Tracks:

Client Support: Supporting the Extension Workforce:

The Extension professional is notoriously overextended and on the move. The technologies that they rely upon have to be usable, flexible, durable, reliable, maintainable and secure. Meeting the needs of this workforce requires solutions that are often innovative yet proven and dependable. Most of all, though, these solutions must be supportable.

Career Development: The Evolving IT Professional:

Over the course of our professional lives, we are influenced and molded by our formal education, our training, our personal experiences and our work environment. How can the IT professional establish realistic career goals, demonstrate adaptability and responsibility, and proactively and positively influence his or her own development?

Systems & Infrastructure: Enabling Service Delivery

The availability, durability, and extensibility of the technologies that underpin and facilitate our client-facing services are critical to our parent organizations' ability to deliver programs and maintain operations. The mission-critical nature of enabling services such as network connectivity, database management systems, web content management systems inherently place elevated demands upon the IT support structure. How do we practically manage these "enabling" services to reduce the risk of failure or interruption? What are cost effective alternatives to building and supporting an in-house infrastructure? What are the relevant technological and resource trends?

Web & Social Media: Delivering the Extension Message

The public at large continues to demonstrate a growing preference for interacting with businesses and service agencies online. To remain relevant, we must meet, if not exceed, client expectations of digital service delivery. How can we best facilitate Extension professionals as they serve their clientele online? How do we advise and support our parent organizations as the locus of engagement shifts away from physical spaces and toward the web and social media?

Teaching & Learning: Engaging the Client

Video and web conferencing solutions, learning management systems, webinar platforms, smart classrooms, and on and on and on... The technological and pedagogical choices available for delivering educational content continue to expand. Where should the IT support structure focus its energies and how can we help the organization successfully engage its clientele?

IT Management: Leading People & Leveraging Resources

Technologies, operating environments, and programmatic requirements are in constant flux. IT managers often struggle to identify and implement appropriate tools and techniques for managing their support organizations and to align resources to institutional needs. How does one accurately identify the true information technology needs of the organization? What can be done to recruit, train, retain and inspire quality employees? In what ways can the IT support operation demonstrate and communicate its true value to the parent organization?

Applying IT: Enhancing Extension Programming with IT

Technologically savvy Extension professionals often drive innovation and expose opportunities to enhance program delivery and client engagement. How are agents and specialists leveraging both emerging and established technologies to facilitate their programming? How can a great idea grow into a sustainable delivery model?

The Edge: Trending Concepts and Emerging Technologies

Is it a passing fad that will be gone tomorrow? Is it a transformational technology that will fundamentally change some aspect of our lives or our work? The ever growing and evolving technology landscape offers the IT profession many opportunities for both innovation and angst. What are the latest and greatest technology trends? How do we respond to client expectations around emerging technologies? In what ways can we position the support organization to be able to quickly evaluate, embrace and support these technologies?