Moderator: Susie Whittington

Factors Affecting Students' Performance As a Team Player in Agribusiness (12:15-12:30pm)
Roozbeh Irani-Kermani
Sam Houston State University

Being a team player is high among the top five skills recruiters and employers look for in the job market. Many empirical studies have investigated the effectiveness of peer assessments in team-based learning among various programs. While most scholars have found peer assessments a reliable tool to assess the individual team member's contribution toward the team effort, researchers have not looked at the main factors that affect individual student assessment results. Qualitative studies have previously investigated factors like being adaptable, communicative, collaborative, tenacious, and disciplined. The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting student performance as a team player in agribusiness courses. We analyzed a sample of 136 students (71 female, 65 male) enrolled from 2018 to 2021. We administered three different personal assessment examinations: A Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to learn about student personality type, a Strong Interest Inventory to learn about their strengths, and the DISC profile test to review students' behavioral responses. We used conditional logit and multiple linear regression analysis to identify the factors that significantly explain an individual's performance as a team player. To investigate factors associated with being a team player in team-based agribusiness courses, we selected eighteen variables that are more likely to have an impact based on previous studies. The significant variables that resulted from the model included the students' GPA, age, hometown, previous schools and colleges, and their characteristics based on the DISC profile assessment and Myers-Briggs personality assessment tool. The results show a significant correlation between student characteristics and peer evaluation results. Extravert (E), Sensing and Thinking (ST), Sensing and Perceiving (SP), and high Dominance types are more likely to get better results in peer evaluations. The results also indicated that gender was not significantly correlated with being a good team player. 

A Collaborative Conference Focused on Inclusive Learner-Centered Teaching and Mentoring (12:30-12:45pm)
Neil Knobloch
Purdue University

Professional associations host conferences to facilitate networking, professional development, and scholarly outputs. Among land-grant universities, 1890 Historically Black Colleges and Universities focus on engaging students through learner-centered teaching and community-based Extension programs addressing social injustices. Although there is common ground through higher education, there have been limited collaborations between 1890 and 1862 land-grant institutions. The purpose of this innovative project was to convene faculty from 1862 and 1890 land-grant universities to share ideas and explore common interests associated with inclusive learner-centered teaching (LCT) within the contexts of food, agriculture, natural resources, and health sciences. Two collaborative conferences (2020 was virtual & 2021 was face-to-face) were conducted and an online post-conference survey was conducted to measure participants' perceptions. In comparison, 77% (2020) and 69% (2021) agreed LCT was a relevant theme for participants in all discipline areas, and 75% (2020) and 67% (2021) agreed diversity, equity and inclusion was a relevant theme for participants in all discipline areas. Moreover, 90% felt the conference was inclusive, 80% felt the conference participants were open-minded. Moreover, participants deepened their cross disciplinary networking with 88% finding the conferenced to be inclusive and attendees open minded 81%. They also identified learner-centered processes, professional mentoring, and agricultural literacy as key professional development topics. Faculty from 1862 and 1890 land-grant universities were able to build new relationships, explore potential collaborations, and feel more self-efficacious regarding inclusive LCT classrooms. Inclusive LCT and mentoring provided common ground among faculty from 1890 and 1862 institutions to share best practices and build human capacity with strong interest to further advance future collaborations across institutions.

Now That's a Good Story: Creative Writing to Assess Student  Misconceptions about Agriculture (12:45-1:00pm)
Lauren Osborn
Oklahoma State University

Most colleges require nearly 30% of a student's education to be interdisciplinary. Because of these requirements, many students are often introduced to fields where they lack knowledge or interest and have misconceptions. Student misconceptions are among the most-challenging of these learning impediments, especially when the misconceptions have been long-held and reinforced by family members or social interactions. Traditionally, pre- and post-quizzes have been used as a method to determine student knowledge. However, this approach requires faculty to have some understanding of likely misconceptions and creates situations where students are reluctant to share their existing knowledge. Recent research has shown that integrating artistic disciplines like creative writing into traditional STEM fields aids both majors and non-majors in establishing interdisciplinary connections between required education courses and courses in their field of interest, and result in increased student learning and retention. We have been teaching Entomology and Creative Writing to non-major college students using writing prompts assigned before and after a lesson where students describe previous experiences with insects and help instructors identify student misconceptions, to establish the baseline of class knowledge, and the success of meeting learning objectives. Additionally, students engage with the course material through personal antidotes, adding the benefit of individual investment. This presentation provides examples of writing prompts associated with a variety of learning objectives. We believe that these strategies for introducing creative writing into entomology and other STEM areas will help to overcome student misconceptions and foster interdisciplinary interests.

A Tiered Assignment Exploring Critical Social Issues in Agriculture,  Natural Resources, and the Environment (1:00-1:15pm)
Jera Niewoehner-Green
The Ohio State University

Graduate students in social-science related programs within the college of agriculture at Ohio State University are preparing to work with diverse groups on complex issues related to agriculture, natural resources, and the environment. In a graduate level leadership theory course, a tiered assignment was developed to refine both their scholarly research skills and knowledge of social issues facing the communities in which they may work. This assignment requires students to identify a critical social issue that is salient to their field. 'Critical' pertains to an issue wherein there are structural causes of inequality. For agriculture, natural resources, and the environment examples of these issues are gender equality in international agriculture, minority farmer representation, income-inequality in rural communities, and food security. This presentation will outline the tiered assignment process, describe analysis skills taught in preparation for the assignment, and present student reflections. The tiered assignment includes four submissions: annotated bibliography, literature review, analysis paper, and public-facing resource. Students identify various scholarly sources through their research and address bias as they explore differing perspectives. Their analysis paper extends their research and includes the process of analyzing assumptions, values and judgements related to their topic and then proposing ideas for supporting equity. These can be individual actions, policies, programs, practices, and/or laws. The public-facing resource requires students to develop a product for use in stakeholder meetings, training, or communications (i.e. social media). Reflections indicate that students were able to explore the factors behind complex issues, reflect on their biases, and develop skills for working with others on these issues. Through this presentation, the author hopes to provide the audience with strategies for improving student research and critical thinking skills in the social sciences as well as highlight how course assignments can be extended beyond the classroom.