Agriculture Workforce Training for Collaborative Leadership (AWT4CL)

by Samson Adeoye -- With the increasing digitization of agriculture, cybersecurity has become an essential component of the agriculture curriculum ( Drape et al., 2021 ). Agricultural educators at the convergence of agriculture sciences and technology applications need to integrate cyberbiosecurity principles into their curriculum to prepare students to protect digital and biological systems from cyber threats. This integrative education is important not only for protecting sensitive agricultural data but also for ensuring the safety of food supply chains and the development of durable skills ( Aniagolu, 2024 ). The integration of cybersecurity into the agricultural curriculum not only has the benefit of preparing students for technical challenges but also fosters essential soft skills such as collaboration, leadership, and continuous learning. Embedding cybersecurity in agricultural curriculums can transform and empower agricultural students in several ways. Fostering Collaboration ...

by Curt Friedel -- You may have heard something that we have a leadership gap, with several books and articles more recently being written about this phenomenon. What is the leadership gap? In the simplest way, it can be described as the perception of current leaders being inadequate for the challenges of the future. The leadership gap is supported by research. Consider the following: §   Rosenthal, in the National Study in Confidence in Leadership (2012) – Discovered that 69% agree America is in a leadership crisis. §   Bailey 2017 – Fount that 13% of employees said their boss was dangerously incompetent. §   RandstatUSA (2018) – Indicates that 60% of employees left their jobs or are considering leaving because they don’t like their supervisor. A few key points are indicated in these citations. The leadership gap is global, it is across industries and beyond politics and started before the Covid-19 international pandemic. This is a small selection of research o...

by Samson Adeoye -- As we approached the end of the year 2023, Dr. Curt Friedel took us on a journey of capturing the year in pictures and keeping memories alive. An insightful blog post that connects reflection with learning and experience. In a seemingly orchestrated order, Dr. Megan Seibel provided an educative blog post on how one may approach a new year with new perspectives, drawing connections to cognitive styles and decision-making. As part of reviewing and reflecting on the previous year, members of the AWT4CL met virtually to discuss their teaching and learning experiences. They shared practical wisdom from engaging with their students based on PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) projects, synchronous and asynchronous learning, and implementation of digital learning badges. The conversation and reflections indicate that the AWT4CL project is creating avenues for cohort members to create engaged learning environments, where instructors create opportunities for students to participate ac...

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 Curt Friedel -- One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is to find the websites offering the year in pictures. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and tells a story of significant events of the past year. Sometimes, the pictures are associated with a newsworthy event; sometimes, the picture is a colorful and beautiful moment. It seems like each picture offers a glimpse of our humanity, and sometimes our inhumanity. Pictures offer a great opportunity to reflect on what we can be proud of, and what we could do better or different. Some great websites for seeing the year-in-pictures include: CNN - https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/specials/year-in-pictures/ The Associated Press - https://apnews.com/article/photos-2023-yearend-photography-ap-0a62ee84672da7a03685c5f5f64f2c47 Time - https://time.com/6337364/top-100-photos-2023/ Reuters - https://www.reuters.com/pictures/pictures-year-2023-2023-11-28/ What does your year of pictures look like? Maybe you ta...

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 activ...