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Extension could rely more on distance education to expand its outreach with deflating budgets. In Alaska, where people are few and far between and even inaccessible by road, opportunities for distance-delivered outreach are particularly significant. In this article, we explore the efficacy of a mixed-method teaching approach that combined three distance-delivery methods: Elive, Blackboard, and teleconference. We share course impacts, completion rates, and satisfaction. We surmise that providing more than one way for students to participate in a distance course increases student satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote and widely dispersed clientele in Alaska create a need for effective distance-delivery programs. Extension agents often travel via small airplane, snow machine, or boat to teach face-to-face classes in off-road communities. Effective and more cost-efficient delivery methods are needed. We taught a course for beginning farmers residing throughout Alaska using five delivery methods: Elluminate Live!, Blackboard, teleconference, correspondence, and face-to- face. We evaluated these delivery methods based on five areas: accessibility of delivery method, course completion, knowledge gain, plans to use skills, and student satisfaction. Our findings will help Extension professionals design distance-delivered programs suited to their target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Extension-authored link in Google Search (2011a) for "how to garden" was ranked an abysmal 82nd. Worse, Internet users selected the top-ranked site significantly more often than they selected the second-ranked one, and they rarely selected any site ranked lower than #10 (Granka, Joachims, & Gay, 2004). An Extension-commissioned poll in Alaska found only 16% of the "Net Generation" had even heard of Extension, compared with 73% of those 60 years or older (Dittman Research & Communications Corporation, 2010). Extension's websites are so unpopular, those who seek research-based, unbiased information will likely not find it. This article proposes solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]