Our community has made incredible strides in growing our virtual presence. Programs are hosting workshops via Zoom, drop-in training on Facebook Live, and broadly sharing educational videos via YouTube. Measuring and communicating the impact of these virtual activities is critical as all of us work to maintain and or grow our budget support. 

Small adjustments to our statewide evaluation are being tested on recent virtual trainings and webinars. Moving forward, we would like to apply the statewide evaluation to virtual training/events that are 15 minutes or longer. Research shows that virtual learning has a higher interaction and participation rate amongst learners and 15 minutes is a realistic expectation for influencing behavior change.

We're currently pulling together ideas and testing methods for collecting contact information in virtual events. The statewide office will meet with the new Director of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at NIFA to request a review of the program's contacting reporting practices both for in-person and for virtual events.

In the near future, we will be adding guidance on evaluating virtual event to the evaluation webpage on the Coordinator website. Updates and guidance will be communicated via the UC Master Gardener Coordinator Collaborative Tools group. 

Questions? Contact:
Tamekia Wilkins
Program Evaluation Coordinator
twilkins@ucanr.edu