A Model for Applying Educational Process Competencies: an American Extension System Perspective

Extension is a teaching learning process. The educational processes are used in Extension to plan, implement, deliver, and evaluate the educational programs and meet the needs of people. This book presents a study conducted in the United States to identify the importance of 42 professional competencies categorized under the four educational process areas. Randomly selected, 441 Extension Educators participated in the study through an online survey. Results suggest that participantsreported the majority of the competencies to behighly important for their professional developmentand the best time to learn many competencies wasthrough on-the-job experience. A professionalcompetency development model was derived from thestudy. This model could be a useful tool for (1) designing flexible staff development programsthrough graduate education, in-service programs, and on-the-job training, and (2) developing newpolicies for employee selection, training,professional development, and performanceappraisal. Findings of the study have implications in a variety of international Extension settings for professional development of extension agents.