7 pages, Graduate education is an important aspect of the life of most academic scientists and a serious responsibility because it comes with the obligation to help students achieve their career and life goals. It can also be very fulfilling for the graduate mentor in terms of personal satisfaction and advancement of the research program. Learning to be a good major professor is an active process that depends on developing a formal framework of education and modifying that framework for each student based on past experiences and experimentation, advice from colleagues, and the individual personality of the student. Perhaps most important is for the graduate mentor to buy into the success and well-being of the student. Among the characteristics that a major professor could seek to instill in his or her students are critical and independent thinking, self-confidence, a thick skin, teamwork, laboratory skills and understanding, and the ability for hard work. Work to make science joyful by celebrating accomplishments, creating a fun environment in the lab, and stressing the societal value of science as compared to personal rewards or ambition.
17 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This quantitative study sought to investigate the perceptions of teachers and students regarding competency-based education (CBE) principles at the College of Agriculture at Razi University.
Design: This research is a comparative analysis of two groups. The first group consists of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in agriculture who are members and non-members of student cooperatives (n = 256). The second group consists of agricultural faculty members (n = 59).
Findings: The results of this study show that students and teachers have different views with regard to the extent to which CBE principles are practiced in the College of Agriculture. Moreover, students with different learning patterns had different perceptions regarding the extent to which CBE is practiced, whereas teachers with different teaching patterns had the same perception of the application of CBE principles in the College of Agriculture.
Practical implications: This study has practical implications for agricultural higher education in general and colleges of agriculture in particular. Colleges of agriculture across Iran could encourage their students to establish and engage in student cooperatives so that the ‘what’ and ‘how’ aspects of CBE are put into practice.
Theoretical implications: This study has theoretical implications for CBE principles. For example, student cooperatives can be utilized by faculty members as one of the main strategies for developing CBE in agricultural colleges.
Originality/value: This study is original in that it moves from theory to practice when considering CBE.
5 pages., Article #:3TOT1, via online journal., Higher education resources are increasingly limited due to declining budget revenue and other challenges. Thus, it is vital for Cooperative Extension to synergize efforts of disseminating education to the public. Promoting public scholarship in and beyond Extension is a promising initiative that can foster collaborations by leveraging existing resources in advancing the Extension mission. We highlight a new program aimed at encouraging a culture of public scholarship across academia. The program is intended to increase knowledge about public scholarship and awareness of its benefits to stakeholders, identify barriers to public scholarship, and provide concrete examples of ways Extension and non-Extension faculty can collaborate on research and programming efforts.
16 pages, via online journal, Purpose: This study elucidates on how faculty supervision support to students during farm placements and other facilitating conditions influence farmer learning in the student-centred university outreach.
Methodology/Design/Approach: Cross-sectional data were collected from a sample of 283 farmers who had previously hosted students of Gulu University in the student-to-farmer university outreach. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse how faculty supervision support to students in combination with other facilitating conditions affect the formation of intentions for learning and actual farmer learning behaviour.
Findings: Faculty supervision support in the student-to-farmer outreach was found to significantly influence formation of intentions for learning (β = 0.380; t = 5.263; P < .01) and actual farmer learning behaviour (β = 0.182; t = 2.081; P < .05).
Practical implications: Faculty supervision support to students is critical to fostering lasting learning relationships in university outreach. Thus, it needs to be a part of the transformation agenda of the higher education sector for improved community linkages and innovation.
Theoretical implications: Empirical data obtained from the context of student-centred university outreach is used to extend the model of facilitating conditions.
Originality/Value: The study addresses how faculty supervision support together with farmers’ perception of student attitudes and the value of the learning content influence farmers’ learning behaviour during university outreach.
10 pages., via online journal., Purpose: Agricultural extension graduates do not get jobs and farmers are not getting agricultural
extension services, and therefore, both the farmers and agricultural graduates do not receive benefi ts.
The study assessed the interest of agricultural extension students in providing private extension services
to farmers, examined their perception towards private extension services and identifi ed extension skills
possessed by the students.
Research Method: The study comprised all the fi nal year students in the Universities in Osun State. A
two – stage sampling procedure was used to select the respondents. One university was selected from
each category of federal, state and private. A total of 68 respondents were selected and interviewed.
Data collected were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings: The results show that the mean age, mean years of formal education of the respondents
were 23.75 ± 2.02 and 17.40 ± 1.16, respectively. About half (51.5%) of the respondents had positive
perception towards the private extension service while 57 percent had high interest in providing private
extension services. Majority of them possessed teaching skills (97.1%), innovation dissemination
skills (95.5%) and communication skills (88.2%). Also, sources of agricultural information available
(χ2=22.448), types of sponsors (χ2=6.102) and marital status (χ2=16.535) had a signifi cant association
with respondents’ interest in providing private agricultural extension services.
Research Limitation: The study focuses on the interest of agricultural extension graduates to provide
private extension services; however, these graduates may have an interest in other areas that have not
been investigated.
Original Value: The study provides an insight to show the interest and capability of agricultural students
to be engaged in private extension services as a livelihood
18 pages., via online journal., Meeting the demands of a proficient scientific workforce depends on students’ communication skill preparation. To describe students’ self-perceptions of their communication skills, we surveyed 315 students in Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Participants noted they were most proficient in their ability to listen effectively and least proficient in asking effective questions. Each communication skill characteristic showed a statistically significant difference before and after college engagement, but we found no statistically significant difference in the overall communication scores of students. Therefore, we recommend: 1) interviewing employers to understand their perceptions of entry-level employees; 2) investigating when students transition from false sense of confidence to actual confidence; 3) conducting a longitudinal study to investigate students’ perceptions of communication skills throughout their college experience; 4) evaluating faculty’s communication
teaching methods across disciplines; and 5) investigating the influence of self-reflection on students’ attained communication skills. Conducting such studies could lead to stronger connections between the academy and the industry, especially as faculty strive to align their teaching with needs of the industry.
Maples, Sara Kathryn (author) and University of Arkansas
Format:
Thesis
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
Ann Arbor: ProQuest
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 17 Document Number: D10468
Notes:
97 pages., Via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses., There is a current need to identify and describe opinions of prospective employers and current agricultural students about the prospects of developing an agricultural communications academic discipline in the U.K. An understanding of the competencies employers would expect of agricultural communications graduates, as well as an understanding of what students would expect to learn, would form the conceptualization and development of the discipline in the U.K. A total of 22 agricultural communications professionals and 67 agricultural students from across the United Kingdom completed the survey. Collected data showed agricultural students and agricultural communications professionals answers overall were not statistically different. Both groups found many of the competencies such as writing skills and general communication skills to be important for an agricultural communications graduate in the United Kingdom. Future studies should investigate the need for an agricultural communications academic discipline in the communications profession in the United Kingdom.
6 pages., Via online journal., This study examines the impact of a residential horticultural career academy, Camp Tomorrow’s Undergraduates Realizing the Future (TURF), conducted from 2010 to 2016 at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, OK. Each year, up to 25 Oklahoma high school students were engaged in 2 weeks of hands-on activities representing a variety of horticulture-related careers. Instructors for Camp TURF included OSU faculty, staff, and graduate students from the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, related OSU departments, and horticulture and landscape architecture industry professionals. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education sponsored this career academy, which was geared toward potential first-generation college students, and helped to expose students to the university atmosphere as well as expand their knowledge of science- and math-related career fields. Pre- and postassessments given at Camp TURF show significant changes in college readiness and familiarity with horticulture careers, but did not necessarily increase interest in particular horticulture and landscape architecture careers. Upon following up with academy graduates, we learned that the academy has been a positive experience for numerous attendees, with 76.6% going on to higher education and two students majoring in horticulture and landscape architecture-related areas.
7 pages., Via online journal., Virtual plant walk maps were developed for an ornamental plant identification (ID) course, with the goal of providing an additional study resource to potentially enhance student learning. The maps provided students an opportunity to revisit plants covered in lecture and laboratory sections at their own convenience, using either a computer or mobile device. Each map plotted the locations of the plants from the corresponding list and provided photographs of specimens, plant family, common and scientific names, and plant type information. At the end of the course, a survey was given to collect information about student use and perceptions of the virtual plant walk maps for two fall semesters (n = 87). Survey results indicated 63% of the students used the virtual plant walk maps as a study resource. Students who used the maps reported accessing the maps an average of 3.2 times between receiving the maps and taking the plant ID quiz in laboratory. Students mainly used the maps to study the most current plant list and accessed previous plant list maps to a lesser extent. About 67% of students who used the virtual maps, used the maps to visually review the plants online only, although 31% of students used the maps for both visual review and to physically retrace the plant walk to view the live specimens. Of the students who did not use the maps, most found other study resources/methods more useful or they forgot about the maps as a resource. When asked to rate usefulness of the maps on a scale from slightly useful (1) to very useful (3), 43% of students indicated that the virtual maps study tool was very useful, 25% indicated the maps were useful, and 8% indicated that the maps were slightly useful. A significant dependence between student use frequency and student usefulness ratings of virtual plant walk maps was observed. As students’ use of the virtual maps increased, they perceived the maps to be more useful to their studies in preparing for ID quizzes. No differences between plant ID quiz scores were associated with virtual plant walk map use, learning style, or use by learning style. Our survey indicated that students used the virtual plant walk maps as a resource and perceived the maps as a useful tool in preparation for ID quizzes.
Andrew, Chandra L. (author) and Tarleton State University
Format:
Dissertation
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Published:
Ann Arbor: ProQuest
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 17 Document Number: D10469
Notes:
326 pages., ISBN: 9781369787863, Via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses., Stufflebeam’s (1969) context, input, process, product (CIPP) model was used to evaluate 11 undergraduate agricultural communication programs. The programs were selected based upon their 2012-2013 membership numbers in the National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapters, with the goal of selecting the universities with the largest undergraduate agricultural communication programs. Research has indicated that regular evaluation is vital to the agricultural industry and the graduates from agricultural communication programs.
The researcher sought to answer the following research questions: 1. How many credit hours does each program require? 2. What categories of courses are offered within the curriculum for an undergraduate agricultural communication degree? 3. What are the expected topics students should receive in each category? 4. What is the degree productivity of each undergraduate degree or concentration in agricultural communication over a five-year timespan?
The context portion of the study was the history of agricultural communication. The input construct of the model was the characteristics of undergraduate agricultural communication programs. The process portion of the model was the traditional programs’ coursework offered in the programs. Finally, the product construct was the topics required by graduates.
The evaluation identified 28 categories of coursework that occurred in the undergraduate agricultural communication curriculum of the 11 selected universities. The frequency of categories occurring at each university ranged from a high of 11 to a low of three. Topics varied depending upon category, but overlap of topics did occur among categories. The overlap indicates that faculty are striving to encompass multiple topics within their offered courses’ framework.
Finally, all programs had increased their number of graduates in a five-year timespan. With the exception of one program, all remaining programs expected enrollment to continue to increase in the future.
