Session moderated by Bonnie Walters

Presentation 1 - A Novel Approach to Engaging in Online Focus Groups with Students and Faculty    
Sarah Al-Mazroa Smith    
Iowa State University    

Focus groups allow researchers to interview participants and collect information about different experiences while observing interactions as participants discuss topics on which they may agree or disagree. Traditionally, focus groups have been conducted in person, but with broad adoption of video conferencing and researcher needs changing during the pandemic, researchers have seen benefits of conducting focus groups online. This project focused on utilizing Zoom and its annotation features to facilitate focus groups that allow participants to have response anonymity, while still being able to reply and provide feedback on others' responses. The focus groups were conducted with the overall goal of gathering insights into how to improve science communication for veterinary medical students about antimicrobial stewardship. Feedback shared via the native annotation interface on Zoom allowed participants to provide responses and engage in interactions with other participants. Across two studies with faculty and students, participants enjoyed the novel focus group format and indicated participation was easy after the training provided at the beginning of the research session. Most students and faculty stated that they appreciated anonymity in responses, as it made them feel confident to answer honestly, and respond to others, without others knowing who specifically provided the response. This method of hosting a focus group provides researchers data they are seeking, and it allows participants to be in a safe environment to share their true thoughts and feelings, even on sensitive topics. In an academic environment, it supports researchers to collect data from students and faculty to help improve curriculum while overcoming the challenges of participants being available in comparable times and physical space.  The study indicates that this method could be adopted by any researcher interested in seeking anonymous curriculum feedback in their disciplines.

Presentation 2 - Creating an Assessment Strategy for a Newly Revised Animal Science Curriculum    
Elizabeth Karcher    
Purdue University    

From 2017 to 2020, the Program (Re)Design model was adapted in an Animal Science department to evaluate and revise the undergraduate curriculum. The adapted theory-driven framework guided the curricular redesign and the new learner-centered curriculum was implemented in Fall 2021. After implementing the new curriculum, the next step was to design an assessment plan that would evaluate the established learning outcomes. This presentation will focus on development of the assessment plan, including design and implementation challenges within a department of over 700 undergraduate students. A curriculum assessment team, led by the department's undergraduate programs coordinator and consisting of five faculty, one staff member, and one graduate student, was developed, and charged with creating an assessment plan. The team sought guidance from external sources at the institution to increase their awareness of potential strategies to evaluate courses. Ultimately, five assessment activities were identified: 1) development of a survey to assess core outcomes and student experience from graduating students; 2) reporting of student performance in courses and alignment with achievement of departmental learning outcomes; 3) creation of a survey to document student perceptions of their outcome achievement; 4) documenting student transformational activities outside of the curriculum; and 5) development of a demographic and interest questionnaire. A faculty or staff member responsible for each activity was identified and a timeline for implementation was determined. In this presentation, we will share the different assessment activities and the results of how students perceive the new curriculum compared to performance in the curriculum. Additionally, next steps for revising the implemented curriculum will be discussed. The strategic development and implementation of this assessment plan is critical to identifying areas of opportunity and successes in the newly revised undergraduate curriculum.
 

Presentation 3 - Developing Interactive Virtual Tours of Agriculture and Research Facilities    
Courtney Meyers    
Texas Tech University    

Field trips are a common experiential education tool for students of all ages, but they are often difficult to implement due to logistical challenges. Virtual field trips provide students a vicarious way to gain similar learning outcomes when a physical visit is not possible. The abstract aims to share lessons learned in the development of interactive virtual tours (IVTs) to enhance students' learning about agriculture and research facilities. The objectives are to 1) describe the elements included in each IVT and 2) determine students' responses to one IVT experience. We have created tours of various locations including a greenhouse, flour mill, cotton gin, dairy plant, and an aquatic and invasive plant research center. Each IVT contains a 3-D, 360-degree view of the site with integrated links to additional multimedia such as videos and text. The IVTs are available free of charge on the project website. Through a series of focus groups, students at a southwestern university explored one of these IVT sites and then provided their responses and suggestions for improvement. They noted that although nothing can replace the experience of visiting a site in person, the IVT was an effective alternative. One participant said students could use the IVT before an in-person visit to complete background research. Participants appreciated having brief videos at different "stops" in the tour to learn more about what was happening but recommended adding more labels and descriptive text. Some participants also suggested providing more instructions to help them proceed through the tour in a certain order while others appreciated they could control the pace and path taken. These recommendations helped improve this IVT and informed the improvement of other IVTs for the project. These IVTs offer instructors an innovative way to connect more students with agriculture and research facilities.
 

Presentation 4 - Effectiveness of Developed Curriculum in Advanced Plant and Soil Science Focused on Invasive Species and Agriculture Biosecurity    
Mark Anderson    
Sam Houston State University    

In Texas, 29 distinct courses exist that a certified agriculture teacher may be asked to teach based upon the school's needs. However, it is challenging for new agriculture teachers to be competent in all areas and this challenge can be one of the many reasons new agriculture teachers leave the profession.  This leaves the school districts constantly searching to fill the vacancies in those positions.  So, the objective of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed online curriculum in invasive species and agricultural biosecurity.  To accomplish this, a new curriculum was distributed to selected schools in Texas (n = 6) and data was collected on students test scores (pre/post-test) and all quiz scores. Additionally, instructors completed a pre/post-survey focused on their assessment of the new curriculum compared to their previous curriculum. Students' test scores and instructor survey questions were analyzed using a paired t-test, while quiz scores were compared to each other using ANOVA. Students' test scores improved (P<0.05) when utilizing the new curriculum. Additionally, student quiz scores steadily increased as the curriculum progressed until scores plateaued at quizzes 4-9. These results illustrate that the new curriculum increased student learning.  Similarly, instructors felt the new curriculum was more rigorous (P<0.05), and the students learned the material better (P<0.05) compared to their previous curriculum. These results illustrate that development of novel curriculum can aid new agriculture teachers and may help prevent loss of teachers by providing them with quality curriculum in areas outside their strengths.
 

Presentation 5 - Growing Graduate Studies in Science Communication with Shareable Modules    
Lauri Baker    
University of Florida    

This USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant funded project is designed to create an online, science communication curriculum for graduate students in Food, Agriculture, Natural, and Human  (FANH) sciences. The major outputs are shareable modules designed to increase students' abilities to (1) Understand theory, frameworks, key concepts and application of effective and ethical science communication that is consistent with the land-grant mission; (2) Enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills with respect to appropriate research techniques, sources and tools to direct communication efforts and evaluate impact; and (3) Develop skills needed to produce science communication content that communicates complex information across different audiences.
Partner institutions are focused on developing and delivering modules in an online format and making these available for faculty to implement at any institution with FANH sciences. All modules include lesson plans, assignments, and materials necessary to effectively deliver the curriculum and will be evaluated for effectiveness by participating faculty in FANH sciences. This innovative model has the ability to enhance the quality of instruction for science communication and prepare graduate students to communicate about science to the public. With limited faculty focused on communication in FANH sciences, this project will enable those trained in FANH disciplines to feel confident about teaching science communication skills to graduate students in courses within their specific FANH discipline. This project can expand access to scientific knowledge and concepts through the preparation of future scientists and their abilities to speak to diverse audiences and improve the public's perception of FANH sciences.