Creating teams increases extension educator productivity

Abstract

The Garden Team at Washington State University is a transdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, and students with expertise in applied plant and soil sciences and an interest in Extension education. The team's primary mission is to create current, relevant, and peer-reviewed materials as Extension publications for home gardeners. The average yearly Extension publication rate per member increased from 0.03 prior to team formation to 0.85 after team formation. An unexpected benefit emerged when team members acted cooperatively to submit successful competitive grants. These quantifiable measures of productivity benefit both the individual team members and the university in terms of overall competitiveness among land-grant institutions.