National eXtension Web Site Brings Expertise from Across U.S. Together

National eXtension Web Site Brings Expertise from Across U.S. Together

March 21, 2008 

A groundbreaking new Web site, archive/-/asset_publisher/VHeSpfv0Agju/content/eXtension.org, offers a gateway into some of the nation's leading expertise on just about any topic one can imagine.

UNL Extension is a leader of the national effort, with Nebraska extension faculty providing their expertise in several content areas. Also, the national director of eXtension is based at UNL.

"University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension has long been proud of its development and delivery of educational programs to Nebraskans," said Elbert Dickey, dean and director of UNL Extension. "This new partnership with extension colleagues nationwide brings together the best of the best in the land-grant university system.

"The result is a Web-based portal into extension expertise across the country -- a trove of research-based, unbiased information for all Americans," Dickey added. "This will help assure that extension remains as relevant as ever in the 21st century as it brings this know-how to consumers in the comfort of their homes, 24/7."

eXtension currently is organized into 16 "communities of practice," with more to come. So far, topic areas include: entrepreneurship, horticulture, agrosecurity, family caregiving, beef cattle, wildlife damage management, horses, science and technology for youth and more.

The communities of practice are typically multi-institutional, multi-state and multi-disciplinary, bringing a range of expertise to each topic.

Through archive/-/asset_publisher/VHeSpfv0Agju/content/eXtension.org, consumers also can interact with each other, forming "communities of interest" in various subject areas. An "Ask an Expert" feature allows consumers still another way to tap into expertise in the land-grant university system. Users also can subscribe to RSS feeds, and eXtension will automatically send updates on items of interest.The public launch of eXtension will be celebrated at UNL with activities beginning at 2:30 p.m. March 17 in the Nebraska East Union.

eXtension is part of Cooperative Extension, a nationwide educational network. With that relationship, archive/-/asset_publisher/VHeSpfv0Agju/content/eXtension.org is able to pull the best, most researched knowledge from the land-grant universities across America, connecting knowledge consumers with knowledge providers.

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