Resilient structure of nature‐based extension programs facilitates transition to online delivery and maintains participant satisfaction

Abstract Restrictions on public gatherings in early 2020 due to the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in cancelation of in‐person outreach programs offered by the Florida Master Naturalist Program and Natural Areas Training Academy, two successful University of Florida extension programs that provide natural history and resource management training to lay and professional audiences. In response, both programs rapidly transitioned to blended or 100% online educational methods to continue offering courses and maintain program operations. To assess participant responses to these changes, we used surveys and course registry data to evaluate and compare course enrollment, satisfaction, and outcomes among courses with new online formats to courses offered prior to the COVID‐19 pandemic. We also examined logistical challenges and key programmatic elements that facilitated the transition of both programs to increased reliance on online education. Course participants responded favorably to classes offered online. Our results revealed an audience exists for online programming, that satisfaction with online courses was high and comparable to that measured for in‐person courses, and that online approaches effectively transferred knowledge and promoted behavior change in participants. The transition to online programming required investments of time, energy, and in some cases, direct costs. However, this transition was greatly facilitated by the existence of well‐defined program protocols, educational curricula, strong partnerships, and feedback mechanisms for both programs. Long‐term investments in program structure, partnerships, and support systems enabled both programs to be resilient and adaptable and successfully implement online programming in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic.


| INTRODUC TI ON
"It is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Charles Darwin
The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus in the United States (Roser et al., 2020) necessitated changes in nearly every aspect of public life, including educational programming and public gatherings (Boeren et al., 2020;Fernandez & Shaw, 2020). University and government mandates for social distancing forced rapid revisions to traditional methods of delivering educational training to incorporate online educational methods (O'Leary, 2020). The University of Florida (UF) has a long history of providing natural history and resource management training as outreach extension programs through the Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP; www.Maste rNatu ralist.org) and the Natural Areas Training Academy (NATA; https://progr ams.ifas.ufl.edu/ nata/). Both programs provide curricula-based training, certificates of achievement valuable as evidence for skill development, and originally were offered only as multiday in-person workshops that included combinations of classroom and outdoor educational experiences.
Each of these nature-based outreach training programs adapted quickly during spring of 2020 to accommodate the new challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The FMNP transitioned from the use of a 100% in-person format to a continuum of formats blending online and in-person delivery and NATA transitioned from a blended online/in-person format to 100% online delivery. After experimenting with these new approaches during what we refer to as the "early COVID period" (March 16-June 30, 2020), we examined whether differences existed between this period versus our prior year programs in terms of course participants, satisfaction, and outcomes. We also discuss our experiences, challenges, and successes and conclude with recommendations for others who are considering transitioning their outreach extension programs to online formats.

| Florida Master Naturalist Program
The need to effectively engage broad audiences in conservation education has been articulated as critical to creating an environmentally literate public (Brewer, 2001) and generating support for conservation policies (Johns, 2003;Redford & Sanjayan, 2003). With these goals in mind, the Florida Master Naturalist Program (FMNP) was developed to enhance understanding of Florida's natural history and conservation issues and develop interpretive skills to effectively share that information with others (Main, 2004). Since the first courses in 2001, the FMNP has expanded from three core courses that discuss Florida's coastal, freshwater, and upland environments to include courses that teach technical skills such as wildlife monitoring and habitat evaluation and delve deeper into topics such as conservation and restoration science (Appendix S1).
Participants in the FMNP include both laypersons and professionals interested in learning more about Florida's natural resources and seeking to develop skills to become more effective as volunteers, educators, ecotourism guides, consultants, natural resource managers, and proponents for conservation. FMNP courses are taught by a statewide network of certified instructors who apply, are vetted, and go through instructor orientation prior to teaching courses. Although the FMNP is a UF extension program, courses are taught by teams of instructors that include and may be led by individuals from other agencies and organizations. These external partnerships have expanded FMNP instructor expertise and increased course quality. The FMNP educational model uses multiple learning strategies that include classroom, field, and experiential learning opportunities such as speaking requirements and group final projects (Knowles, 1980). Interest and participation in FMNP training has

| Natural Areas Training Academy
This training program provides instruction that prepares professional land managers to sustainably manage natural areas. The impetus for Natural Areas Training Academy (NATA) was a series of state land acquisition programs spanning the past 40 years that established ~2.6 million acres in conservation lands (FDEP, 2020). NATA was initiated by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2000 to train new hires in agencies and organizations tasked with the responsibility of managing these lands (Colverson & Demetropoulos, 2010; Appendix S1). Ownership of the program was transferred from TNC to UF Extension in 2008.
Participants in NATA are primarily professional land managers from public and private organizations, but also include consultants, fire practitioners, environmental educators, interns, and university students. Instructors are professional land management experts from a variety of agencies and organizations, including UF. The majority of instructors have served for many years.  g FMNP asked participants how likely they would be to enroll in future courses with 100% online, blended, or 100'% in-person formats using a Likert scale; results represent combined "extremely likely" and "likely" responses for each category (multiple questions; results do not total 100%); NATA asked participants to identify their most preferred format for future courses (one question; results total 100%).  Registrants were offered a refund but 75% (n = 12) chose to take the course in the online format.

| PROG R AM TR AN S ITI ON TO ONLINE FO R M AT S
In response to COVID-19 guidelines issued during March, the FMNP adopted a mixed model for course offerings that included a blended online and in-person approach that required instructors schedule experiential learning activities at future dates, and a 100% online approach that required participants complete self-directed field activities for discussion during online group meetings.

| E VALUATI ON OF ONLINE PROG R AMMING
We used program surveys and course registry data to evaluate and compare course enrollment, satisfaction, and outcomes among with courses, and (c) outcomes of courses. We also evaluated our experiences related to logistical challenges and identified key programmatic elements we found helpful for adapting FMNP and NATA training courses to include increased levels of online delivery.

| Enrollment
We observed a strong positive response to the new online formats for courses offered by FMNP and NATA, with higher enrollment rates documented for courses offered during the early COVID period than during the pre-COVID period for both programs (Table 1).
Registrants for early COVID period courses included persons who had taken courses in pre-COVID formats and roughly 75% of total registrants indicated COVID-19 safety concerns and social distancing requirements did not influence their decision to enroll in the new online formats for both programs (Table 1). These decisions did not appear to be strongly influenced by occupation, because occupations of FMNP and NATA participants were similar for pre-COVID and early COVID courses, with the exception of an influx of interns for early COVID NATA courses (Table 1). Collectively, therefore, these data reveal an audience exists that has both interest and willingness to enroll in courses with online formats offered by the FMNP and NATA regardless of the availability of courses taught as traditional in-person courses.

| Satisfaction
Participants indicated a high degree of satisfaction from courses offered by the FMNP and NATA both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Table 1). The response to online courses was highly positive and similar to courses offered during the pre-COVID period for both programs, with >95% of participants rating their experience as excellent or very good (FMNP) or as having exceeded or met expectations (NATA). The one person who indicated they would not recommend an online FMNP course to others commented "Only because I do not think the spirit of the course is the same with the online version." The likelihood that early COVID period course participants would recommend taking an online course to others was also highly positive and similar to pre-COVID periods with >95% of course participants responding in the affirmative for both programs (Table 1).

| Outcomes
Knowledge gain was measured differently by the FMNP and NATA programs, but both programs reported knowledge gain among participants for both pre-and early COVID periods (Table 1). Although knowledge gain measured from pre-and post-tests was higher for FMNP courses taught online, meaningful comparisons between inperson and online formats may be premature because of the smaller participant sample size for online courses. What is evident is that both FMNP and NATA online formats were effective in transferring knowledge to participants.
Behavior change was also measured differently between programs. Data from postcourse surveys of FMNP graduates used to evaluate changes in behaviors were available for the pre-COVID period but not for the early COVID period due to the short timeframe.
Participants in NATA were asked about their intent to change behaviors and data from both pre-COVID and early COVID periods indicate strong intent to change the way they manage natural resources and utilize agency resources more efficiently to do so (Table 1).

| Logistical challenges and programmatic elements contributing to program transition
Restrictions on public gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in multiple course cancelations during March-June 2020 for both programs and substantial lost revenues and expenditures associated with processing refunds. These cancelations necessitated a rapid transition to online formats that presented both logistical challenges and costs. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed cost analysis, information we provide based on our experiences may help other programs plan for similar logistical challenges and expenses when adapting existing programs to online formats.
In terms of costs, both programs made substantial investments of time and energy discussing and developing instructional policies and course guidelines that would be acceptable to instructors, appealing to participants, and would continue to meet established program requirements. There was also time and direct expense associated with modifying program policies and support mechanisms associated with registration, mailing, websites, and marketing. In some cases, policy changes resulted in increased direct expenses, such as the need to mail course materials directly to participants rather than mailing in bulk to instructors to distribute to participants during the first class.
Elements that positively contributed to the transition to online programming included having established curricula, educational materials, and defined course expectations for both programs. Although detailed curricula were originally developed to ensure consistency in course content among dates, locations, and instructors, these standardized course materials also proved to be beneficial when converting courses to online delivery and made presenting educational components online relatively straightforward. Another important factor was the existence of long-term relationships with program instructors and partners who provided advice and logistical support.
The strong partnerships with program instructors was especially important because instructors assisted in the transition to online programming by providing suggestions and contributing time and effort to make online programming a positive experience for participants.
The third major element that contributed to a successful transition and high levels of enrollment for online courses was the reputations of both the FMNP and NATA as excellent educational programs, as evidenced by survey results indicating high levels of course satisfaction and the likelihood that participants would recommend courses to others (Table 1).

| RECOMMENDATI ON S FOR PROG R AM TR ANS ITION TO ONLINE TR AINING
Our experiences implementing a rapid transition to new online formats in response to the COVID-19 pandemic provide several key insights that may be of value to programs considering similar changes.
Although we recognize there are many factors that could be important, we identified the following as key elements to our success: • Program structure-well-defined program protocols for FMNP and NATA, including participant and instructor course requirements and expectations ensured program structure remained consistent when transitioning to online programming.
• Educational curricula and materials-the existence of educational curricula and supporting materials (e.g., presentations and manuals) assisted instructors with transitioning to online delivery of classroom components and maintaining course consistency goals; the freedom for instructors to supplement existing materials with online learning opportunities added new and creative elements to courses.
• Logistics-strong partnerships with instructors, participants, and support organizations and dedicated program personnel contributed to successful transitions and high degrees of satisfaction among participants in response to new online formats.
• Feedback mechanisms-strong lines of communication with instructors and feedback from students provided information used to fine tune program elements.
We have few negatives to report regarding our transitions to blended and 100% online programming. The time, effort, and expense needed to think through and implement online course offerings were unavoidable consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and represented short-term investments necessary to ensure program continuation for both the FMNP and NATA. More importantly, we think our collective experience illustrates the value of investing in developing curricula, educational materials, partnerships, and policies that can be readily modified to meet the needs of clientele and that doing so contributes to program resiliency in the face of change.

ACK N OWLED G M ENTS
We thank UF/IFAS Extension and extend a special thanks to the many dedicated instructors, employees, and other partners who have been essential to the success of the Florida Master Naturalist Program and the Natural Areas Training Academy.

CO N FLI C T O F I NTE R E S T
None declared.

Program metrics and evaluation data for the Florida Master
Naturalist Program (FMNP) and the Natural Areas Training Academy (NATA) used in this paper and a README document are available on DRYAD: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kd51c 5b43.