College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS)

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Browsing College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) by Department "Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 197
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    4-H Agent Longevity and Youth Participation and Perception: A Case Study
    Ransdell, Leona P. (Virginia Tech, 2018-12-13)
    This study examined the influence of the 4-H agent and how the length of time an agent is employed in a community affects the perception of the quality and visibility of the 4-H program based on the theory of Positive Youth Development. The objective of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between the length of time an agent has been employed in a county and what effect, if any, it has on the perceptions of the youth ages 14-19 that are enrolled in the 4-H program. A total of 138 youth participated in the survey from 21 different counties in Virginia. The study found the positive influence of the 4-H agent in a county and the 4-H program and that these employees are an important part of a youth’s 4-H career. Further research is needed to determine the time at which agents begin to make significant impact on the youth enrolled in their county programs. Programmatic recommendations include conducting a more in depth needs assessment including agents in the 8-11 year employment range and outside stakeholders.
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    4-H Presentation Contest in Homeschool Learning: A Case Study
    Estep, Taylor (Virginia Tech, 2021-03-08)
    The purpose of this project is to determine why homeschool teachers in Tazewell County, Virginia support and implement the Virginia 4-H presentations program and what potential life skills are learned by students. The theoretical framework for this study was the Experiential Learning Theory and Model. A qualitative case study was developed to determine why teachers utilize the contest and what potential life skills they feel students learn. The participants of this study were two Tazewell County homeschool teachers that implemented the program and subsequent contest each year with students. Teachers participated in a pre and post-interview that was audio recorded and transcribed. Themes that emerged included potential life skills learned and provided a better understanding as to why this contest has been supported for over 25 years. Recommendations from the research include conducting a similar study throughout the state to examine a larger sample. Practitioner recommendations include introducing new ways to implement the contest into teacher’s educational curriculum and share other teachers’ rubrics and lesson plans for this contest. Both would be beneficial in creating a more universal contest.
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    The Academic Experience of African-American Male Student-Athletes
    Hill, Ahmed (Virginia Tech, 2019-12-09)
    This paper explores the academic experience of former African-American student-athletes who have graduated from Virginia Tech. Student-athletes choose to attend college for many different reasons and once enrolled, they often face challenges such as time management. Academic support centers have developed throughout the country at various institutions to assist student-athletes with the academic challenges that they may face. Through interviews with former student-athletes, this paper was developed to answer two research questions: What experiences have positively impacted African-American male student-athletes’ academic success and graduation? And, what support initiatives and/or programs have student-athlete support offices implemented at Virginia Tech to support African-American male student-athletes? Seven former student-athletes were interviewed in this study and results show that the majority of those interviewed chose to attend Virginia Tech to play basketball and to receive a strong education. The biggest challenge faced by student-athletes was time management. The most utilized resources were: academic advisors, professors, tutoring, and relationships with coaches, teammates, and others. All of the student-athletes interviewed had a positive experience at Virginia Tech and were pleased with their decision to obtain a degree. In terms of the programming for African-Americans, common themes were that they did not want to be stereotyped. Implications and recommendations based on this research include continuing to support the African-American student-athlete population by developing relationships with them.
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    Accessing Virginia Market Sectors: Establishing a Market Perspective
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-27)
    Discusses marketing perspective, and emphasizes the importance of understanding the market, before investing lots of time, effort and money.
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    Accessing Virginia's College & University Market Sector: Fresh Produce Food Safety Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-27)
    Highlights from a 2015-2016 market assessment survey are discussed in this document.
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    Accessing Virginia's Hospital Market Sector: Fresh Produce Food Safety Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-27)
    Discusses hospitals as a potential market for locally grown foods and products. Identifies school purchasing priorities, and some of the likely barriers to purchasing.
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    Accessing Virginia's Market Sectors: Fresh Produce Purchasing Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-17)
    Discusses the results of a survey of colleges and universities, direct-to-consumer markets, hospitals, public schools, restaurants, retailers and regional wholesalers.
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    Accessing Virginia's Public School (K-12) Market Sector: Fresh Produce Safety Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-27)
    Discusses public schools as a potential market for locally grown foods and products. Identifies school purchasing priorities, and some of the likely barriers to purchasing.
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    Accessing Virginia's Regional Wholesale Market Sector: Fresh Produce Safety Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-17)
    Discusses wholesale market distributors and regional food hubs, and how to market locally grown food crops to them. Also notes the results of a 2015-2016 a Virginia statewide market assessment survey.
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    Accessing Virginia’s Restaurant Market Sector: Fresh Produce Food Safety Considerations
    Vallotton, Amber D.; Battah, Alexandra; Knox, Ryan; Vargo, Adrianna; Archibald, Thomas G.; Boyer, Renee R.; Cook, Natalie E.; Drape, Tiffany A. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2017-11-17)
    Despite the growing demand and support for local food, there can often be significant barriers for growers trying to tap into new markets, given specific food safety expectations, policies, and requirements. This trend is particularly true for institutional buyers, who are often constrained by far-reaching institutional and/or corporate policies. While there are lots of market opportunities in Virginia, navigating the landscape for growers can be daunting, since buyer food safety requirements are not a “one size fits all” standard for all markets. To better understand current expectations and perceptions across multiple market sectors in Virginia, and help producers better align their on-farm practices with these marketplaces, the Fresh Produce Food Safety Team conducted a state-wide market assessment survey in 2015-2016. The purpose of this factsheet is to provide you with the results of that work, especially if you are considering selling produce to restaurants.
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    Adaptive Leadership: How to Prioritize and Align Emerging Issues
    Kaufman, Eric K. (2017-02-08)
    Adaptive leadership focuses on the adaptations required in response to changing environments, which essentially describes the role of the 21st Century Extension professional. This workshop will outline the model of adaptive leadership and introduce the leader behaviors associated with adaptive work. Participants will practice categorizing issues as either technical or adaptive challenges, and they will explore appropriate strategies for responding to both.
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    Adjust your own oxygen mask before helping those around you: an autoethnography of participatory research
    Steketee, Abby M.; Archibald, Thomas G.; Harden, Samantha M. (2020-09-03)
    Background There is a need to unpack the empirical, practical, and personal challenges within participatory approaches advocated to optimize implementation. The unpredictable, chaotic nature of participatory approaches complicates application of implementation theories, methods, and strategies which do not address researchers’ situatedness within participatory processes. As an implementation scientist, addressing one’s own situatedness through critical reflection is important to unearth how conscious and unconscious approaches, including ontological and epistemological underpinnings, influence the participatory context, process, and outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory work is to investigate the heretofore blind spot toward the lived experience of implementation researchers within the participatory process. Methods We developed an integrated research-practice partnership (IRPP) to inform the implementation of a gestational weight gain (GWG) control program. Within this IRPP, one investigator conducted a 12-month autoethnography. Data collection and triangulation included field notes, cultural artifacts, and systematic timeline tracking. Data analysis included ethnographic-theoretical dialogue and restorying to synthesize key events and epiphanies into a narrative. Results Analysis revealed the unpredicted evolution of the GWG program into a maternal health fair and three themes within the researchers’ lived experience: (1) permeable work boundaries, (2) individual and collective blind spots toward the ontological and epistemological underpinnings of implementation paradigms, and (3) maladaptive behaviors seemingly reinforced by the research culture. These themes contributed to the chaos of implementation and to researchers’ experience of inadequate recovery from cognitive, emotional, and practical demands. These themes also demonstrated the importance of contextual factors, subjectivity, and value-based judgments within implementation research. Conclusion Building on extant qualitative research guidelines, we suggest that researchers anchor their approach to implementation in reflexivity, intentionally and iteratively reflecting on their own situatedness. Through this autoethnography, we have elucidated several strategies based on critical reflection including examining philosophical underpinnings of research, adopting restorative practices that align with one’s values, and embracing personal presence as a foundation of scientific productivity. Within the predominant (post-) positivism paradigms, autoethnography may be criticized as unscientifically subjective or self-indulgent. However, this work demonstrates that autoethnography is a vehicle for third-person observation and first-person critical reflection that is transformative in understanding and optimizing implementation contexts, processes, and outcomes.
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    Administrator’s Perspectives on the Environmental Factors Facing Cooperative Extension
    Elliott-Engel, Jeremy; Westfall-Rudd, Donna M.; Seibel, Megan M.; Kaufman, Eric K.; Radhakrishna, Rama (American Association for Agricultural Education, 2020-02-02)
    Extension is a complex organization with a mission to deliver research from the Land-Grant University to all U.S. communities. Extension administrator perspectives of the environmental factor changes that are facing the organization were investigated in this qualitative study to inform the direction for organization adaptation. Extension needs to respond to: shifts in funding and clientele demographics. Organization adaptation can cause long-term stakeholders to fear loss and therefore can act against the organization. Administrators need to be responsive to traditional stakeholder concerns to reduce shifting focus friction and achieve organization adaptation, and further survival.
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    Agricultural Grading Manual Training Tools: An Evaluation
    Hall, Kierra (Virginia Tech, 2020-05)
    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) implements federal regulations and guidelines to ensure that the food supply is safe for consumers. The job roles for inspectors who work for USDA include in-plant inspections, lot sampling, and conducting audits in plants, on farms, and at entry ports. In order to efficiently complete each task, all inspectors must be thoroughly trained. This work examined current USDA applesauce grading manuals in order to evaluate and offer recommendations to improve the quality of the training materials that are used to train USDA inspectors. Utilizing an implementation evaluation, participants were given a questionnaire pertaining to the applesauce grading manual. The participants in the study determined that the overall applesauce grading manual was easy to navigate. However, some participants found the manual difficult to understand and needed some modifications. It was recommended that adding supplemental documents like color charts, and more specific measurements would make the manual more efficient. These changes could produce more efficient and confident inspectors.
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    Agritourism Safety in Virginia
    Preisser, Afton (Virginia Tech, 2017-11-17)
    Safety is a concern for agritourism venues because an operating farm may expose visitors to many unfamiliar conditions, situations, and/or animals, which opens the farm operation to potential liability risks during these interactions. The purpose of this research was to review current safety protocols on Virginia agritourism operations and seek information that was needed to improve for the future. Based on a survey sent to Virginia operators, numerous areas were identified which would benefit from further education and risk management information. Insurance offerings tailored to agritourism operations are needed, in addition to improved employee screening and training for operations management. The survey found that 25.24% of responses do not do any type of pre-employment screening while over 7% do not participate in walkthroughs before events. The purpose of this research was to document specific protocols already in place, identify, and describe critical areas of improvement for Virginia agritourism event, venue, and visitor safety practices.
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    Agroforestry Education: The Status and Progress of Agroforestry Courses in the U.S.
    Wright, Matt (Virginia Tech, 2017-04-24)
    Many agroforestry leaders today believe that an increase in agroforestry coursework, certifications, and institutional degree programs would help agroforestry professionals gain the proper education and training needed to better promote agroforestry implementation (Gold, 2015; USDA, 2011). In 1990, thirty-nine SAF forestry accredited institutions were surveyed throughout North America. The survey revealed that at least fourteen schools were offering a course in agroforestry (Warren & Bentley, 1990). In order to determine the current status of agroforestry course offerings today, we sent an electronic survey to one hundred and twenty seven institutions throughout the U.S. Focusing on land-grant and SAF forestry accredited institutions, the survey findings indicate growth in the number of institutions that are offering agroforestry coursework today. In addition, the number of temperate agroforestry course offerings has increased significantly and may now exceed tropical agroforestry course offerings by institutions in the U.S. The survey results also indicate a thorough adoption of interdisciplinary teaching methods by agroforestry educators. Nonetheless, there is still considerable room for improvement. While most institutions that are currently providing agroforestry courses would like to continue offering them, the number of institutions that have discontinued their offerings since the prior 1988 survey is concerning. In addition, while SAF and 1862 land grant institutions are the strongest proponents of agroforestry, most institutions still do not provide agroforestry courses and are not likely to offer them in the near future. Lack of resources, lack of student interest, and lack of faculty expertise were often cited to this end. A much needed contribution to agroforestry education, this project provides a clearer picture of institutional agroforestry offerings today.
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    ALCE Leadership 1918 to Today
    Hillison, John H. (2018-09-22)
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    ALCE Then and Now
    Hillison, John H.; Crunkilton, John R.; Oliver, J. Dale (Virginia Tech, 2018-09-22)
    Chronology of major Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education Department highlights
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    Aligning the residential college model with priorities of large institutions
    Kaufman, Eric K. (2017-09-25)
    The Gallup-Purdue Index gives us valuable insight into the experiences in college that improve well-being in life after college, specifically highlighting things such as mentoring relationships, caring professors, and enthusiasm for learning. However, many colleges and universities struggle to create the environment for these high impact experiences to flourish. Some have suggested that small, liberal arts institutions are the answer, but what does that mean for large, public research universities? The “Oxbridge” residential college model provides an answer. Much of the literature on the residential college model is in the context of a “liberal arts” education, which emphasizes specific disciplines (e.g., the humanities), but the residential college model is more appropriately aligned with a “liberal education,” which the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) describes as “an approach to college learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.” The AAC&U goes on to explain that a liberal education “helps students develop a sense of social responsibility; strong intellectual and practical skills that span all major fields of study, such as communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills; and the demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.” While some have reduced the residential college model to a liberal arts perspective, the model directly aligns with Abraham Lincoln’s priorities for public higher education that produced our nation’s land grant universities. The residential college model supports growth and development of the whole student, and it enhances and it expands the potential for learning and career preparation beyond conventional living-learning programs. This session will highlight key components of the residential college model, offer examples of implementation at large, public research universities, and connect the model to priorities for improving higher education as a whole. Participants will be able to: (1) align the residential college model with priorities identified by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U); (2) identify marketing messages that resonate with key stakeholders for large, public institutions; and (3) discuss specific strategies for expanding the breadth of support for the residential college model.