Sustaining Agronomy Outcomes Assessment

1
Sustaining Agronomy Outcomes Assessment

• Michelle D. Cook
• Graduate Research Assistant
• mcook_at_iastate.edu
• May 18, 2004

2
Opening Go-Round

• Please tell us your name, area of specialty, and
  one personal or professional goal you have for
  the summer

3
Workshop Overview

• Learning Outcomes
• Participants will
• Be aware of planned changes within courses based
  on TEACH Grant activities
• Be able to identify three changes that need to
  made in the undergraduate curriculum as a result
  of the Alumni, Employer, and Faculty Survey
  Report
• Be aware of how and where Agronomy learner
  outcomes are embedded in the curriculum
• Understand their role in the proposed plan for
  systematic and continuous student outcomes
  assessment

4
Workshop Overview

• Workshop Activities
• TEACH Grant
• Alumni, Employer, and Faculty Survey
• Curriculum Map
• Proposed plan for systematic and continuous
  student outcomes assessment

5
TEACH Grant Overview

• Purpose
• Activities
• Planned course changes
• Course
• Assignment or experience
• Enhancement
• Feedback from colleagues

6
TEACH Grant Reflection

• What assignment or experience would I like to
  enhance in one of my classes?
• What resources would I need in order to improve
  an assignment or experience for my students?

7
Alumni, Employer, and Faculty Survey Report

• Purposes
• Methods
• Samples Alumni, Employers, and Faculty
• Measures Agronomy Alumni Survey, Agronomy
  Employer Survey, and Undergraduate Teaching
  Faculty Survey
• Analysis
• Your perspective

8
(No Transcript)
9
Which Learner Outcomes Have Higher Alumni
Performance?

• Access and use electronic mail
• Prepare a resume
• Communicate effective using electronic media
• Organize, manage, and communicate information
  using computer tools (three outcomes combined)
• Work effectively in a team situation as a
  participant
• Understand and use terminology appropriate to
  your profession
• Perform mathematical calculations appropriate to
  your profession
• Understand the soil as a resource upon which
  ecosystems, agriculture, and other land uses
  depend

10
Which Learner Outcomes Have Lower Alumni
Performance?

• Understand basic strategies for efficient and
  abundant production, harvest, and storage of
  high-quality forage and pasture crops (three
  outcomes combined)
• Understand basic technical principles and methods
  relating to crop marketing methods and strategies
• Construct an enterprise budget
• Understand agronomic practices used in other
  parts of the world in their political, cultural,
  and economic contexts
• Calculate and interpret a simple ANOVA, linear
  regression, and correlation
• Understand basic technical principles and methods
  relating to crop storage
• Access and use electronic bulletin boards
• Value the humanities, arts, and recreation as
  meaningful activities that enrich our culture

11
Which Learner Outcomes Have Higher Importance?

• Understand and use terminology appropriate to
  your field of expertise
• Demonstrate high standards of achievement
• Work effectively in a team situation as a
  participant
• Demonstrate effective time management
• Perform mathematical calculations appropriate to
  your profession
• Manage, organize, and interpret information using
  computer tools (three outcomes combined)
• Identify resources needed to solve a problem
• Answer oral questions extemporaneously and
  understandably

12
Which Learner Outcomes Have Lower Importance?

• Understand basic strategies for efficient and
  abundant production, harvest, and storage of
  high-quality forage and pasture crops (three
  outcomes combined)
• Understand basic technical principles and methods
  relating to crop marketing methods and strategies
• Construct an enterprise budget
• Understand agronomic practices used in other
  parts of the world in their political, cultural,
  and economic contexts
• Calculate and interpret a simple ANOVA, linear
  regression, and correlation
• Understand basic technical principles and methods
  relating to crop storage
• Access and use electronic bulletin boards
• Value the humanities, arts, and recreation as
  meaningful activities that enrich our culture

13
Which Learner Outcomes Are Important and Alumni
Performance Is High?

• Access and use electronic mail
• Communicate effectively using electronic media
• Organize, manage, interpret, and communicate
  information using computer tools (four outcomes
  combined)
• Access and use databases
• Understand basic soil principles
• Present an effective oral report
• Perform mathematical calculations appropriate to
  your profession

14
Which Learner Outcomes Are Important and Alumni
Performance Is Lagging?

• Recognize a conflict of interest involving
  oneself and ones client or employer
• Propose and evaluate alternative solutions to a
  problem based on the resources of the client
• Identify resources needed to solve a problem
• Assess and evaluate the credibility and biases of
  different sources of information
• Debate issues in a professional manner
• Answer oral questions extemporaneously and
  understandably
• Work effectively in a team situation as a leader
• Define a problem
• Demonstrate high standards of achievement
• Analyze and interpret simple research data

15
Which Learner Outcomes Are Unimportant and Alumni
Performance High?

• Be able to use the metric system of weights and
  measures
• Access and use electronic bulletin boards
• Acknowledge differences in political, cultural,
  religious, and ethic beliefs and practices
• Appreciate the family as an interdependent and
  supportive unit
• Value the humanities, arts, and recreation as
  meaningful activities that enrich our culture
• Appreciate that our cultural diversity adds
  richness to our lives
• Apply fundamental concepts of economics and the
  social sciences to human interaction and
  organization
• Understand, in modern perspective, the basic
  principles important to sustained production and
  land use
• Understand agronomic practices used in other
  parts of the world in their political, cultural,
  and economic contexts
• Recognize the interdependence of economies,
  cultures, and politics at all scales from local
  to international

16
Which Learner Outcomes Are Unimportant and Alumni
Performance Is Lagging?

• Understand basic technical principles and methods
  relating to crop marketing methods and strategies
• Interpret laws and regulations as they related to
  agriculture and the environment
• Understand the structure and process of
  governments as they influence agricultural policy
• Recognize the potential effects of amelioration
  of stresses on plants at various stages of crop
  development
• Recognize options for amelioration of stresses
  with minimal disturbance to the environment
• Interpret a financial statement
• Construct an enterprise budget
• Recognize common biotic stresses
• Adopt a professional code of ethics such as A
  Federation of Certifying Boards in Agriculture,
  Biology, Earth, and Environmental Sciences
  (ARCPACS) Code of Ethics
• Calculate and interpret a simple ANOVA, linear
  regression, and correlation

17
Critical Learner Outcomes in the Future?

• Both Alumni and Employers Communication Skills,
  Technical Skills, Problem Solving, Basic
  Agronomic Knowledge, Business Skills, Motivation,
  Understanding how government policies and forces
  affect farmer actions, Ability react to
  real-world situations
• Employers Computer Skills
• Alumni General Professional Issues, Practical
  Technical Knowledge, and Hot Topics

18
Knowledge Foundation, Career Advancement, and
Adapt to Change

• Alumni rated their ability to adapt to change
  significantly higher than did employers
• Both alumni and employers rated alumni knowledge
  foundation as somewhat to mostly strong
• Alumni rated their aptitude for career
  advancement as mostly strong while employers
  rated the same areas as somewhat strong (not
  statistically significant)

19
Alumni Degrees, Certifications, and Professional
Development

• Pursuing or have completed
• Graduate education (26)
• Certified Crop Advisor certification (26)
• Pesticide Applicator certificate (8)
• Participation in professional development (42)
• Professional organization membership and/or
  meeting attendance, workshops and training,
  continuing education, sales training, and field
  days

20
Employer Professional Development Expectations

• Continuing Education
• Workshops and training
• Skill development
• Sales training
• Keep current with changes and new concepts
• Extension meetings and field days
• Read literature
• Professional organization membership and/or
  meeting attendance
• Self-directed

21
Faculty Perceptions

• Percentage of graduates comfortable hiring
• Range of 10 to 90
• M 61.75
• Reasons for hiring
• Technical competence, strong work ethic,
  initiative, communication skills, leadership
  skills, critical thinking/problem solving, and
  time management
• Reasons for not hiring
• Poor work ethic, poor communication skills,
  marginal technical knowledge/skills, lack of
  professional/personal ethics, shallow depth of
  understanding, lack of critical thinking skills,
  and attitude

22
AEF Survey Report Reflection

• List three changes that will need to be made in
  the curriculum as a result of this report

23
Agronomy Curriculum Map

• Description
• Group assignment
• Assign roles facilitator, recorder, reporter/
  timekeeper
• Review assigned learner outcomes
• Technical Knowledge
• Professional Skills
• Perspective, Ethics/Values, and Diversity
• As a group, review and answer questions
• Be prepared to report back to the larger group

24
Discussion

• Report by group
• Based on this discussion
• What changes should be made in the curriculum?
• What changes should be made in the learner
  outcomes?
• As the undergraduate teaching faculty
• What four outcomes would you like to focus on
  over the next academic year?
• What embedded measures could be used to assess
  student achievement of the outcomes?
• What additional resources or support are
  necessary for achieving these outcomes?

25
Personal Reflection

• As an individual faculty member
• What outcomes would you like to focus on in one
  or more in your classes?
• What embedded measures could be used to assess
  student achievement of the outcome?
• What additional resources or support are
  necessary for assessing these outcomes?

26
Calendar
27
(No Transcript)
28
Closing Reflection

• How will you use the information presented today
  in your courses?
• What aspect of sustaining Agronomy outcomes
  assessment do you need to know more about?