Author: Amy Aldenderfer
Planning Unit: Hardin County CES
Major Program: Master Gardener
Plan of Work: Activating Volunteer Leaders through Extension Programs
Outcome: Initial Outcome
State-wide Virtual Extension Master Gardener Program
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, several people turned to gardening as an outlet for their mental health. In response to this situation, both horticulture and agriculture extension agents across the state banded together to offer the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program virtually for the first time. Agents utilized the Zoom and Microsoft Teams platforms to plan out the virtual Extension Master Gardener program. Individual committees were formed to look at promotion, program schedule, evaluation, homework, and the final exam.
The state-wide Extension Master Gardener program was launched in September 2020 via Zoom and attracted 54 participants from 16 Kentucky counties. During the weekly educational classes, participants were educated on numerous home horticulture topics covering botany, entomology, annual and perennial flowers, soils, home composting, integrated pest management (IPM), pesticide safety, organic gardening, woody ornamentals, plant propagation, turf care, home fruit production, indoor plants, water quality, and stream buffers.
Participants took a pre-survey conducted through Qualtrics to measure how confident they felt in fielding questions BEFORE taking the EMG program. From the pre-evaluation survey, several participants indicated not too confident/somewhat confident in the following areas: 77.36% in Botany, Entomology- 85.46%, Plant Pathology- 87.27%, Soils/Composting- 74.54%, Pesticide Safety/IPM- 85.45%, Vegetable Gardening- 83.64%, Woody Plants- 72.72%, Flowers- 81.82%, Turf Care- 85.45%, Fruits- 70.91%, Indoor Plants/Propagation- 80%, and Water Quality/Stream Buffers- 90.74%.
41 participants completed the entire EMG program from start to finish which includes attending all educational sessions, completing homework assignments from each chapter, and passing the final exam in February 2021. Participants completed a post-evaluation survey to measure knowledge gain and their confidence in fielding questions AFTER completing the EMG program. From the post-evaluation survey, participants indicated and gained this amount of knowledge in the following areas:
When asked some of the greatest attributes gained as a result of attending the EMG program, some of the responses included:
“Greater appreciation of the wealth of knowledge available at the Extension Service for the local resident in a wide range of topics (information that can be used for various areas).”
“I gained an amazing amount of resources and information on all topics. Came to this with no formal training and my brain has been inspired to action, both thinking and doing.”
“While I have gardened for years, I was doing much wrong or at least was not using best practices. I also am not tech savvy and this class has stretched me in my tech knowledge. Actually being in a class setting via Zoom with study materials has been so wonderful for my mind and mental health this year. I have enjoyed all presenter so much!”
One participant said it best when they said “I think that everyone involved in making the virtual training should be commended. It was an amazing experience! The speakers were knowledgeable, entertaining, and down to earth. All were able to convey the information in a way that could be understood by novices like myself. I am very excited to get outside and get going with my new found knowledge and self-confidence. Thank you for all your efforts and congratulations on a successful virtual training launch!”
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