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Changing Public Behavior > Themes > Outreach strategy/Design

114 Total Findings

A participatory workshop using pollution modeling, satellite images, maps, and discussion, enables farmers to identify pollution prevention efforts that are considered to be within their own control.  Farmers may not be willing to adopt measures that lead to lost income, even when they consider the measure to be effective.

Allow enough time for wide spread adoption of the demonstrated BMPs. A nine to ten year time frame may be necessary to move from initial implementation of BMP demonstration projects to adoption.

As part of the outreach planning process: Identify community leaders and assess their knowledge and concerns about fish consumption advisories as well as how information is shared within the community.

Assure that intervention programs are relevant to perceived needs of farmers, relevant to cultural milieu of subgroups, and relevant to specific environmental needs:

Assure that intervention programs are relevant to the cultural milieu of the subgroup, such as ethnic or culturally-related farm-structure differences.

Base the outreach or education process on mutual understanding, trust, and respect that leads landowners to choose to comply because they see it in their best interest.

Base your program design on specifically identified needs.

Be aware of the boundary between education and advocacy.

Be aware of the larger political issues and contexts in which water quality outreach and education take place (such as legislative requirements). Identify and communicate potential areas for measurable change.

Be patient in your efforts to reach small businesses.

Build skills among water outreach professionals to ask the right questions about the:

Build water leadership capacity among young professionals, especially:

Collect and assess data about the following, prior to developing the outreach program:

Design and deliver information based on communication and health behavior theories

Design communication and professional development opportunities for outreach educators that will motivate them to implement a priority program because:

Design communication and professional development opportunities for outreach educators that will motivate them to implement a priority program because:

Design communication and professional development opportunities for outreach educators that will motivate them to implement a priority program because:

Design communication and professional development opportunities for outreach educators that will motivate them to implement a priority program because:

Design communication and professional development opportunities for outreach educators that will motivate them to implement a priority program because:

Design outreach to address farmer preferred learning style:

Design outreach to address farmer preferred learning style

Design partnership development training to build understanding and skills for partnership success factors and themes identified through the Leach and Pelky (2001) meta-analysis of empirical literature. (see Table 2, p. 382 for detailed list of these associated with each factor).

Focus on factors influencing partnership success:

Design programs to: Establish an explicit set of objectives

Design programs to: Target outcomes for specific audiences.

Develop a strategy that reflects the fact that effectiveness of new educational programs may be hindered by insular nature of communities in which producers live. NOTE: This finding is not generalizable due to small sample

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education (Fedler, 2001). The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education (Siemer, 2001). The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program:

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education. The program

Develop program design and content to adhere to guiding principles for boating, fishing, and aquatic stewardship education.

Drinking water education for citizens and the private sector can build capacity for implementing groundwater protection by increasing individual knowledge and skills for protecting groundwater, and assessing the credibility of policy and financial initiatives.

Drinking water education for managers and government officials should address proper management in 5 risk categories: technical, financial, institutional, political, and social.  These include: appropriate hydrogeological analyses required for local groundwater protection planning; allocation of adequate resources for groundwater protection; the quality of laws, regulations, policies, plans, and organizational structure that governs groundwater protection; leadership that can provide vision, direction, and partnerships with other communities; and the quantity and quality of citizen particiation in groundwater protection initiatives.

Each type of stakeholder group (e.g. customer, researcher, water utility manager) may value risks related to water management choices differently, and value who is most likely to best represent their interests differently.

Educate teachers about innovations in curricula to ensure that they are implemented

Emphasize an "integrated" program that provides a continuum of information, communication, and education resources

Emphasize company commitment to pollution prevention activities and investment of adequate time and money.

Emphasize local elements of control.

Emphasize one-on-one contact. Couple with small group and demonstration events - Provide on-farm visits, small group demonstrations, and workshops emphasizing local, direct farmer contact.

Encourage and support use of a community-based curriculum based on water monitoring. (This type of curriculum has been shown to be highly acceptable among teachers and to provide professional satisfaction.)

Encourage community groups

Engage audience in planning.

Engage golf course conservation superintendents in developing a course on turf grass management

Field test new education materials with a lead community-based organization.

Focus on a geographic area:

Focus on a geographic area:

Focus on a geographic area:

Focus outreach to farmers on farm efficiency and productivity, whatever the social characteristics of the farm group. But pay attention to unique factors of cultural groups, as well.

Focus programs designed to facilitate adoption of precision farming techniques on farmers who:

Follow classroom exercises and visual examples by applying learning in the field.

For auto repair shops, provide a direct visit from an educator who provides an audit activity and information materials.

For sustainable agriculture education, target families with one or more of these characteristics:

Gather data about policy maker skills and preferences prior to designing training

Generate local information and use it as the basis for local public education programs.

If providing explanatory materials by mail to residents from communities engaged in watershed planning, find ways to encourage individuals to engage. Keep in mind that only residents who take the time to review materials are likely to demonstrate knowledge mastery and an inclination to apply results.

In designing outreach programs that strive to link environmental concern with recreational behaviors

In designing outreach programs that strive to link environmental concern with recreational behaviors, attend to:

Include community members, essential service operators, environmental health workers, administrators, teachers, and regional service providers in community water conservation training programs.

Incorporate field-based experiences and service-learning as significant components of environmental stewardship programs that focus on building environmentally responsible behavior among students

Industry initiated voluntary pollution control programs, supported by education, can result in implementation of BMPs when course work involves participants developing a water quality management plan for their ranch that includes
ranch description, ranch goals, ranch maps, basin water quality status, nonpoint source self-assessments, existing and planned BMPs, and monitoring procedures.

Involve citizens in a watershed planning group by facilitating their understanding of the problem/situation.

Involve target audience in choosing and testing preferred technical approaches to solving a problem

Involve target audience in:

Involve target audience in:

Involve target audience in:

Link education to production decisions to reflect the fact that operators prefer to make production decisions based on their own farm records and advice from on-farm employees.

Look to these conditions for opportunities to provide education that is more likely to be effective:

Participation in water management decisions can be improved by assessing stakeholder perceptions of the risk of potential problems, and the impact on other stakeholders of these perceptions.

Plan for the time it takes to adopt new ideas.

Provide activities: That enable students to respond to a real-world or authentic challenge

Provide activities: With a real problem to solve

Provide policy makers with a link to local information sources.

Provide training with a clear goal, geared toward the needs of a target audience.

Recognize the limits of regulation in producing behavior change:

Recognize the role of economic factors in behavior change:

Rely on these outreach components for a conservation initiative:

Rely on these outreach components for a conservation initiative:

Require locally extensive training. In a study with a small sample group, this requirement was shown to increase peer group awareness and implementation of skills.

Support stakeholder engagement more fully by anticipating a political dimension in addition to a focus on subject matter. [This emphasizes Cervero and Wilson's (1994) democratic approach to program planning whereby adult educators talk openly about social and political aspirations of interested parties in addition to content matter objectives.]

Support stakeholder groups, especially those with similar missions and those that already have a relationship with the target audience.

Support stakeholder groups:

Support stakeholder groups:

Tap into indigenous knowledge of local land stewards, especially since recommended, best-bet practices may have uncertain results in local application.

Target outcomes for specific audiences

Test new educational materials:

The choice of type of visual, spatial information to use in an education program depends on the audience. Some prefer pollution modeling, others prefer satellite images and maps or simply the discussion generated by showing models and maps.

To facilitate students' ability to conceptualize the groundwater environment, engage teachers in learning how to develop appropriate assessment materials. For example, model use of preassessment to assess students’ groundwater understandings using various types of multiplechoice items, open-ended questions, and drawing prompts. Ask teachers to analyze what types of information each item provides and construct an appropriate instructional plan based on the responses.

To facilitate students' ability to conceptualize the groundwater environment, measure understandings of the concepts using: drawings, concept maps, and open-ended questions.

To facilitate students' ability to conceptualize the groundwater environment, teach instructors the fundamentals of assessing for conceptual understanding of science concepts. For example, the teacher can identify what language the students are using to describe groundwater and consequently what possible alternative conceptions may need to be explicitly addressed.

To facilitate students' ability to conceptualize the groundwater environment, use the following instructional tools: rock specimens, three-dimensional physical models, and fieldwork.

To help landowners learn new information, about riparian areas, landowners prefer that staff characteristics include knowledge about riparian management and understanding of the practicalities of living and working near riparian areas.

To increase US public acceptance of water reuse, such as high awareness of treatment technology, trust in local government; and of the challenges and opportunities of water reuse in the US:

To increase ownership and empowerment, design programs to:

To increase ownership and empowerment, design programs with a strong emphasis on:

To increase understanding of complex concepts related to groundwater:

To produce long-term changes in behavior, provide comprehensive training in the set of variables correlated with measurable changes in environmentally-related behavior, including:

To promote riparian zone management: clearly and convincingly demonstrate the benefits of riparian zone management; promote a supportive normative climate by getting groups or important individuals within the community to strongly endorse the practice; solicit endorsements from other rural landholders; devise strategies for overcoming the barriers (real or perceived) associated with riparian zone management or provide alternatives; and engage landowners in riparian management behaviors to increase familiarity with options.

Two-way communication methods, particularly door-to-door contact where possible, are more successful in soliciting participation for watershed planning initiatives than one-way communication (information) methods.

Use a variety of outreach methods, with each targeted at specific, desired behaviors.

Use multiple channels of communication.

Use these outreach components and apply best practices for each: 

Visual, spatial information is effective in stimulating group discussion when presented as part of a participatory approach.

When deciding between a physical or a virtual field trip for undergraduate college students, if both situations take students through a series of interactive experiences designed and controlled to maximize learning, consider:

When developing watershed education materials:

When developing watershed education teacher manuals, identify barriers to implementation and adapt materials to respond to identified needs.

When using predictive models to aid farmers in making a nutrient application decision:

When working on riparian issues, employ multiple interactions and a mix of many extension methods to offer opportunities for diverse information and ideas and methods of providing them, and to meet individualized learning needs. Methods may include presentations, field days, workshops, individual landowner visits, riparian health inventories and reports, written materials, technical advice, and web site information on riparian areas and grazing management.

Work with consultants:

Work with consultants:

Work with consultants:


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