 |
DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION |
 |
GC-90
|
|
DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION |
|
Secondary: Barry Boyd, Alvin Larke, Jr., Andy Vestal, William Younger
Description: Confirming and Communicating Our Knowledge Base: Planning and needs assessment are functional elements that are critical for successful education and training programs. Allison Rossett defined needs assessment as systematic efforts that we make to gather opinions and ideas from a variety of sources on performance problems or new systems and technologies. Edgar Boone described planning as a deliberate, rational, continuing sequence of activities through which the educator acquires a thorough understanding of and commitment to the organization’s functions, structure, and processes, and becomes knowledgeable about and committed to a tested conceptual framework for programming, continuous organizational renewal, and linkage of the organization to its publics. The goal of planning and needs assessment is to achieve results, not to develop complex methodologies. Albert Einstein advised that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Planning is a continuum essential to organizational success. Planning forces educators and administrators to think through issues and alternatives. Planning is proactive decision-making that includes defining and analyzing projects, forecasting events, sequencing activities, identifying resources, tracking and managing events, and determining the most effective strategies to achieve the objectives. Planning can be organized at three levels: (1) strategic planning addresses the basic mission over an extended period of time, often five years or more;
(2) long-range planning, typically two to five years, specifically looks at resources, finances, and changing environments to determine ways to accomplish the overall strategic plans of the organization; and (3) tactical planning involves people who are responsible for achieving the objectives within a specified period of time, usually one budgeting period. Various approaches, techniques, and tools have been developed to help in the planning process.
Examples of approaches that improve planning effectiveness include: (1) SWOT analysis, an assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to present and future scenarios; (2) GAP analysis, an approach to determine where an organization is today, where it wants to go in the future, and how it is going to get there; (3) MBO or management by objective, a system that focuses on results, not activities, by establishing and communicating objectives that are consistent, specific, measurable, time-bound, and achievable considering available resources.
Techniques that improve planning include: (1) written surveys, used to solicit information from a large number of people; (2) focus groups, structured small group meetings to collect information and understand relationships; (3) nominal group technique, a brainstorming session that ranks planning strategies; and (4) the Delphi technique, used to elicit and refine expert opinion based on iterative and controlled-feedback interactions.
Planning tools that are widely used include: (1) Gantt charts, used to schedule work as separate tasks, estimate the time for completion, and the required completion date are combined in a graphic chart that facilitates work scheduling; (2) Program Evaluation and Review Technique or PERT, a computer analysis that enables educators and managers to determine the correct and economically efficient sequence of tasks in the completion of a complex project, and (3) Critical Path Method or CMP, a network tool that enables managers to analyze potential bottlenecks in a project. Planning tools are often incorporated into software packages such as Microsoft Project 98.
Secondary: Cindy Akers, Steve Fraze, Julie Harlin, David Lawver, Jacqui Lockaby, James Smith
Description: Learner-centered instructional design considers a myriad of characteristics, processes, interactions, and delivery methods. All of these are important contributors to learning in both the traditional and the distance settings. Asynchronous modes allow learners to complete work in their own time and location rather than being in the classroom at a specified time and they control their contributions to learning events. Learners are involved in the assessment of their own learning and have input into the path of the instruction. In turn, adequate learner support is guaranteed through instructors, staff, and the teaching organization. For insights into some principles underlying learn-centered instructional design, see the paper, “Learner-Centered Psychological Principles: A Framework for School Redesign and Reform” (http://www.apa.org/ed/lcp.html).Primary: Cindy Akers, Steve Banning, James Christiansen, John Dillingham, Steve Fraze, Betty Franklin-Harrelson, Julie Harlin, Lance Kieth, Tim Knezek, Alvin Larke, Jr., Jacqui Lockaby, Tim Murphy, James Smith, Christine Townsend, Joe Townsend, Andy Vestal, William Younger
Secondary: Matt Baker, Gary Briers, Kim Dooley
Description: Delivery strategies are predetermined structures, networks, mediums, and factors related to the dissemination of information and/or knowledge and the acquisition of skills, interests, understandings, appreciations, values, and ideals. The structures, networks, and mediums used vary according to the resources available and the audiences being served. Delivery strategies are used to bring about changes in behavior in what people do and how they view issues, problems, conditions, relationships, needs, and other aspects of the world around them. Delivering and disseminating information and/or knowledge occurs in formal and informal settings and can involve an individual, small groups, or large groups, whether in synchronous or asynchronous modes. One way to approach understanding the “knowledge areas” of our department is to consider the components normally included in the formal design of instruction. Most models have similar components. They typically begin with an analysis of instructional need, then progress through some process to select and prepare materials and methods to be employed in order to facilitate or optimize learning, and then culminate in a systematic evaluation of the entire process.Delivery strategies are the central--methods and materials--item in these models. They are perhaps best described as the application of two disparate fields of study; namely, teaching methods and technologically mediated communication systems. They are, simply put, a systematic attempt to optimize the delivery of an instructional message to a particular audience. Delivery strategies are teaching methods, placed in context. They are communications technologies, applied to learning and teaching.
We discover delivery strategies by optimizing teaching methods in the context of technological delivery systems. For the longest time, teaching methods assumed the co-location of the learner and instructor, both in geographical and temporal space. Examples of more modern delivery strategies would include the “instructor-led lecture” method delivered live via streaming media on the World Wide Web (WWW), or the “student presentation” method delivered via an interactive videoconferencing system, or the “class discussion” method delivered via asynchronous threaded discussion boards. In every case, the teaching method is mediated through (and affected by) the technology used. Decisions about the appropriateness of the teaching methods and the technologies employed are a balance among the desired educational outcomes, the learners, the learning environment, and the kinds of curriculum materials that are available or can be developed.
For more information on delivery strategies, look at these two sources:
Virginia Tech’s Instructional Design Site (http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/portal/index.html)
July 2000 article in the The Agricultural Education Magazine (http://aged.tamu.edu/faculty/murphy/pubs/2000-07AgEdMag.pdf)
Secondary: Mary Marshall, Glen Shinn, Cruz Torres
Description: Organizations are accountable for monitoring and reporting program accomplishments, particularly progress towards pre-established goals. The tools of program evaluation, in turn, are used to measure program performance, including activities conducted (process), the direct products and services delivered by a program (outputs), the results of those products and services (outcomes), and/or public benefit of outcomes (impact). The knowledge area of Evaluation and Accountability relates to examining the philosophy, methods, and issues of accountability and evaluation necessary to meet legislative and stakeholder expectations. Special emphasis is given to the analytical tools used in program assessment systems (performance measurement, program evaluation, and cost/return analysis) including:
Performance measurement (often referred to as accountability) focuses on whether a program has achieved its objectives, expressed as measurable standards. It calls for an ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments, particularly progress toward pre-established goals. Information on three types of performance measures normally is collected and reported for a twelve-month period of time: Process: type or level of program activities conducted Output: direct products and services delivered by the program Outcome: results of those products and services
In essence, projections for activities, outputs, and outcomes are made at the beginning of the program year and provide the foundation for performance-based budgeting. Program accomplishments are determined by comparing actual results to projected results. Because organizations cannot afford the cost of measuring impact of all its programs, priorities must be developed. One way of establishing such priorities is on the basis of potential public benefit.Secondary: Scott Cummings, Lance Kieth, David Lawver, Jimmy Lindner, Tim Murphy
Description: A systematic and objective search for reliable knowledge through understanding and evaluating the research of others as well as the planning and conducting of original research through quantitative and qualitative methods. Measurement and analysis are forms of research that involve determining or establishing conditions against a benchmark and then determining causes, implications, and effects.
Dr. H. M. Hamlin, a university agricultural educator of note a generation or more ago, described research something like this: Research is an unusually persistent and systematic attempt to answer significant questions. His definition is elegant for its simplicity yet broadness. It encompasses all kinds of scholarly activity in which one pursues persistently and systematically the answer to significant questions or problems. So, research tools are those "attempts" at answering questions, using systemacy and persistence! Those attempts may be highly quantitative (numerical and statistical), qualitative, philosophical, historical, etc. The tools one uses to conduct research have arisen from the general concept of science (e.g., the "scientific method"), to the more specific concept of social sciences (e.g., via the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.), and even the traditions of the humanities (e.g., philosophy). Often, it is these traditions that might determine or "dictate" what researchers define as systematic. Educational research is an even newer tradition, and agricultural education contributes to that (those) research tradition(s).
One of the outcomes of research ("scholarly inquiry") in agricultural education is often a report of that research. One measure of its "scholarship" is that the research is reviewed by peers and communicated. Journals are often used as a vehicle to meet those criteria. See the journals below for examples of those kinds of evidence.Journal of Agricultural Education Online (http://aged.tamu.edu.jae)
Journal of Extension (http://www.joe.org/)
The Journal of International Agricultural Extension (http://ag.arizona.edu/aed/aiaee/volumes/journal.htm)
The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (http://www.bib.wau.nl/ejae/)
Secondary: Scott Cummings
Context: According to Warren Bennis, “the study of leadership isn’t nearly as exact as, say, the study of chemistry. For one thing, the social world isn’t nearly as orderly as the physical world, nor is it as susceptible to rules. For another, people, unlike solids, fluids, and gases, are anything but uniform and anything but predictable” (Bennis, 1989). Although difficult, Bennis and others support the notion that leadership is a scholarly discipline that can, in fact, be taught (Bennis, 1989; Bass, 1994; Kouzes and Posner, 1987; Cohen, 1990; Dodson, 1995; Cummins, 1995). In studying leadership theory, one must realize that there is a difference between socialization of a leader and leadership theory education. Many successful leaders obtain their leadership skills from practice; in other words, they are socialized into leadership as they have learned from their experiences. The conceptual concept for leadership education includes collegiate leadership education courses where students study the scholarly discipline of leadership theory. In these courses, students learn theories and models of the leadership process and they use analysis and evaluation to synthesize multiple leadership theories.
Primary: Scott Cummings, Larry Ermis, Betty Franklin-Harrelson, Lance Kieth, Howard Ladewig, Mary Marshall, Andy Vestal, William Younger
Secondary: Richard Cummins
Context: To deliver high quality, accessible professional development opportunities for Extension professionals so as to enhance core competencies needed to succeed in 1) program development, 2) strategic planning, 3) tactical planning, 4) evaluation and accountability, 5) leadership development for programming, and 6) experiential education. Systematic and research-based strategies for professional development increase organizational and individual effectiveness. These focus on opportunities that leverage employee skills to meet changing needs of Extension clientele. To be successful in change-directed efforts, Extension educators must consider the whole educational process. Effective Extension education is based on clear understanding of potential program situations and clientele needs, long-range (strategic) and annual (tactical) planning and goal setting, implementation of plans through appropriate methods and delivery techniques, evaluation and interpretation of progress and outcomes. A longstanding Extension approach has been to involve local stakeholders, both key leaders and potential learners, in deciding the priority areas of Extension education and how these are carried out by Extension educators. Strategic planning encompasses design, implementation, and evaluation of approaches to further the mission of Extension services, serving primarily to identify critical issues and needs of citizens that Extension educational programs can address or facilitate, at local, regional, and state levels. Change-directed efforts are based on clearly defined goals--the intended outcomes, and on allocated resources (faculty time and targeted educational actions). Programs can address critical issues derived through the strategic planning process, on-going or base programs within disciplinary units, or emerging new needs that require urgent response to avert catastrophic circumstances for clientele. Tactical planning “operationalizes” the highest priority needs or issues and allocates Extension resources to areas where visible outcomes are important. Outcome-directed programming is essential to accountability at county, state, and national levels. Extension education and accountability concepts and approaches are designed to measure three core entities: 1) relevancy of programming for targeted audiences, 2) quality of the subject-matter content and educational delivery methods, and 3) outcomes that a program can reasonably be expected to produce. A convincing body of knowledge exists for involving community leaders and a broad spectrum of citizens in planning, designing, and delivering educational programs that address the issues and base programs of Extension. The grassroots input of Extension programs in Texas comes from 14,000 community leaders who form 250 county Extension Program Councils and their program committees. Community leaders representing local Extension programs establish the identity and image of Extension. They include a diversity of people, businesses, and organizations that interpret and market educational programs that they themselves help to design, foster, and secure funding for through partnerships. Extension education functions to identify the base for effective community-based program development and to design and deliver organizational development models and resources that can enhance faculty competencies in the program development process as they work with local Extension units. In recent years, Texas Extension programs and other educational organizations recorded rapid growth in interest and demand for school enrichment. Extension is distinguished by a long history and meritorious reputation for delivering. Extension’s experience-based education programs (e.g., 4-H curriculum enrichment, Marine Education, Junior Master Gardeners, Ag Science Fairs, etc.) are proven Extension models for youth and adult education. Extension has a capacity to deliver experiential science and math-related concepts, applications, and concepts that correspond with TEKS and TAAS in public schools with studies showing that experiential education actually increases student knowledge scores.To gain a broader understanding about philosophy undergirding Extension education, please read the article, “Stating Our Values and Beliefs.” This article is online at http://www.joe.org/joe/1991winter/tp1.html.
Primary: Matt Baker, Gary Briers, John Dillingham, Steve Fraze, Julie Harlin, Tim Knezek, Alvin Larke, Jr., David Lawver, Glenn Shinn, James Smith, Keith Zamzow
Context: The context of teacher education focuses on the unique skills and competencies associated with teaching in classroom settings, be it youth or adult. Emphasis is also placed upon curriculum development and program planning as related to classroom and teaching situations; educational technologies used to enhance instruction; and research related to teacher effectiveness and learner success.
Secondary: Cindy Akers, Barry Boyd, Julie Harlin, Jacqui Lockaby, Glen Shinn
Context: To develop programs for and experience and scholarly competence among faculty, students, and other clienteles served by the Departments by providing education, service, and research including fostering involvement in activities to enhance learning in asynchronous and synchronous settings at a distance. To gain further insights into distance education, please read the article, “Distance Education at a Glance” (http://www.uidaho.edu/evo/distglan.html). Also, to learn about one system of distance education that is active currently, read about ADEC (http://www.adec.edu/).
Secondary: Matt Baker, Kim Dooley, Jimmy Lindner
Context: To develop knowledge, experience, and scholarly competence among faculty and students, provide service, and foster involvement in activities that enhance agricultural development and agricultural education in the international arena. This includes developing in students, especially those with limited knowledge of or experience in programs of international agricultural development, an understanding of the extent of, constraints on, nature of, settings for, approaches used, institutions involved, and consequences of efforts to facilitate agricultural development, particularly in developing nations. It also involves people who want to work in their field of specialization in the international arena becoming familiar with settings, trends, tasks, roles, responsibilities, preparation needed for, and critical incidents affecting their success in such work.
Development is “the process of transference of decision-making and power so that the people themselves can ascertain their own future. It is a process of stepping from one evolutionary moment to the next; from relief to self-help to development outreach to selfhood, determination, and decision.” (James MacCracken, 1977, p. 18).
Consequently, this contextual application involves both formal and informal agricultural and natural resource programming for the purpose of improving social, economic, or environmental conditions, primarily in the setting of a developing nation. It involves consideration for participatory or bottom-up programming that values both indigenous knowledge and on-farm research, being particularly cognizant of social-cultural consequences, including gender impact, upon livelihood systems. It involves the on-going interface of agriculture and education and the change process of getting useful information and technology to, assessed by, and accepted or rejected by people. It involves assisting those people to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, interests, understandings, appreciations, values, and attitudes to utilize effectively this information or technology to improve their quality of life.
With respect to agricultural and natural resource programming, international agricultural development and education includes comparisons among programs and functions, strengths and weaknesses, organization and relationships of institutions and agencies in public sectors serving agriculture in developing nations. These include national, bilateral, multilateral organizations, non governmental organizations, and foundations and includes those responsible for agricultural extension, agricultural research, agrarian reform, price stabilization, agricultural credit, and agricultural cooperatives.
Competency in international agricultural development and education also includes learning the processes by which development projects originate, successful procedures used in developing contracts with sponsors to undertake projects, techniques critical to managing projects successfully, lessons learned in conducting development projects, and ways of monitoring the progress of such projects. To gain perspectives about different aspects of international agricultural development and education, you may wish to examine the following articles:
Christiansen, J.E. Making Development in Agriculture Happen: What Lessons Have We Learned? What Lessons Have We Not Learned? Proceedings (Refereed), Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, Arlington, VA, March 31, 2000.
Duffy, S.B., Toness, A.S., & Christiansen, J.E. (1998). Internationalization of land grant university curriculum for a sustainable environment. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 5 (2). Available on-line at: http://ag.arizona.edu/aed/aiaee/Volumes/Volume%205.2%20JIAEE.doc
Düvel, G.H. (1995). In search of institutional linkages for participatory extension in agricultural and rural development. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 2 (3). Available on-line at: http://www.agralin.nl/ejae/v2n3-1.html.
Röling, N.G., & Jiggins, J.L.S. (1994). Policy paradigm for sustainable farming. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 1 (1). Available on-line at: http://www.agralin.nl/ejae/v1n1-3.html.
Röling, N. (1998). Extension and a risk society. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 5 (2). Available on-line at: http://ag.arizona.edu/aed/aiaee/Volumes/Volume%205.2%20JIAEE.doc
Agricultural communications
Primary: Cindy Akers, Steve Banning, Jacqui Lockaby
Secondary: Manuel Piña, Jr., Andy Vestal
Context: The exchange of accurate information about the agricultural and natural resources industries, ideally through the most effective and efficient channels available using appropriate communication techniques and theories. Two examples of the effectiveness of communications techniques, or lack thereof, may be found in the two case examples:
Got Milk (http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~agcommcase/mustache.html)
Energy and Environment: Getting Your Point Across (http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~agcommcase/point.html).