An Examination of the Use of the Framework of Social Marketing to Achieve Environmental Sustainability in International Agricultural and Extension Education

An integrated literature review was conducted to describe a technique for promoting environmentally sustainable behavior change and encourage discussion and use of this approach among international extension educators across the globe. Campaigns from several countries which incorporated varying elements of social marketing were examined using a structured framework that included: audience segmentation; research-based analysis of an audience’s perceptions toward the behavior; the articulation of specific, measurable behavioral goals; and the use of social marketing tools and other principles (e.g., social norms, messaging, commitment, incentives/disincentives, prompts and reminders, and a participatory approach). Consideration for human behavior was lacking in the majority of campaigns, and many could have increased their impact by incorporating additional social marketing elements. A second stage of the literature review was conducted to illustrate the social marketing principles and tools that made up the framework. The first stage included the examination of nine environmental behavior change campaigns, while the second stage integrated an additional 30 resources. It was determined that there is a gap in the literature documenting social marketing practices being used to encourage environmentally sustainable behavior change around the globe. A call is made for increased education and documentation of the elements of social marketing to encourage environmental sustainabilit

Online Conferencing--Tips and Tricks for Effective Use

Texas Cooperative Extension (TCE) continues to look for ways to extend professional development opportunities to employees through the use of technology. The most recent technology employed is online conferencing. This article describes programs that have been conducted using online conferencing, discusses specific teaching methodologies used to deliver these learning events, and shares lessons learned

Communicating Orally

Fall 2020 versionNote on accessibility: users must upload the zipped SCORM folder (M5_OnlineModule.zip) into a learning management system (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard, etc.) in order to view its contents. .Created at Texas A&M University as part of a grant sponsored by the USDAIncludes face-to-face instructional materials and online SCORM module prepared for for Module 5 of the Strengthening Communication Skills course packet. Also includes Instructions for both face-to-face and online course materials created by the USDA-NIFA HEC Grant "Strengthening Communication Skills of Agricultural Students: Using Real-World Examples to Meet Industry Employment Needs".Face to face materials include: Written Curriculum/Lesson Plans -- Lecture Slides -- Videos -- Assignments -- Quizzes -- Handout

Barrier Analysis as a Tool to Inform Extension Activity Planning: Insights from Guatemala

Over the past decade, renewed emphasis has been placed on extension services in developing countries to reduce rural poverty and improve food security. Despite this emphasis, complex physical, political, and socioeconomic environments in developing countries pose significant difficulties to extension agents’ success rates of adoption of new practices and/or behavior change among rural populations. In addition, agents have meager resources at their dis-posal.Development programs in the health sector have had success with employing behavior change theories for program design, driven by the Barrier Analysis as amethod for gather-ing data about target populations. Theory and research suggest this method provides key in-formation about why a target population might adopt new practices. If extension agents in developing countries such as Guatemala had access to such information, they might inten-tionally design interventions that lead to adoption.This paper provides an examination of ex-amples from the field in Guatemala that illuminate ways in which extension agents can gain formative data that when analyzed, may shape how they encourage adoption of new prac-tices. The implications of this paper suggest that using formative data gathering for planning interventions can lead to the behavior changeextension agents andtheir governments see

Globalizing Leadership Curriculum: A Priority For The Development of International Leaders

Gaining perspective on how to deliver leadership education can be a daunting task. This paper provides a specific, yet powerful perspective to consider when attempting to engage students and develop leaders within formal leadership education. Moreover, this paper reports the findings of one objective within a multi-objective study to describe perspectives of global leadership priorities and accompanying competencies based on respondent perceptions. Insight on the development of global curricula form a qualitative perspective is provided in an effort to maximize the development of students within formal leadership degree programs. Based on respondents’ perceptions and the summary of the literature, it was determined that is essential for leadership educators to develop global perspectives and skills to empower student success in postgraduate leadership positions. The importance of a global perspective in leadership situations was noted by respondents as providing an indelible link between preparation of successful leadership professionals and a globalized curriculum

Expressions of Social Presence in Agricultural Conversations on Twitter: Implications for Agricultural Communications

Computer-mediated environments such as social media create new social climates that impact communication interactions in un-mediated environments. As computer-mediated communication (CMC) stimulates more social communities, many communication behaviors will evolve and adapt to the unique social environment created by CMC. This study examined social variables during two different synchronous conversations on Twitter through a qualitative document analysis that coded messages into affective, interactive, and cohesive categories. Categories were determined by indicators within each message such as emoticons, direct responses, and the use of individuals’ names. The researcher concluded that most social variables in the Twitter conversations fit into the interactive social presence category but that affective and cohesive responses supported personal connection and structure within the conversations. It was also found that the same category of responses could function differently in each conversation. However, both conversations in this study appeared to be successful. Therefore, agricultural communicators should feel comfortable using CMC that contains social presence dimensions to circulate agricultural information among populations across the globe. Additional research should be conducted to examine social presence among new topics, populations, and other forms of CMC

The Contribution of Selected Instructional Methods Toward Graduate Student Understanding of Crisis Communication

Providing quality instruction that meets students’ learning needs is an issue facing teachers of agriculture in higher education. A considerable amount of research has been devoted to assessing the effectiveness of various instructional methods, but the research is inconclusive in identifying a singular method of instruction that works well with all individuals. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceived value of instructional methods in contribution towards their understanding of and confidence in risk and crisis communication content and practices. This study also compared students (N = 30) from two semesters to determine if new instructional methods incorporating new technology (i.e., Second Life) impacted the knowledge, comprehension, and self-confidence of students. In this descriptive survey research, the data revealed that students did not identify one singular instructional method as being most beneficial and influential, but found a combination of instructional methods influenced their self-confidence. No significant differences were found in changes in students’ content knowledge scores or end-of-course degree of confidence scores

A Meta-Analysis of Agricultural Literacy Programs for Youth and Adults

A majority of Americans lack sufficient agricultural literacy levels. The purpose of this meta-analysis project was to assess the impact of agricultural literacy programs on participants’ knowledge of the farm to fork process. Spielmaker and Leising (2013) classified the national learning benchmarks for agricultural literacy into five major themes. The themes entail (a) agriculture and the environment, (b) plants and animals for food, fiber, and energy, (c) food, health, and lifestyle, (d) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and (e) culture, society, economy, and geography. Since the search process should be systematic, effective, and reproducible, it is imperative that comprehensive as well as rigorous databases be selected. The initial search yielded 569 articles. A majority of studies were eliminated for not being an agricultural literacy program. The final stage consisted of 38 studies in the full-text screening process. Paired with the citation search, 9 articles were included for analysis. Each study was assessed and coded on six main constructs which were (a) article characteristics, (b) participant characteristics, (c) intervention (d) instrumentation, (e) research design, and (f) effect size information. Cochran’s Q and I2 were employed to assess effect size homogeneity. Cochran’s Q indicates a significant degree of heterogeneity (Q = 285. 4, p < .01) exists. The I2 for this study was 98.32 % indicating substantial heterogeneity in this meta-analysis. An inherent lack of scientific evidence on the impact these programs have on improving consumers’ literacy levels exists. Understanding the pitfalls and assets of current agriculture literacy efforts are essential.USDA NIFA Hatch Project TEX 09890 “The Adoption Impact of Food and Agricultural Sciences Curricula on Public Health.