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2. Identification of industry needs and development of professional skills in students of horticulture
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Pearson, Brian J. (author), Moore, Kimberly (author), and University of Florida
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017-10
- Published:
- United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10350
- Journal Title:
- HortTechnology
- Journal Title Details:
- 27(5) : 580-582
- Notes:
- 3 pages., Via online journal., Increased global trade coupled with diversified employment opportunities demand college graduates possessing well-developed professional skills. Recent survey results identified the importance of professional skills among candidates seeking employment, with communication being recognized as the most important skill or quality when selecting candidates. The ability to work within a team structure, solve complex problems, and organize and prioritize work also ranked high among industry employment needs. Despite a rigorous focus on discipline-oriented knowledge and skills, development of professional skills in students of horticulture may be overlooked or not fully developed. Teaching methods can be modified to incorporate development of professional skills and discipline-oriented knowledge to enhance student employment preparedness and directly address industry needs.
3. Learning by doing: Applying the concept of pollen viability in a horticulture classroom
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Perez, Kauahi (author) and University of Hawaii and Manoa
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017-08
- Published:
- United States: American Society for Horticultural Science
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 12 Document Number: D10362
- Journal Title:
- HortTechnology
- Journal Title Details:
- 27(4) : 461-464
- Notes:
- 4 pages., Via journal article., Learning by doing plays a critical role in a learner’s conceptual understanding. By actively engaging with a concept, students gain experience and develop an enduring understanding of the concept. The concept of pollen viability is a critical component in the field of plant breeding and can be used to explain various aspects of pollen quality. An inquiry activity was designed to expose undergraduate students in a horticulture course to the concept of pollen viability and its application. The entire class was tasked with collaborating to identify an in vitro germination medium optimized to germinate plumeria (Plumeria rubra) pollen. To determine optimum sucrose and pH concentrations of the medium, student groups were assigned treatments of pollen from two plumeria cultivars that were germinated in Brewbaker and Kwack media of differing sucrose and pH concentrations. Students calculated the percentage of germinated pollen and assessed pollen tube integrity and used these variables as evidence of an optimized medium. Although undergraduates were engaged in authentic research practices during the inquiry activity, lack of time and resources impeded completion of the activity. However, students were exposed to methods and instrumentation directly related to evaluating pollen viability. Moreover, they were exposed to the basic practice of pollen quality assessment that they can use to carry out investigations on pollen fertility. In addition, insight was gained to improve the inquiry activity in the future. Now, well-informed modifications to the inquiry activity can be made to pilot this activity in a formal horticulture laboratory section.
4. Using an experiential learning design to teach photography in agricultural communications
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kennedy, Lindsay (author), Akers, Cindy (author), Jackson, Rachel B. (author), and Texas Tech University
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2017
- Published:
- United States: New Prairie Press
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 2 Document Number: D10172
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Applied Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- 101(4)
- Notes:
- 13 pages, via online journal, Photography is an important competency of agricultural communications graduates and is a core skill taught in the discipline’s curriculum. The [department] at [university] offers an undergraduate photography course twice yearly in two semester formats: a traditional spring semester where photography principles are taught in the classroom and a 12-day experiential intersession semester that allows for flexibility in how and where the course is taught. Both semesters utilize the same instructor, assignments, and grading rubric. While much agricultural communications research has focused on photography as a needed skill, few studies examine photography teaching methods. The purpose of this study was to compare student performance in an agricultural communications digital photography course taught with an experiential learning approach to a traditional classroom approach during the 2016 and 2017 academic calendar years. Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Independent-samples t-tests were conducted to compare students’ cumulative mean assignment scores, individual assignment mean scores, and rubric criteria mean scores within the two instruction formats. The results suggest instruction method has an effect on student performance in agricultural communications digital photography courses. Students in the experiential intersession course had significantly higher mean cumulative assignment scores compared to students in the traditional course. While individual assignment performance was less affected by instruction format, students’ understanding of specific photography skills (rubric criteria), especially composition and clarity was higher when in the experiential intersession format.