Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL)

From Classroom to Career: Equip Students with the Tools to Think Ahead -- Authors: Jama S. Coartney and Amy White     -- In a world where almost daily, AI is transforming how we work, the value of human-centered skills like decision-making, collaboration, and communication is more important than ever. In a 2017 study of “Employability Skills Not Learned in College,” the largest gap in preparedness identified by employers was "realize the effect of decisions."  For more information about this gap and others, check out the APLU report on Critical Growth Areas for Students Today . Educators can equip learners with these critical thinking and interpersonal competencies by integrating digital learning badges—like the Realize the Effect of Decisions  digital learning badge—into their curriculum. This approach promotes deeper learning, and it provides learners with tangible credentials to showcase their career-readiness. Digital learning badges are a powerful way ...

Author: Jama S. Coartney     -- Empowering Students Through Curiosity: Embedding the “Ask Good Questions” Badge into Your Curriculum The ability to ask good questions can be a differentiator in the workplace. Beyond the classroom, it’s about cultivating curiosity, fostering deeper understanding, and building authentic professional relationships. Yet, despite its critical role in communication and career readiness, question-asking is often an underdeveloped skill. Why “Asking Good Questions” Matters Research highlights a significant disconnect in perceptions about career readiness. While students rate themselves as fairly competent at asking questions, employers and faculty often disagree. This gap points to a need for intentional instruction and practice to better develop this skill. Asking good questions is particularly crucial in fields like agriculture, where learners frequently interact with diverse stakeholders, including farmers, specialists, and policymakers. Her...

Author: Jama S. Coartney     -- Boosting Workforce Readiness: Integrating the “Listen Effectively” Badge into Your Curriculum Why Listening Matters Now More Than Ever In the evolving workforce, communication is more than just speaking clearly—it’s about truly listening. Listening effectively is a foundational skill for career readiness that too often gets overlooked. According to the APLU report on Critical Growth Areas for Students Today, “Listen Effectively” is a competency where students frequently overestimate their preparedness compared to assessments from faculty and employers. The takeaway? Listening needs a more intentional place in our curricula. As educators and workforce readiness professionals, we can bridge this gap with a simple but impactful tool: digital learning badges . Introducing the Listen Effectively Digital Learning Badge The Listen Effectively Badge is one of three digital learning badges in a professional communication series, alongside Co...

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 --  The Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) Model for Continuous Improvement  has been around in one form or another since the 1930s. In the early days, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an educator and engineer, called it either the  Shewhart's cycle or a cycle for learning and improvement . Have you ever heard of PDCA or Plan Do Check Act? In the 1950s, the business world derived PDCA from Deming's lectures and work. In fact, Moen and Norman (2009) note that PDSA was the basis for the Total Quality Management (TQM) framework, still used in business today. Deming, however, preferred that it be called the PDSA Model for Improvement; and so, people in the know tend to use the term PDSA.   Why use a PDSA approach in education? Today’s culture calls for data-driven disciplined inquiry; we see examples of this through the introduction of new terms, such as data analytics. As noted by the Deming institute, PDSA can provide a useful tool in...

  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...