Integrating Employability Skills in a Traditional Ag Classroom through Learning Badges

by Dr. Mallory White --

To weave workforce readiness skills into a traditional agriculture classroom can be a little challenging. My first-year animal science class tackled four of the twelve AWT4CL employability learning/digital badges. This blog discusses how we did it, challenges and possible lessons for the instructor and the student, and overall perception of the digital badges. 

How We Did It 

First, I set aside one lab period to discuss the project and complete many of the in-class activities. This required me to combine two traditionally separate, short labs into one to free up a week, but I was determined to make room for important employability content. The activities from each digital badge created by the badge authors are short and effective, but I wanted the students to do more in order to earn a badge. As an instructor, it can be difficult to come up with new, creative activities in the limited time we have. As I was rushing to come up with additional activities and running out of precious time, it dawned on me – just let the students come up with the activities after giving them the guidelines necessary to meet the digital badge requirements. Through the AWT4CL program, I recalled how employees are more invested in the work if they feel they have ownership of it. I allowed the students to come up with one additional activity per digital badge with the parameters that it could be accomplished in 20-30 minutes and meet the digital badge earning criteria.  

To do this, I divided students into five-to-six-member groups and assigned them a badge. I chose to do an additional student-led assignment for four employability skills attached to a badge. I will be sharing my experience from activities created for two of the employability skills. Students worked for half an hour to develop an activity they deemed worthy of a badge. The activities related to employability skills that students developed are listed below. 

Communicating Effectively 

1. Complete the in-class activity titled “Describe It – Draw It” where Partner A views a picture but doesn’t show Partner B. Partner A must describe how to draw a picture while Partner B attempts to draw it, but Partner A can never say what the picture actually is.  They then trade places and discuss the importance of clear communication. 

2. Students decided to create an activity in pairs. Partner A will write and send an email to Partner B describing how to do a simple, 5-minute task, without saying what the task is. Partner B will record a video of themselves following the instructions in the email for Partner A to watch. In a written reflection, they will then discuss if Partner B did what Partner A was attempting to convey, and how it could have gone better the second time.

Listening Effectively  

a. Complete the in-class listening activity where Partner A introduces themselves to Partner B for 2 minutes while Partner B uses Active Listening skills and doesn’t interrupt or talk. Partner B will then introduce Partner A to the class, repeating back what they learned about the person.  

b. At home, Partner B creates a 5-song playlist that they think matches what they’ve learned about Partner A and describes why they chose those songs about Partner A. They then identify two things they learned about listening effectively and submit the assignment online.  

Challenges of Class Implementation & How to Address Them 

I was able to incorporate this into the normal classroom by setting aside one lab period to do most of the work. This was necessary for me, as my course is full of content that must be covered. Other instructors may have better luck spreading it out over multiple labs, working with the material for the first 30-45 minutes of a lab. In the future, I would attempt to do one digital badge per week. And spread out the activities. The goal is to cover important employability skills across multiple weeks and keep them at the forefront of the students’ minds.  

The students enjoyed this activity based on verbal feedback, and had no issues completing the activities. However, many have not yet completed the final step of writing a reflection and submitting it online, which is required to receive the badge. I have assigned these as extra credit due by the end of the semester, and may see an influx towards the end. For now, the biggest challenge to the students seems to be the writing and reflection part, as that is a task they must complete on their own outside the classroom. This could be overcome by reminding them of the assignment and asking if they need clarification on the task. 

Student and Teacher Perception

My group of students is exceptionally quiet, and these activities were a wonderful ice breaker. The students told me they enjoyed them, and many of them shared stories about how these skills are relevant to them in their current jobs. I have also received more professional communication this semester in person and over email; maybe it’s due to the digital badge activities they completed early on, maybe not. I will continue to use learning badges in my agricultural courses. Because not only were the activities fun, but implementing digital badges in the classroom in combination with allowing students to develop activities that meet the badge requirements creates a memorable experience that solidifies the importance of employability skills. Instructors seeking a more engaged and participatory classroom should consider incorporating learning badges activities. The AWT4CL project website may be a go to resource for interested educators. For more inquiries, please contact the project team here. 

Image Credits

Dr. Marie Pierce: Opinions Matter: https://beaver.psu.edu/feature/mari-pierce 

The Learning Accelerator: https://practices.learningaccelerator.org/strategies/student-led-learning-activities 

rawpixel.com: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1542193

Mike Rhode: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/7919215692