Knowledge, Perceptions, and Outcomes of Agricultural Communications Curriculum in Arkansas Secondary Agricultural Classrooms

The purpose of this mixed method study was to assess the effectiveness of agricultural communications curriculum developed and incorporated into a semester-long agricultural leadership and communications course for secondary agricultural education programs in Arkansas. This study was comprised of three parts including a pilot test, teacher training assessment, and a descriptive field test over a two-year period. For the pilot test portion of the study, students (N = 297) participated in newly developed instructional modules (careers, writing, design, and multimedia) predetermined by a committee of agricultural education and communications faculty at the University of Arkansas. The pilot test indicated students\u27 knowledge increased after instruction, for each curriculum module. Lack of time, limited technology, teacher training, and curriculum content were the most common emergent themes among teachers. Following the pilot test the curriculum was revised into 11 smaller units and made available on-line for the descriptive field test portion of the study. Additionally a series of agricultural communications teacher trainings were offered covering three units of revised curriculum. The teacher training aimed to gauge teachers\u27 perceptions of the curriculum and the training experience. Participating teachers (N = 23) were most interested in photography and photo Editing / manipulation. Furthermore, Participants were satisfied with all aspects of the inservice including content, overview of curriculum, curriculum units covered during inservice, and the instructor. The descriptive field test portion of the study evaluated student knowledge gained throughout the descriptive field test in 11 different unit areas, student knowledge application through project-based unit activities, and teachers\u27 perceptions of the revised curriculum. For the students who participated in this portion of the study (N = 182) it was evident from the pre- and post-test assessments, knowledge of agricultural communications increased. Moreover, agricultural communications skills were displayed in skill-based activities returned to the researcher. As for the teachers who participated in the descriptive field test (N = 27), it was noted they found value in the curriculum content but expressed the need for support from state staff and their school administrations to accept the agricultural communications curriculum as an integral part of high school agricultural education

Knowledge and Perceptions of Agricultural Communications Pilot Curriculum in Arkansas Secondary Agricultural Classrooms

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to assess the effectiveness of agricultural communications curriculum developed and incorporated into a semester-long agricultural leadership and communications course for secondary agricultural education programs in Arkansas. Students (N = 297) participated in newly developed instructional modules addressing four categories of agriculture-themed curricula predetermined by a committee of agricultural education and communications faculty at the University of Arkansas (careers, writing, design, and multimedia). Student agricultural communications knowledge change was assessed using pre- and post-test instruments in each module of study. Additionally, content analysis of participating teachers’ journals was used to identify emergent themes related to teachers’ experiences teaching the curriculum throughout the semester. Overall, the findings from this study indicated students’ knowledge increased after instruction for each curriculum module: careers (16.2%), writing (23.1%), design (35.7%), and multimedia (31.3%). Lack of time, limited technology, teacher training, and curriculum content were the most common emergent themes among teachers. Based on findings from this study, it was concluded future efforts should be made to provide technology for agricultural education instructors to improve agricultural communications program effectiveness and reach

The Importance of Volunteer Leaders: An Assessment of Volunteer Leader Competencies following Volunteer Leader Identification and Training

Volunteer leaders are an underutilized resource in nonprofit organizations. However, as volunteer directors are stretched to their capacity, others in the organization must provide leadership to volunteers. One way for nonprofit organizations to increase their capacity is to develop the leadership skills of identified volunteer leaders. Because time and resources are limited in nonprofit organizations, the purpose of this study was to determine if identifying and training volunteer leaders is beneficial to the outreach of organizations they serve. This study was conducted in three parts. A Delphi study, was conducted with volunteer directors in the community to identify leadership competencies for volunteer leaders. At the conclusion of three rounds of iteration, 42 competencies were identified. A volunteer leader training and assessment instrument was developed based on those 42 competencies. Next, social network analysis was used to identify volunteer leaders in three groups at a nonprofit organization. ForceAtlas2 analysis was used to generate networks of nodes (volunteers) and edges (connections) to determine leaders within each group. The identified leaders were compared to leaders identified by the volunteer director of the organization. Overall, the volunteer leaders selected by the director matched those identified by the social network analysis with the exception of one outlier in one of the volunteer groups. Lastly, the identified volunteer leaders were invited to the volunteer leader training developed from the competencies identified by the Delphi. Participants were assessed prior-to, and following, the training by their peer volunteers based on their ability to demonstrate the identified competencies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine if a there was a difference between the participants’ demonstration of the competencies after the training compared to before. The results of the analysis indicated there was no statistically significant increase in participant’s ability to demonstrate the leadership competencies and skills as a result of the workshop. However, there was an overall increase for participants’ ability to demonstrate 31 of the competencies covered in the training. The researcher suggests revising the workshop into a comprehensive series of shorter trainings and replicating the study to determine if additional competencies can be improved upon