Extension agents are non-formal educators located in counties and parishes across the United States. Agents develop educational programs for the citizens of the counties and parishes based on the specific needs of the community, and the content of the programs is rooted in research conducted at the state's land grant universities. Over the past 50 years, Extension agents have reported a sense of feeling unprepared to adequately perform the communication components of their positions. A lack of confidence and training in communication could negatively impact an Extension agent's abilities to perform their main job duties, which include linking research findings from the land-grant universities to people in local communities to advance livelihoods through Extension programs. Extension agents could use instructional and communication technologies (ICTs) to supplement traditional in-person programing, including developing online formats to reach new and more diverse audience groups. However, Extension agents require specialized training to be able to adequately communicate with clientele and to deliver Extension programs via ICTs. The purpose of the subsequent three-article dissertation was to address the lack of adoption and implementation of ICTs as tools for Extension agents to deliver educational programs for a 21st-century online adult audience. As such, the first article addressed the factors that led to or affected Extension agents' ICT adoption, such as their level of innovativeness; self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interest in using ICTs; the perceived attributes of adopting DFEs; the barriers to adopting ICTs; and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their attitude toward adopting ICTs. The second article provided a detailed discussion of the development of the DFE as an approach to deliver educational programs via ICTs. The article was exploratory in nature and explained UF/IFAS Extension agents' perceived experience developing and implementing a DFE for the first time. The third article discussed the training and development program created to build ICT adoption and usage capacity among UF/IFAS Extension agents necessary for them to design and implement a DFE. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the DFE training and development program using Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Training Evaluation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
