Presented by: John C Ricketts
Tennessee State University
Authored by: John C Ricketts
Tennessee State University 

We built a recruitment and retention model through online, micro-adaptive, and dual curriculum that can be shared across institutions. Tennessee State University (TSU) has grown in human and resources capacity, but the number of students we serve has continued to stagnate. Funded by a USDA-NIFA-AFRI COVID-19 Rapid Response grant, we sought to mitigate this problem by 1) developing and delivering eight engaging and standards-based courses in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources for high school and college students needing online/digital learning options, 2) establishing dual enrollment options for high school and community college completers of the online/digital micro-adaptive learning courses, and 3) implementing an innovative course sharing platform and network for like-minded colleges of agriculture. High school teachers and college faculty with specific expertise in each of the course areas worked with the PI and instructional designers at CogBooks/Cambridge University Press to create, vet, and validate curricula. The food science, plant science, and agribusiness courses have been piloted and the mostly positive review from students, which were collected qualitatively will be presented. Concomitantly to the course developments and pilots, the PI worked with TSU, University of Tennessee-Martin (UTM), and Quottly, a software company to develop the College of Ag and Life Sciences Course Sharing Network. The network institutes a course search and registration platform that makes it easy to find and register for transferable courses in agriculture. The network provides students with convenient and affordable access to online and on-campus courses offered at participating institutions. The digital, micro-adaptive courses and the network will be demonstrated, and future findings and recommendations will be discussed.

Presented by: Thomas H. Paulsen
Morningside University
Authored by: Thomas H. Paulsen | Annie Kinwa-Muzinga
Morningside University | Morningside University 

Recent concerns related to higher education have been abundant in the popular as well as academic press. Both academicians and those from the general population agree that educational quality should be a national priority. Assessment has been identified as an important inquiry related to how institutions, programs, and courses meet educational outcomes. Specifically, programmatic, and course-level assessments are critically important in the continuous improvement of educational systems. The purpose of this presentation is to share how the [Agricultural Program] at [University] assessed a recently reinvigorated capstone agriculture course used to demonstrate student attainment of institutional essential skills and specific programmatic outcomes. As a result of feedback from a previous Higher Learning Commission Assessment Report, [University] secured a donor to endow an annual assessment awards program at the institution. Since 2011, 19 faculty and ten programmatic assessment programs have been awarded $3000 stipends. Over the past three years, [Agricultural Program] has received a programmatic and course assessment award and was further recognized as an exemplar for its use of sound methodological approaches to the assessment of student work. Designed using the Revised Model for Integration of Experiential Learning into Capstone Courses (MIELCC) model, the capstone course utilized a team-based learning approach to implement Crunkilton's five components of a capstone course (i.e. teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking, communication). A Strategic Issue Analysis assignment was used to assess several institutional essential skills and programmatic outcomes. Overall, the assessment plan provided departmental faculty with critical feedback in the continuous improvement process.

Presented by: Melissa Leiden Welsh
University of Maryland
Authored by: Melissa Leiden Welsh
University of Maryland

Efforts to meet the dynamic needs of state and regional stakeholders spurred the development phase of a Master of Extension Education degree in 2019. This presentation delves into the questions and resulting decisions utilized to create the core classes, and delivery of the new Master of Extension Education program at the University of Maryland. A needs assessment was developed and conducted to examine desired course content, thesis or non-thesis options, skill development, online or on-campus preference, current demographics of Extension professionals and Agricultural educators in Maryland, as well as the role of interested faculty and staff in the new program. The mixed-methods survey respondents (N=155) were primarily females (52%) between the ages of 36-50 (36%) with less than five years (32%) in their present job. The desired online format guided the four core courses (12 credits) to be delivered asynchronously with experiential learning components embedded into practicum experiences. The preferred time of the year to attend courses reflected the respondents' downtime with their current job. Weekly, evening office hours aligned with respondents' schedules and mentoring needs. Most agreed that gaining and expanding Extension delivery skills, in addition to communication skills with diverse audiences, should be applied through authentic learning experiences. These meshed well with networking graduate students with current Extension educators who had expressed mentoring and instructional interests. The availability of specialty content courses was identified through collaborative discussions across college departments, with respect to the received initial content areas expressed through open-ended survey questions. The flexibility to select elective courses and develop personalized non-thesis options strives to meet students' non-traditional needs. The resulting program launched courses in Fall 2021 with students officially enrolled in Spring 2022. The degree focused on intertwined academics, applied research, and engagement with diverse communities providing a multidimensional problem solving learning environment for students.

Presented by: Jama S. Coartney
Virginia Tech
Authored by: Jama S. Coartney | Donna M. Westfall-Rudd | Eric K. Kaufman | Megan M. Seibel | Curtis R. Friedel | Amy White | Celeste Carmichael
Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Independent Consultant | Independent Consultant 

More than a decade ago, the National Research Council challenged agricultural education professionals to transform their relationship to the evolving global food and agricultural enterprise. While recent improvements have been documented, technical and community colleges have often been overlooked and underserved. Community college leaders recognize the importance of preparing students for success in a work environment that includes the ability to adapt. While technical and subject matter skills are important, they change over time. Skills, such as communication, collaboration, and leadership, are more durable in nature. These durable skills are much more difficult to teach but are crucial to successful employment. These employability skills are of critical importance to agriculture's workforce. Workforce readiness preparation needs to be integrated into existing agricultural education and curriculum development. We introduce the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) model for improvement as an overarching framework for piloting, evaluating, and implementing curricular changes in a single course and across multiple sites. PDSA provides a simple, powerful tool to support continuous improvement in the classroom. A partnership between a four-year university and a team of community college partners has yielded research and learning opportunities that suggest benefits of utilizing the PDSA model to integrate employability, durable, and leadership skills into current curriculum. During the 2022-2023 academic year, a cohort of community college faculty incorporated the PDSA framework into the curriculum design process. Examples of this work include improvements to student motivation to learn, group project management skills, and workforce awareness and readiness. The PDSA continuous improvement approach offers a model that anyone can use to expand and enhance educational curricular design.

Presented by: Eric Ronk
University of Wisconsin--Madison
Authored by: Eric Ronk | MaryGrace Erickson | Michel Wattiaux
University of Wisconsin--Madison | University of Wisconsin--Madison | University of Wisconsin--Madison 

In the past decade, scientific, technological, and societal advancements rapidly changed animal agriculture. Simultaneously, animal and dairy science (ADS) undergraduate programs responded to changes in students' preferred learning modalities, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. To characterize student preferences in our program, our research team designed a survey on curriculum topics and pedagogies. We identified emerging topics based on College- and Department-level strategic planning documents and tailored them to an ADS student population. We selected several pedagogies to represent both traditional (lecture, seminar, discipline-based) and non-traditional (e.g., hybrid, interdisciplinary, discussion-based) learning modalities used in our department. In November 2021, students enrolled in ADS 101 Introduction to Animal Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison responded via an online form (n = 95 students enrolled, response rate = 89.5%). Students reported moderate-to-high interest in all emerging topics, although the reference topic animal anatomy and physiology was rated most-interesting. Animal biologics and biomedicine, microbiology, and animal genetic technologies were rated most-interesting by students. Most ADS majors expressed that the majority of their credit hours should comprise courses taught within ADS. ADS majors differed numerically from other majors enrolled in ADS 101 in their interest in animal genetic technologies, analysis and experimentation, and global food systems and sustainability. The majority of students reported desiring traditional lecture (teacher leads instruction using PowerPoints, chalkboard or projections) for 50% or greater of their undergraduate coursework. Students expressed that flipped classroom and independent study should make up a minor proportion of their coursework. However, on average students reported being "extremely experienced" with traditional lecture and only "somewhat" to "moderately" experienced with flipped classroom and independent learning. ADS programs will need to continually account for students' preferences in the future. Surveys like this can help characterize student preferences and guide curriculum decisions.

Presented by: Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson
South Dakota State University
Authored by: Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson | Timothy Nichols | Karen Hickman | Heidi Appel | Joy Hart | Jon Kotinek | William Ziegler | Keith Garbutt | Andrea Radasanu | Paul Knox | Daniel Roberts | Ralph Keen | Mark Andersen | Jyotsna Kapur | Leigh Fine | Mary Bryk | Susan Sumner | Joseph Cassady
South Dakota State University | University of Montana | Oklahoma State University | University of Toledo | University of Louisville | Texas A&M University | SUNY - Binghamton | Oklahoma State University | Northern Illinois University | Virginia Tech | Virginia State University | University of Illinois Chicago | University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley | Southern Illinois University | Independent Scholar | Texas A&M University | Virginia Tech | South Dakota State University 

The Justice Challenge leverages a nationwide collaborative network of agricultural and honors educators at land-grant, public, and minority-serving institutions to prepare undergraduate students as future leaders who can address complex, interdisciplinary grand challenges in agriculture in ways that are more just, inclusive, and beneficial for all populations. The approach pairs the most innovative educational pedagogies from agricultural and honors education. The robust benefits of honors pedagogies within agricultural education have just begun to be realized. Here we refine an innovative, systems thinking approach to agricultural education. The Justice Challenge is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded Higher Education Challenge Grant which introduces honors students and faculty from myriad academic disciplines to the USDA priority need areas and enhances awareness of the complex nature of the challenges we face in agriculture. The curriculum cultivates intensive student learning and professional development opportunities to foster skills and competencies essential for the future workforce in shaping a humane world. Our model focuses on a developmental series of transdisciplinary, experiential, and problem-based experiences that build students’ system-level thinking skills to integrate technical, social, and political issues. Key components include foundational experiences shared by all participants as well as an array of applied signature experiences. The shared experiences are offered in a synchronous, online format to include students and experts from across the nation. Signature experiences vary from intensive two-day virtual hackathons to in person week-long field courses and semester-long design challenges. The varied formats remove barriers of entry and serve to optimize inclusive participation. Collectively, our aim is to increase the number and diversity of honors graduates who have an appreciation for agricultural sciences and are well prepared to lead us towards a more humane world.

Presented by: Kendra Jernigan
Abilene Christian University
Authored by: Kendra Jernigan
Abilene Christian University 

Introductory seminar courses allow students in agricultural and environmental sciences to explore their proposed majors through more active and experiential learning modes. Seminar-style approaches lend themselves well to these pedagogical techniques. Seminar courses tend to incorporate some educational formats more effectively, such as small-scale research projects, project-based learning, and developing technical skills. The Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Abilene Christian University (ACU) sought to reconfigure its introductory course to move away from traditional lecture-based methods and utilize more flexible seminar courses instead. Thus, the objective of this presented case study was to reconfigure the Introduction to Agricultural and Environmental Systems and Technology course into two seminar courses: Foundations of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for first-year students and Current Issues in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for second-year students. These seminar courses were developed and approved for inclusion in the ACU Course Catalog, effective beginning in the Fall 2023 semester. The first-year seminar emphasizes engaging with guest speakers and invited professionals as well as participating in discipline-specific group projects. The second-year seminar focuses on facilitating small-scale student research projects and developing aptitude with current issues in agricultural and environmental sciences. These new seminar courses implement project-based learning and encourage connections with local and regional professionals outside the ACU community. This case study exemplifies outcomes-based course design and assignment development. Although there are many benefits to these seminar-style courses, some potential disadvantages include maintaining student engagement and ownership of their learning. Yet, active, experiential, and project-based pedagogies in adaptive, creative, and innovative learning communities are useful in the agricultural and environmental sciences. Additionally, this case study provides an illustrative example and pedagogical framework for other educators in the agricultural and environmental sciences, especially regarding introductory seminar courses.

Presented by: Madison Adams-Roberts
North Carolina State University
Authored by: Madison Adams-Roberts | Carrie Pickworth | Joy Morgan | Katherine McKee
North Carolina State University | North Carolina State University | North Carolina State University | North Carolina State University 

The purpose of this research study was to determine if serving as a camp counselor positively impacts professional development skills through student leadership competencies for NC State Livestock Science Camp Counselors. This quantitative research targets communication, personal behavior, and interpersonal interaction competencies, which allow for the growth and development of camp counselors. The relationship between counselors and campers plays a vital role in positive youth development (self-constructs, social relationships, and physical and cognitive skills) and a quality camp experience. This research study is rooted in the Astin's (1984) student involvement theory to design more effective learning environments for students as it pertains to their future careers. The research design of this quantitative study uses a validated pre and post-survey created by Dr. Corey Seemiller and Dr. Dave Rosch (2018), Likert scale data, survey data, and field note observations to understand the increase in professional development skills in the Livestock Science Camp counselors. The results were quantified and analyzed to determine if the professional development skills and leadership competencies have increased, stayed the same, or decreased. While the results from the pre and post-survey data did not show any increase in the professional development of the camp counselor, there was a positive correlation between camp counselors' feelings towards a better understanding of professional development and belief that these skills would be of assistance in their career. It is encouraged that camp leaders continue to seek out professional development training for their counselors in order to provide the best experience for all.

Presented by: Madison Sokacz
Michigan State University
Authored by: Tasia M. Taxis | Cara Robison | Alisson Da Mota Santos | Madison Sokacz | Melissa Elischer | Thaina Minela
Michigan State University | Michigan State University | Michigan State University | Michigan State University | Michigan State University | Michigan State University 

There is an increasing demand at which employers are seeking and expecting non-tangible skills, or "soft" skills, in new hires. At the same time, there is a decreased rate at which recent college graduates are meeting these expectations. This deficit in soft skills in college graduates has persisted over the past two decades with no indication of improvement. We aimed to investigate the outcomes of incorporating experiential instruction and assessment of practical skills, knowledge, and soft skills in an advanced level undergraduate Animal Science course. A Dairy Cattle Handling, Welfare, and Sampling Techniques (ANS 490) course was developed and taught during the Fall 2022 semester. The course included content-based assessments on practical skills and knowledge and the development and assessment of soft skills. Enrolled students (n=16) were assessed on practical skills, knowledge, and soft skills throughout the semester and quantitative grades were assigned. Additionally, students were able to provide anonymous feedback on an end-of-semester survey. Following the completion of the semester, students showed competency in all three assessment areas: practical skills (94.7% ± 7.2%), knowledge (79.3% ± 7.8%), and soft skills (92.0% ± 8.6%). We found a positive correlation, nearing significance, between a student's competency on practical skills and knowledge (p=0.10). No association between either content-based assessment (practical skills and knowledge) and soft skills was found. The student feedback survey also indicated self-recognition of practical skills and knowledge as well as soft skill development. Consciously designing and implementing an experiential learning environment enhances the acquisition and development of practical skills, knowledge, and soft skills. We were able to demonstrate that soft skill development can be successfully incorporated into a course while continuing to meet the standards of practical skills and knowledge. The proper implementation of soft skill development is key to preparing undergraduate students to meet the expectations of employers.