Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL)

by Samson Adeoye -- What comes to mind when you think of affordable education, workforce training, flexible education paths, transfer opportunities, local community impact, and diversity? Community colleges are perhaps your foremost thoughts. They are carriers and deliverers of such possibilities in a single package ( American Association of Community Colleges, 2022 ; Kolesnikova, 2009 ; Warner 2022 ). Community colleges are two-year colleges, originally called junior colleges, and have their origin knit into the fabric of the US education system as far back as the Morrill Act of 1862 which established Land Grant Universities ( Dury, 2003 ). Investigating students’ motivations and outcomes, Strada Education Foundation conducted research on the value of community colleges to understand how these specialized groups of educational institutions can better serve their purpose to students. The researchers collected data across the US from alumni of community colleges who graduate...

By Jama S. Coartney and Eric K. Kaufman --  The Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership  cohort met January 13, 2023, to check in and discuss topics of mutual interest, including PDSA projects, opportunities to share key insights with a broader audience, and the potential of incorporating digital badges into the learning management system. During the summer of 2022, each member of the cohort drafted a PDSA proposal to focus on an aspect of their teaching they would like to improve and test.  The January 2023 meeting focused on updates on this work.   The cohort faculty used  IdeaBoardz  to share news on pilot projects, gain feedback and insight from others, and explore ideas for future improvements.This video summarizes a discussion around the challenges faculty face with balancing the amount of class time to both engage with students and cover content.  The project blog  contains some updates from va...

  By Jama S. Coartney and Eric K. Kaufman --  Many have identified the need for more durable skills as students transition from school to the workforce. But, what exactly are durable skills? And why are they so important? Durable, employability, and soft skills have pretty much the same meaning. For example, the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities defines employability skills as the “nontechnical skills used every day in the workforce to ensure the smooth operation of projects and offices.” America Succeeds and Training Industry also provide lists of competencies related to durable, employability, and soft skills. Examples of these types of skills can range from empathy to decision-making to adaptability. While these studies highlight the importance of—and need for—teaching these skills to current and future generations of workers, they do not provide much clarity on how to go about doing so. Luckily, Dr. Theo Dawson and team have developed teaching and lea...

 by Megan Seibel & Curt Friedel --  As educators, it is thrilling to witness a student’s AHA! , the proverbial “light bulb” moment. We see it when ideas are generated, connected, developed, executed, and shared. Some are on point, some seem tangential, but all are valuable.   The way in which our course content is designed and delivered has a direct impact on our students’ engagement and learning.   In developing assignments, establishing expectations for success in those assignments, and creating opportunities for input, feedback and growth, it is important to consider how we engage in these activities. Many of us may not stop to think about our own preferences in how these are structured when we develop them, and whether or not that is in alignment with our students’ needs and preferences.   Adaption-Innovation Continuum of Creative Style  As human beings, we are each hardwired in the WAY in which we prefer to generate ideas, utilize structure to imp...

  By Donna Westfall-Rudd and Jama S. Coartney --    One option might be to take a more student-centered learning approach to your online courses. While teaching in-person has advantages when it comes to making connections, you can still create a classroom atmosphere with engagement and interaction, by focusing on the needs, interests, and inquiries of your students. In a recent publication, Teaching in the University , Rachel Mack offers guidance on exactly how to go about making these additions to the curriculum in the chapter entitled, “4. Teaching Practices for Student-Centered Learning Online.”  Recently published as an open textbook, this resource offers suggestions on how to engage students in an online environment.  It also offers tips and things to consider when working with students to increase the opportunity for them to build relationships with others in the course and feel engaged with the course content. For example, one action you can take is to t...

By Megan Seibel  --  Did you know that the full proverb is actually " Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back? "  I didn't.  Of course, I had heard and been told the front portion many a time over my decades of life. To say I am a "curious" person is an understatement. Learner and Input are part of my  Clifton StrengthsFinder  profile. My college roommate and I decided that by the time we were parents our goal was to know at least a little bit about everything (yes, we thought that was normal as 19 year-olds)! As I became an adult, however, I remember others aligning negative connotations to this old proverb. As far as I was concerned, it didn't matter to me if curiosity killed the cat; cats have nine lives, after all.  It is my nature to ask questions. Lots of questions . And I did. In certain settings, though, I started to notice that the practice of asking questions didn't always seem the "popular" thing to ...

By  Celeste Carmichael --  What is the equation of experiences that helps us to identify as learners, leaders, and enthusiasts?  For most that equation goes beyond the classroom and into out of school time activities, recreation, jobs, and relationships.  What if we, as formal educators, intentionally recognize the value of those experiences and point to similar opportunities for enrichment?  The Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington and the LIFE Center— a research collaboration between the University of Washington, Stanford University, and SRI International, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF)—established a panel to study this question and develop a set of principles that could help us to weave together learning across contexts and help students succeed. The panel poses that if educators make use of the informal learning that occurs in the homes, communities, and co-curricular activities of students, the achievement ...