Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL)

by Megan Seibel -- I don’t know about you, but there is something about starting a new year that brings mixed emotions – anticipation, excitement, and even a bit of stress over all the things that were supposed to get accomplished last year and, well, just didn’t.  It is also interesting that each new year seems to be long anticipated, yet happens abruptly. And the changes that go with it sometimes require thought and attention. Take writing the date for example. After 365 days of writing 2023, it became a motor memory. It takes thoughtfulness to write 2024, with the trust that it will quickly become automatic.  So it goes with habits and intentions. New Year’s resolutions, so to speak. Looking back over the past year, perhaps some things warrant reflection so that adjustments can be made to improve, begin, or even stop certain behaviors. Here are a few tips and thoughts, similar to the PDSA (plan-do-study-act) model , to consider as we go into this new calendar year, and seco...

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 Heather Butler --  I teach a 4-credit Dendrology course at Virginia Western Community College , which includes a 3-credit lecture and 1-credit lab. The lecture takes place in a traditional college classroom and covers tree physiology and forest ecology. The lab, however, is field-based and entails weekly field trips to forested areas where students learn to identify the common and Latin names of 100+ trees and shrubs native to the central Appalachia. I based the class on  Virginia Tech’s field Dendrology lab  developed by Dr. John Seiler. He still teaches at VT and was my instructor when I studied forestry. Each week, students learn to identify and properly name 8-10 new species, which are then added to a growing list of potential items on lab quizzes. Weekly quizzes are given at the beginning of each field lab, and the species add up quickly. If students aren’t engaged and practicing from the beginning, they can easily get overwhelmed, making it difficult to catch u...

 By Dr. Ben Casteel --  “Do It Well.  Make It Fun.” were the words etched into our January in-service schedule at Virginia Highlands Community College where I teach Horticulture & Agriculture courses.  Local author Ron Culberson was sharing his philosophy (and book title) on how to achieve excellence in the workplace through entertaining motivational mechanisms.  I couldn’t help but to ponder how I might make some of the more banal moments in my classroom more enjoyable for students.  Later that evening, while having a throwback family dinner in front of the television set, the epiphany occurred.  We would often play along with Jeopardy over dinner—and in that very moment—I realized this could be a way I could make exam review time more fun and engaging for my students. That Spring, I trialed using a Powerpoint template of the Jeopardy game show as our midterm and final exam review.  It was a smashing success for the outgoing extroverted s...