Moderator: Shelly Legg

Creating Virtual Space for Global Dialogue in Agriculture: GLAG22 (12:15-12:30pm)
Melanie Miller Foster
The Pennsylvania State University

Designing opportunity for effective professional learning has been forever altered by the impact of the global pandemic on the factors of adoption of instructional technology as well as the digital fluency of educators. Since 2016, the Pennsylvania State University has curated an online professional development intervention around global food systems transformation for educators of all contexts. With experience, Pennsylvania State University refined the mission to develop a space for interdisciplinary, multi-sector interaction of all educators for all contexts around global food systems transformation. The stated goal is not to be a 'US conference talking about global issues", but rather a global community focused on advancing shared solutions to wicked problems facing the planet. The Pennsylvania State University pivoted post-pandemic from a one-week event with 40+ hours of engagement opportunity to a 10-month community with new information metered weekly. The six platforms utilized for this collaborative effort of 32 partners and patrons including wide-ranging types of academic institutions, non-government organizations and the private sector included: Constant Contact, Keyhole, Twitter Whova, Wordpress, and Zoom. A community of practice was cultivated to deliver a space for community interaction, resource sharing, and engagement of professional learning between over 1000 educators from all 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries. Best practices for engagement, communication and community development will be shared and explored for others seeking to bring together diverse populations for shared learning. Key lessons include the importance of staying with the zone of proximal development for adult learners, ensuring they have a sense of efficacy in being successful with not 'missing out" on the professional learning by providing plentiful flexible engagement opportunities that can be consumed on the learner's schedule, not the conference organizers schedule. Environments with health risk concerns and limited resources demand creative innovative solutions to allow for critical professional dialogue to continue.

Internationalizing Plant Pathology at the University of Saskatchewan (12:30-12:45pm)
Randy Kutcher
University of Saskatchewan

Students successfully met the learning outcomes in an undergraduate plant pathology course by engaging in a collaborative online international learning (COIL) experience at the University of Saskatchewan (UofS) from September-December 2021. With limited ability to travel internationally due to the pandemic, COIL provided all 84 Canadian students registered in the UofS course with an opportunity to investigate a topic of mutual interest with 28 students from Universities in Ecuador, Ukraine or in the USA. Colleagues at the universities abroad were consulted and three topics pertaining to plant pathology were chosen on which to base an assignment. The topics were plant disease diagnosis, pathogen resistance to fungicides and biological control of plant diseases. Using a free online social annotation tool, students were given the choice to select one of the three papers. Students participated in an online discussion of the topic, guided by a teaching assistant, over two weeks. Students were then organized into sub-groups of three UofS students and one student from one of the three partnered countries. A broad open-ended question was asked on each topic; the four students in each subgroup worked together to draft a response. Students were encouraged to meet their subgroup over video chat and to edit their document collaboratively. The paper was included in the assessment for the UofS course (10%) and at some (not all) of the universities in Ecuador, Ukraine and the USA. Students were able to develop their disciplinary knowledge while practicing the skills of a globally minded plant pathologist. The COIL exercise was considered a success based on feedback obtained from UofS students and students from other countries. Students reported growth in their intercultural competence after the experience.

Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Global Agriculture: Assessing  Perceptions of Global Issues in Pre-Service Educators in the GOALS Program (12:45-1:00pm)
Carson Letot
The Pennsylvania State University

Global learning in applied STEM contexts like agriculture can be guided by the philosophy of sustainable development utilizing a framework such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Educators who participate in professional development to improve their instructional design capacity are often provided frameworks like state and national standards. The UNSDGs offer assistance in guiding instruction related to sustainable development across broad contexts. Gaps exist in the literature on the assessment of educator awareness, importance, and implementation of the UNSDGs in classrooms along the agricultural education continuum. The understanding of educator perceptions along the continuum is beneficial in establishing effective communities of practice, authentic professional development opportunities, and improved instructional efficacy. A descriptive study of a bound population of pre-service educators (n=99) reported sentiments on professional development opportunities related to the use of global issues in agricultural education. A deeper exploration of a subset of the pre-service educator group (n=16) opted into professional development on global concepts and best practices for teaching success where they reported awareness, importance, and implementation of global issues through their teacher preparation programs. Of the 17 UNSDGs, goal (4) Quality Education showed the highest awareness and implementation. A significant discrepancy in awareness came forth between goal (4) and goal (10) Reduced Inequalities, and discrepancies in implementation were present between (4) and both (9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, as well as (11) Sustainable Cities. These results will help inform current teacher education programs on which areas of content knowledge to address and future professional development efforts with more attention to areas that pre-service educators have identified a need for support. Further research is needed beyond awareness exploring educators' nuanced comprehension of these global issues and contributions to efficacy from pedagogical experience.

Learning abroad: A Case Study on an International Research Internship Program (1:00-1:15pm)
Jaelene Loor Suche
The Ohio State University

As global education changes, it faces new challenges and requires the development of opportunities to spread knowledge. Internships have demonstrated their effectiveness in engaging people with practical and applied working scenarios, allowing learners to develop valuable professional skills. This case study aims to describe the bidirectional benefits resulting from a collaborative relationship between the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), The Ohio State University and the Pan-American Agricultural School Zamorano, Honduras through establishing a research internship program. Data was collected from 2004 to 2021 and was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The research internship program started informally with three visiting scholars and continued operating informally until universities signed a formal agreement in 2019. The program has promoted intercultural exchanges among students and faculty from both schools. Until 2021, the program has hosted 73 interns from 12 countries, involving 60 faculty members in different disciplines such as Entomology, Horticulture, and Food Sciences in the CFAES. Results showed the program benefits international students’ by increasing recruitment for graduate studies. Sixty-four percent of the program’s participants have joined the graduate school at multiple academic institutions, and 21% have secured a job in the agricultural industry. Results highlight how interns participate in collaborative research projects in and out of the hosting institution and have disseminated research through multiple academic and informative outlets. These results have informed the research internship program’s vision and priorities, including securing funding to increase the number of internships and to develop resources to help international students succeed during their graduate school experience abroad.