June 29, 2017

Recently, at the University of Delaware, I had the opportunity to attend their first diversity summit, titled “Diversity Summit: Realizing Social Justice for a Better UD.” As a member of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Diversity Committee, I feel it is important to stay developed in this field, but I didn’t know what to expect from an all-day summit and I wasn’t sure how it would integrate with my role at UD or with the Diversity & Inclusion Issue Corps.

There were two keynote speakers Dr. Carol Henderson, Vice Provost for Diversity at the University of Delaware, and Dr. Tony Allen, recently appointed provost at Delaware State University. Dr. Carol Henderson spoke about our responsibility to making sure youth get a quality educational experience. She said it takes all of us to cultivate that experience. I would like to take that a step forward, because I believe this goes beyond the classroom. I believe as professionals it is up to all of us us to cultivate the experience we have in our workplace.

Dr. Tony Allen speaking at UD Diversity Summit (Photo Credit: Christy Mannering)

During Dr. Tony Allen’s remarks, he said, “We all have a responsibility to serve as we have been served. None of us white, black, brown, gay or straight, male or female, have gotten to any of our positions or any of our places in life, alone.” The truth is that whether we notice and acknowledge each other or not, we still all play a role in each others lives. The way we live, the way we work, the way we present ourselves, our action and our inaction can very much impact and shape the lives of the people around us.

We impact and shape the lives of the people around us. moment of clarity during the event I realized how this connected with the idea of developing emotional intelligence in the workplace. If you’re stressed, overwhelmed or frustrated and you are unable to self-regulate that could negatively impact your work environment (Deleon, 2015). Our technical skills, our expertise and knowledge won’t matter if we are unable to effectively work with others. Emotions often prompt the way we behave and react. Our emotions influence the type of leader we are and how we learn from constructive criticism.

Emotional intelligence goes beyond self-awareness and self-regulation. Are we able to look through the lens of other people? Can we look through the lens of different backgrounds including age, culture, race and ability? To promote diversity and be inclusive we need to be aware of ourselves, aware of our peers and that includes colleagues outside our work “silos”. Being more in tune to each other will help us to provide better service to those we work with in the public and a better workplace experience.

Sources:

Deleon, Mariah. (2015). “The Importance of Emotional Intelligence at Work.” Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245755
Diversity Summit Logo created by Office of Communication and Marketing at the University of Delaware

Tags Diversity Summit, Dr. Carol Henderson, Dr. Tony Allen, emotional intelligence, empathy, Self-awareness, Self-regulation, University of Delaware, workplace environment

Success Stories

“As If You Were There…” The Little Video Project That Grew

Post author By Sandra Conn
Post date September 20, 2016

Jennifer Volk’s i-Three Issue Corps project seeks to share stories of agriculture and forestry climate adaptation and mitigation practices across the 12-state Northeast Region. Recent weather variability in this area—unusually dry in the north to unusually wet in West Virginia—indicated a need for quickly produced, easily shared information for farmers, ranchers and forest owners about established adaptation and mitigation practices that were proving effective. To meet this need, in 2015 the Northeast Climate Hub University Partnership envisioned creating an online showcase of examples, and Jennifer volunteered to investigate using 360-degree panoramic photography to provide viewers with virtual tours of demonstration sites where they could see and learn about these practices from the practitioners. The impact Jennifer and the USDA Northeast Climate Hub are seeking is to create a widespread network of information, education and referral resources across the region that will speed their audiences’ adoption of these practices, when needed. At the NeXC2016 Conference, Jennifer used the Designathon to develop and refine her work plan and evaluation strategy. She also made many contacts with key informants and colleagues who could advise her on the leap she was about to make into, for her, a totally new technology. An especially important resource has been key informant and eXtension Innovation Project Awardee Shane Bradt who introduced her to story mapping, which will play an important role as the project concludes, bringing together all the tours to present the completed project and its resources to the world. Jennifer is an Extension Specialist with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension.

Like most of the United States, the Northeast has been experiencing weather variability that is requiring its citizens—and particularly its farmers, ranchers and forest owners—to adapt and respond in new ways to protect their livelihoods. This includes adopting new practices or operational changes that they have not tried before and that potentially entail risk.

“Landowners want first to see a new technique being used effectively before they invest time or money in trying it,” says Jennifer Volk, Environmental Quality Extension Specialist with University of Delaware Cooperative Extension. “That’s why demonstration sites are so effective. And it’s also why websites featuring videos and other multimedia techniques are so helpful in accelerating change.”

So in fall 2015, when Jennifer was attending a Northeast Climate Hub meeting that was considering creating an online showcase of the climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies currently practiced across the 12-state region, she stepped up and offered to explore various forms of media that might be used—and particularly 360-degree photography and videos. Her offer was accepted. Shortly thereafter she learned of the launch of eXtension’s new i-Three Issue Corps and recognized the access Issue Corps membership would give her to consulting and technology support that could guide her in this venture.

First Steps: Research and Project Management

Jennifer, with collaboration and support from Erin Lane, Northeast Climate Hub Coordinator, and Karrah Kwasnik, Northeast Climate Hub Digital Content Manager, launched the research she needed to execute the project. The research had two components. First was the 360-degree photo and video technology: its best uses, the limitations of 360-degree multimedia for website posting, and obtaining advice and consulting from others in Cooperative Extension who had used it. Second was the content: the various adaptation and mitigation techniques (such as high tunnels and cover crops), types of agriculture or climate conditions in which each can be used, and where good examples were located throughout the region.

“In no time I recognized this was a larger project than one person could do without leveraging the effort,” Jennifer recalls. She soon found herself organizing production teams to visit and photograph sites at the land-grant universities in each of the 12 states (plus D.C.) in the Northeast Region. These teams, all working simultaneously, set out to identify the examples of techniques, the types of producers using each, and the potential demonstration sites in the northern, middle, and southern parts of the region.

“Creating a virtual field tour using 360-degree photography sounds like such an exciting thing to do,” says Jennifer. “I would go home at night and my daughter, with big expectations, would ask me what I did today, and I had to tell her—I was on the phone. Setting up meetings, organizing site visits, briefing site visitors, asking owners of sites if they might agree to the video. In every dimension, this project has grown and grown.”

Jennifer credits the Designathon at eXtension’s NeXC2016 conference for forcing her to have intense focus on her project and to get the entire plan on paper for her to take back and share with Erin. “At NeXC it went from an idea to actually happening—the design concept and project management plan to make it happen,” she says.

Getting Down to Work: Implementation and Production

In mid-July, Jennifer and her three production teams took delivery of their virtual kits—each containing a 360-degree camera, a tripod, and a tablet to remotely operate the camera and view the photos in the field. However, she laments, “This technology is so new and cutting edge, that even the experienced photographers on our team are novices with this equipment!”

This required another planning step in addition to developing the shot lists once they learned of the subjects and techniques to be captured at each site. The teams needed to discuss their overall strategy and decide on standards for data collection, processing, and sharing. In addition to initial equipment testing, field sample tests were needed to test the camera settings for positioning of the camera, exposure, reflection, backlighting and other shooting complications.

Another requirement was the preparation of a set of orientation points for the site managers and comprehensive storyboarding questions to ask site hosts and managers prior to and during the shoot.

“It’s very important to document the sites carefully, since traveling and revisiting them to capture what we missed will be very difficult,” says Jennifer. “We need to know all the information about the site, the people working there, the adaptation and mitigation practices, the benefits the growers have experienced from the practices and the challenges that they faced in trying to implement them.”

Finally, in mid-August, shooting started. From the beginning, Jennifer and Erin had the end in mind: a portfolio of multimedia, web-based virtual tours they named “As If You Were There.” By mid-September, Jennifer estimated that the shooting of the project—still photos, 360-degree photos, video interviews with site managers and others—plus supporting content such as descriptive text, fact sheets, contact information, and other educational resources were approximately one-third done.

For Jennifer, the creative work she has been looking forward to will now begin: the organizing of all of this material into stories. “There’s so much to do,” she says, “editing videos, selecting what to use, then building our virtual tours on RoundMe, a platform where viewers can move through our demonstration sites from one 360-degree image to the next and interact with the images by clicking on icons that will open embedded still photos, videos, and other linked informational materials.”

The capstone of the project will be connecting all the demonstration stories together in a story map so viewers can see a geographic overview of entire Northeast project and visit the sites that interest them.

Meanwhile, the project continues to grow with now as many as 22 stories planned. The tours will be released in phases as they become available, with the initial release planned for early 2017. First audiences to be targeted to view the virtual tours will be Extension professionals and other university researchers and technology service providers so that they can consider both the content and the approach for their possible use.

Tags 360 photography, 360 video, i-Three Issue Corps, issue corps, jennifer volk, multi media, multimedia, northeast region, project management, story maps, University of Delaware, video, virtual tour

Climate Climate Learning Network i-Three Corps Innovation

i-Three Issue Corps – As if you were there: Farm Tour 360

Post author By Jennifer Volk
Post date July 22, 2016

Last week, our project officially moved from the planning phase to the implementation phase as our entire project team assembled in Smyrna, Delaware to pilot our first site!

Our Project

Our goal is to share stories of agriculture and forestry climate adaptation and mitigation practices in use across the northeast region using several forms of media – including 360 degree photos and videos! We aim to share one story per Land Grant University in the Northeast Climate Hub region plus 3-6 forestry focused adaptation highlights. Our northeast region covers 12 states from Maine to West Virginia, out to New York and Pennsylvania, and includes the District of Columbia too. Ultimately, our photos will be shared online using RoundMe, a platform that allows users to move through our demonstrations sites from one 360 degree image to the next and interact with the images by clicking on informational icons that will feature embedded still photos, videos, and links to additional materials like fact sheets. And, we hope to connect our demonstration stories from across the northeast using the ESRI Story Map platform. Shane Brandt from the University of New Hampshire and one of the i-Three key informants has been incredibly helpful answering our many questions about story mapping!

Going Virtual!

Originally, this project started off much simpler but we decided to up our game and utilize 360 degree camera technology to really give our viewers the feeling of virtually being on the farm or in the forest looking at the climate practices in use at each site.

We purchased a couple of virtual kits, each consisting of a 360 degree camera, a tripod, and a tablet to remotely operate the camera and view our photos in the field. But, this technology is so new and cutting edge, that even the experienced photographers on our team are novices with this equipment! So, we decided that before sending our three production teams out in different directions to gather data, we needed to all come together in one place to test our cameras, discuss strategy, and decide on standards for data collection, processing, and sharing. Our partners and colleagues at Delaware State University Cooperative Extension graciously agreed to be our guinea pig and allowed us to work our bugs out at their Smyrna Outreach & Research Center – which is chock full of climate adaptation and mitigation practices!

Our Pilot Experience

While out in the field, we decided to do a number of tests to see what camera settings give the best images. For example, we tried adjusting the height of the camera to see how that affected the captured image. We found that extending the tripod all the way up is great for field shots and that if we lower the tripod all the way to the ground you end up seeing more of it in the final photo. We also played with the exposure options but it turns out that the “auto” option on the camera is doing a pretty good job and we may not need to play much with the exposure timing. But, for future shoots, we decided we should bring a blanket to drape over both the tablet and the photographer’s head (or find a dark spot on site) so that the first few images can be more accurately checked because it is hard to view them on a backlit screen in daylight.

We also learned from our pilot experience that preparation is going to be very important for effectively and efficiently documenting the other sites that will require us to travel and won’t be so easy for us to revisit if we miss anything. So, we have drafted a set of storyboarding questions for the site managers to answer before our visits. This will help us learn about the site itself and the people working there; the climate adaptation and mitigation practices in use there; the environmental, economic, and social benefits of those practices to growers; and the challenges for implementing these practices in the real world. We hope that having this information before we arrive will help us plan our photo shoots so that we can walk away with all of the images to build our virtual story back in the office later.

Finally, we were again reminded that farmers are dealing with weather variability every day and don’t necessarily classify the things they do to deal with those conditions as climate adaptation strategies. So, it is important that when talking to site managers that we ask specifically how they are dealing with warmer temperatures and/or heat waves, heavy rain events and/or drought conditions, and what practices they feel are helping them be sustainable and resistant to changing weather conditions. Climate connections are everywhere and we can’t wait to tell those stories virtually!

Tags 360 video, Asifyouwerethere, climatehubs, FarmTour360, University of Delaware