Session moderated by Tie Liu

Presentation 1 - Participatory Program Development: Addressing the Gender Gap in Agriculture and STEM    
David Smilnak    
Virginia Tech    

Agriculture is becoming increasingly dependent on digital information and therefore subject to a growing threat to its data and intellectual properties. In response to this threat, agricultural career opportunities in STEM fields such as cybersecurity are growing. This increase in career opportunities provides an opportunity to address the gender gap in both STEM and agriculture. The goal of this ongoing project is to develop a support structure for formal and nonformal agricultural educators to incorporate cybersecurity in their programs through evidence-based strategies that have been shown to effectively engage middle school girls in STEM learning. To do so, this project employs collaborative, participatory program development. This approach has allowed for creative partnerships between academia, industry, and education. The interactions between scientists, agricultural educators, and the advisory board (educational professionals from academia, non-profit, Extension, and industry), not only allowed for the production of open educational resources but allowed for degrees of freedom within the products; this addresses barriers to implementation identified by educators and their students. This participatory process has allowed for greater efficacy in meeting overall project goals, by incorporating the lived experiences of stakeholders within Virginia to inform how the open educational resources provide support to educators. Insights from our project design and implementation will be of use to those interested in applying participatory program planning methods and incorporating stakeholder feedback in an iterative process to address emerging educational needs. This work is supported, in part, through the CCI Southwest Virginia Node Cyberbiosecurity Seed Grant program and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields (WAMS) Grants Program, award #2020-38503- 31950.

Presentation 2 - Exploring Curricular Commonalities in Land-Grant Academic Leadership Development Programs    
Clay Hurdle    
University of Florida    

To face the unique challenges that beset land-grant universities in the 21st Century, administrators will need to engage in effective leadership practices. Success for the university enterprise will depend on emergent academic leaders undergoing preparation and training in leadership and decision making. Consequently, leadership development programs exist to identify and prepare academics for university administration. However, small percentages of academic leaders participate in these programs. Furthermore, many academic leaders continue to begin their roles feeling woefully unprepared for their positions and challenges therein. Better and more consistent leadership development and identification is paramount moving forward. This study explored the curricular commonalities between academic leadership development programs. Expert opinion was solicited via a Delphi study. Sampling comprised program directors and staff for two of the nation's most reputable land-grant, academic leadership development programs. In the generative phase, participants listed the theories, paradigms, philosophies, and outcomes they felt are important for academic leadership development programs. One hundred and twenty-two items were generated. Following agreement rating and analysis, 84 items achieved consensus. Highlights included participants valuing the inclusion of adaptive, authentic, transformational, and values-based leadership concepts in academic leadership development curricula. Additional findings indicated learning outcomes for these programs should include a sense of purpose, critical thinking skills, cultural intelligence, design thinking skills, and emotional intelligence. These findings are of use to leadership educators as they prepare those who transition to leadership roles within administration of any of the three mission areas of the land-grant system. Furthermore, this information can be helpful to aspiring administrators as they seek programming that will help them attain personal and professional development goals as they enter academic leadership. Finally, this study's results could be of use in developing a greater awareness about the types of opportunities that are available to prospective administrators in the land-grant system.
 

Presentation 3 - Student Evaluation of Team-based Learning in Two Agribusiness Classes    
Danhong Chen    
Sam Houston State University    

Team-Based Learning (TBL) has been shown to improve student performance and satisfaction compared to lecture-based classes. The primary objective of TBL is providing students the opportunity to apply course materials to problem-solving. We adopted this approach in two advanced agribusiness classes (one quantitative and one qualitative class) from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022. The TBL method was divided into three stages. In the first stage, students were required to study the course content before the class. In the second stage, individual as well as group Readiness Assurance Tests (RATs) were implemented to evaluate students’ understanding of the course content, followed by class discussions. For the third stage, through group projects, students worked as teams to apply course concepts to problem-solving, achieving a higher level of learning. At the end of each semester, an anonymous TBL survey consisting of Likert-scale questions was administered to assess students’ learning outcomes. A total number of 106 responses were collected over three semesters. Approximately 86% of the students either agreed or strongly agreed that they remembered course materials longer when they went over them during the group RATs, and TBL helped them improve their grades. Compared with students in the quantitative class, students in the qualitative class were more likely to get distracted (p<0.01), bored (p<0.05), and think about unrelated things (p<0.05) in the class. Though not statistically significant, a higher proportion of students in the qualitative class did not like working in teams and did not enjoy the course as much as those in the qualitative class. One factor that negatively impacted the qualitative course was the lack of contribution from some students to the class projects in several teams. As such, the success of TBL hinges on strict enforcement of accountability and provision of highly engaging materials to prevent distraction.  
Key words: Team-Based Learning, Course Evaluation, Student Engagement
 

Presentation 4 - Student Perspective: Sources for National News and Animal Agriculture Information    
Stanley Kelley    
Sam Houston State University    

Undergraduate animal science majors (n=49) enrolled in a junior-level animal science course were asked to gauge their level of informativeness about state/national/world news (NEWS) and animal agriculture (AA) on a 5-point Likert scale (1=uniformed, 5=highly informed). Additionally, they were asked to provide their primary source of information for each sector. On average, they were more informed about NEWS than AA (2.8 vs 2.3, respectively). Over 67% identified themselves as informed, very informed, or highly informed about NEWS, but only 18% felt the same regarding AA with even more (20%) selecting ‘uniformed’ about AA. Sources of information for each sector, differed. Most identified sources for NEWS were social media (55%) outlets (Facebook, Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), network news and media (32%) outlets (NBC, CNN, Fox News, newspaper sources), followed by family/friends/peers (13%). Information sources for AA relied heavily on Ag Industry/Professionals/Professors/Organizations (50%), with social media remarkably lower at 24%. Friends/family/peers and network news and media were considerably less of an information source (10%, for each). Therefore, extrapolating the students’ thought of being informed to highly informed indicates the sense of comfort and value placed with social media outlets as their primary source of information for NEWS. It was enlightening, to know that social media sources were less of an informant for AA, students highly regarded professionals in the field for information. Nonetheless, the students ranked their level of informativeness as “low to uninformed” in this area. This, lower status, aligns with the trend that current students are more removed from agriculture than generations before and rely on professionals for information more so than social networks and family. Even so, they do not deem themselves as being well informed about AA. Consideration should be given to undergraduate curriculum to include current happenings in AA to improve student’s level of informativeness.
 

Presentation 5 - Determining Students' Preferred Qualities of and Perceived Barriers to International Program Experiences    
Isabel Whitehead    
University of Arkansas    

International Programs (IP) can contribute to students' personal growth, employability skills, and intercultural development when mindfully incorporated into the program design. The objectives of this study were to determine students' preferred qualities and types of experiences, and perceived barriers regarding IPs. Currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students were recruited by email and class visits to participate in an online survey utilizing closed and open-ended questions (n=199). Participants reported that IPs cost around $4,000-$5,000 (47.15 %) and the majority reported being able to contribute either less than $1,000 (32.95%) or between $1,000 and $2,000 toward an IP. Most participants (71%) reported preferring countries very different from their home country while only 33% of students reported interest in studying abroad in locations similar to their home country. However, when asked to identify preferred locations, Italy, the United Kingdom/Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, France, and Spain were the most popular countries. Participants reported prioritizing skill development for future careers and personal growth, with many (78.57%) also seeking opportunities for learning about other cultures. Other factors, such as providing pathways to working abroad in the future, enhancing second language skills, and contributing to solutions for issues in low-income countries, were also shown preference, though barely representing the majority. Participants also reported needing assistance with applying for scholarships (78.83%, n=137) and desiring increased funding opportunities (83.94%, n= 137). Among the open-response questions regarding participants' perceived barriers to studying abroad, initial thematic analysis showed cost as the most prominent answer, along with some desire for virtual opportunities and possible family travel options. It is recommended that future studies explore what students consider to be similar or different from their home countries as well as the wants and needs of non-traditional students to determine if broader options should be considered to make IPs more widely accessible.