11 pages, via online journal, Purpose: Educational farms (EFs) serve a number of social and economic functions and are part of the debate about new learning environments, multifunctional agriculture and firm diversification. Through the analysis of a case study, this paper aims to identify strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of EFs and key factors for setting a development strategy.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A direct survey to EFs in Molise region (IT) was implemented during April-May 2017 and results were assessed following a SWOT approach.
Findings: Strong motivation and connection with agritourism activities are strengths of EFs in the region; small size, unskilled staff, lack of structured educational pathways, and limited profitability are the main weaknesses. Farms opportunities come from a territory rich in rural landscapes, environmental resources, and typical food products, and from a growing demand for educational tourism. Obstacles are in the institutional sphere and due to the absence of regional networks. Based on SWOT findings, key factors for EFs development are discussed.
Practical implications: EFs development requires innovative educational and managerial tools, a more concerted and proactive role for multiple stakeholders, and the implementation of a network approach. Study findings solicit actions from public institutions and advisory services to improve farmers’ skills.
Theoretical implications: The paper contributes to the theoretical debate about the need for a multidisciplinary approach in dealing with the analysis of EFs.
Originality/Value: The analysis underlines the importance of internal and external drivers in stimulating farms and institutions to support diversification strategies, rural development and transformation processes in inner areas.
9 pages., Via online journal., Intergenerational environmental communication (IGEC) was examined using pre- and post-survey research after child participation in a groundwater environmental education (EE) program. The EE program increased child knowledge, but did not significantly increase parent knowledge. There was also a significant difference between perceived levels of environmental communication (EC) between child and parent, with parents indicating higher levels of EC than their children. Participants reporting low EC levels had significantly less interest in, concern for, or knowledge about environmental issues. Several key factors initiated IGEC between children and their parents, including saving household money by changing environmental behaviors, exposure to media sources that reported environmental news, and school activities such as homework related to environmental issues. Environmental educators should be cautious when implementing EE programs, as additional considerations are essential to determine what influence, if any, child participants have beyond the classroom. Continued research is needed to increase EC between children and their parents with the hope of improving intergenerational approaches to environmental issues.
12 pages., via online journal., Present world belongs to the era of information explosion. With the information edge on hand, the world is getting much competitive. Students are required to develop rigorous digital skills to suit themselves to the multi-faceted world. It is no coincidence that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools form the bulwark of this new age digital literacy. ICTs have been establishing themselves for so long as the futuristic tools of teaching and learning. In addition, ICT has become a polynary and systematic concept in the field of education. Thankfully, agricultural education is not left behind and it is getting more and more realized that agricultural information professionals must support agriculture by managing and improving access to a proliferating and increasingly complex array of information. This paper is limited to the usage and effects of ICT tools in the classroom teaching-cum-learning setup of agricultural education. Research studies show that for massive deployment of ICTs, the student community needs to be exposed to various courses of computer usage and application software. Besides, bottlenecks that hinder widespread ICT deployment have also been identified amongst agricultural community. Apart from the poor or inadequate availability of interactive multimedia, self-learning modules and online class courses in agricultural domain, it has been ascertained that poor signal strength of wifi also pose as barrier in inhibiting the adaptability of ICT tools in countries like India. The study suggests that the students should foster information awareness, build their knowledge about ICT, develop competence in ICT, and the teaching faculty should determine methods for how to use ICT to achieve information literacy in agriculture.
