New dashboard to view UA Cooperative Extension needs

We recently wrapped up a data science incubator with the Community Research, Evaluation, and Development (CRED) team in the Norton School to create a data exploration tool for the UA Cooperative Extension Statewide Needs Assessment. The Needs Assessment survey aims to understand community needs and assets to assist in planning and prioritization of Extension activities across the state. 

In this incubator, CRED member Terrace Ewinghill collaborated with CCT Data Science team members Eric Scott and Jessica Guo to  create an interactive Shiny app for exploring the Needs Assessment survey data. Ordinarily, CCT takes the lead in writing most of the code, but for this incubator project, Terrace took initiative and learned a tremendous amount about R, Shiny, ggplot2, and plotly along the way. It was a great experience working with data that will impact how policymakers understand community needs across Arizona.

I am so grateful to get to work with Jessica and Eric on this project.  It built my knowledge and confidence in using Shiny for a data dashboard.  Already, we’re hearing from folks within Extension that this dashboard is helping them plan for their programming priorities across the state. If you have the opportunity to take part in an incubator project with the CCT team, I’d highly recommend it! 

Terrace Ewinghill, M.Ed
Scientific Analyst, CRED

In June, the CRED team held a workshop on using the dashboard with the UArizona Family, Consumer and Health Sciences staff and faculty at their strategic planning in-service. In August, they'll train additional Cooperative Extension staff, agents, and stakeholders in using this app at UArizona’s Cooperative Extension Conference. Such workshops and a short tutorial video focus on how agents and staff can use filters to examine custom results and improve programming for their counties.