Scholarly Works, Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education
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Research articles, presentations, and other scholarship
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- Integrating Employability Skills Into Agricultural Courses Using the PDSA Model of ImprovementCoartney, Jama S.; Kaufman, Eric K.; Westfall-Rudd, Donna M. (2024-06-27)More than a decade ago, the National Research Council (2009) challenged agricultural teachers to transform their relationship to the global food and agricultural enterprise. With this in mind, Auger (2019) made an important observation: “Some skills are more lasting. Skills like leadership, collaboration, and communication” (para 4). These employability skills are of critical importance to agriculture’s workforce (Crawford & Fink, 2020), and research suggests they are “more difficult to train for” (D2L, 2019, p. 4). Agricultural educators must find ways to incorporate employability skills into classes so that teaching and learning can take flight, soaring to new heights. To improve agricultural courses, our workshop introduces the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) model for improvement (Langley et al., 2009). It is a strategy to pilot, evaluate, and implement changes to courses. PDSA provides a cyclical process, based on the scientific method, to support data-driven continuous quality improvement. It also provides a strategy for post-secondary teachers of agriculture to improve the scholarship of teaching and learning. This workshop is one of the results of a collaboration between a four-year program, technical program, and community college. Workshop objectives are to improve agricultural courses by (1) providing a simple, effective improvement process tool—PDSA, (2) reviewing PDSA examples that integrate agriculture and employability skills, and (3) practicing the PDSA model. Participants can practice the PDSA process with their own courses. Interactive activities include (1) reviewing examples done by other agriculture educators, (2) sharing ideas on how to blend employability skills into existing courses, (3) drafting an actual PDSA plan, and (4) discussing how this approach might transfer to other agricultural teaching experiences. PDSA provides a simple, powerful tool and strategy to continuously improve teaching and learning. This workshop introduces how to use PDSA to integrate employability skills into the scholarship of teaching and learning. References: Auger, J. (2019, May 6). Soft skills — not technical ones — should be the focus of upskilling initiatives. Training Industry. https://trainingindustry.com/blog/workforce- development/soft-skills-not-technical-ones-should-be-the-focus-of-upskilling-initiatives/ Crawford, P., & Fink, W. (2020). Employability skills and Students critical growth areas. NACTA Journal, 64, 132-141. D2L. (2019). The future of skills: In the age of the 4th industrial revolution. https://www.d2l.com/future-of-work/ Langley, G. J., Moen, R. D., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass. National Research Council. (2009). Transforming agricultural education for a changing world. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12602
- Engaging Stakeholders Through Inquiry, Story, & PresenceKaufman, Eric K. (2024-06-17)A workshop for Virginia Tech's Data Science for the Public Good program.
- Collaborative Discussion: How Might Artificial Intelligence (AI) Extend Learning, Thinking, & Problem Solving?Kaufman, Eric K. (American Association for Agricultural Education, 2024-05-21)“Are we asking the wrong questions of ChatGPT?” That was the headline of an April 15, 2024, article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. While many educators have been concerned about policing artificial intelligence (AI), we may be missing key opportunities to leverage AI as a tool for extending learning, thinking, and problem solving. In this collaborative discussion, participants will be invited to share questions, concerns, and ideas for leveraging AI in both formal and nonformal educational settings. The context of agricultural education (broadly defined) will be the focus, placing particular interest on practices and strategies that may allow graduates and communities to better manage, interpret, and share streams of data in ways that foster improved decision-making. Both novice and experienced users of AI will be encouraged to engage in the discussion and exploration.
- Elements of Leadership: Development for the Greater GoodKaufman, Eric K. (2024-06-01)Invited keynote seminar for Teen and Youth in Leadership (TYIL) fellowership program.
- Greater Attention to Wild Foods and Cultural Knowledge Supports Increased Nutrition Outcomes Associated with AgroecologyZhu, Stephanie J.; Mfuni, Tiza Ignatius; Powell, Bronwen (MDPI, 2024-05-07)Agroecology frameworks do not explicitly include nutrition, but nutrition is an outcome of many principles of agroecology, with growing evidence that agroecological interventions improve diet quality and nutrition. In this paper, we argue that more explicit attention to the importance of wild foods from diverse agroecological landscapes will further enhance the nutrition outcomes associated with agroecology. In rural landscapes around the world, wild foods provide nutrient-dense and culturally important foods that make significant contributions to the diet in some contexts and are culturally important and highly valued delicacies in others. Agroecological principles, science, and practice already support the maintenance of wild foods in food systems by highlighting ecological principles. These include low or no use of pesticides, landscape diversity, and maintenance of biodiversity, alongside social principles such as traditional knowledge and cultural practices. The focus in agroecology on working with traditional knowledge and cultural practices supports the preservation of traditional knowledge required to responsibly harvest and prepare wild foods. Centering landscape diversity and nutrition as outcomes of agroecology supports the continued use of wild foods and cultural knowledge, especially in rural communities around the globe. More explicit attention to wild foods in agroecological systems will further contribute to associated nutrition outcomes, while simultaneously promoting the maintenance of landscape diversity, biodiversity, preservation of cultural knowledge, and other ecological sound and socially just agricultural practices.
- Mixed Methods Research: What You Need to KnowKaufman, Eric K.; Odoom, Daniel (2024-04-22)Guest lecture for Virginia Tech's ALCE 5104 course.
- Inspiring Transformational Followership Practices Through Shared LeadershipOyedare, Israel; Kaufman, Eric K. (2024-04-26)How might shared leadership inspire transformational followership within an organization? Although there is not much literature on transformational followership, constructs such as effective followership, downward following, and courageous followers have been widely popularized to mean followers expressing transformational behaviors. Importantly, considering the increasingly dynamic nature of complex problems, organizations have developed approaches toward ensuring that their followers are transformational and contribute to achieving organizational goals and objectives. One of those approaches is the shared leadership style. From this session, participants will uncover approaches to inspiring transformational followership and collaboration within the workplace through shared leadership.
- How Do We Talk About Followership? Uncovering Emerging Followership Discourses through World CaféKaufman, Eric K.; Oyedare, Israel (2024-04-26)Until recently, research and discourses on followership have been written from the standpoint of leadership. Even so, there have been arguments against the popularity of followership as an independent field of study and research. Nevertheless, many scholars and practitioners are beginning to immerse themselves in the study of followership, its discourse and dynamics. Using the World Café approach for data collection, this study uncovers emerging followership themes and discourses from participants of three professional conferences: the Global Followership Conference, the Association of Leadership Educators annual conference, and the International Leadership Association global conference.
- Exploring the Personal Side of Followership in HealthcareKaufman, Eric K. (2024-04-25)Engaged followership in healthcare can be life-saving, which I experienced firsthand when my spouse was in a severe car accident. In the intensive care unit (ICU), doctors often deferred to nurses' expertise in conveying patient needs, despite the nurses lacking prescription authority. When my spouse was transferred to a new facility, I trusted the new medical team over my in-laws' concerns, which was a challenging decision regarding who to follow. In the decades since, I have noticed many followership moments, including the regularity of therapists proposing treatments to doctors, blurring leading and following. The personal accounts help make followership practical.
- Unpacking the Complexities of International Learning: Reflections from East AfricaCouncil, Austin; Thompson, Joshua; Emmett, Robert; Hammett, A. L. (Tom) (2024-02-08)International education is complex and fraught with nuances, especially in the context of Africa, a continent that has been historically exploited and continues to be absent from many western curricula. Therefore, it is important to critically attend to the dynamics facing communities we interact with abroad. In June 2023, a group of Virginia Tech instructors, professors, graduate students, administrative/professional faculty and Virginia public school educators embarked on a cross-cultural, professional learning experience to Tanzania and Kenya as part of the Virginia Tech East Africa Summer Institute for Educators.
- Social Capital’s Role in Leading Teams Through ChangeKaufman, Eric K. (2024-02-28)Guest lecture for Virginia Tech's LDRS 5544 class on "Leading Teams Through Change."
- A Scoping Review of Food Systems Governance Frameworks and Models to Develop a Typology for Social Change Movements to Transform Food Systems for People and Planetary HealthKraak, Vivica; Niewolny, Kimberly L. (MDPI, 2024-02-09)Effective governance is essential to transform food systems and achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Different political ideologies and paradigms inhibit or drive social change movements. This study examined how food systems governance has been described. Thereafter, we reviewed graphic frameworks and models to develop a typology for civil society actors to catalyze social change movements to transform food systems for people and the planet. The scoping review involved (1) formulating research questions; (2) developing a search strategy to identify evidence from four English-language electronic databases and reports, 2010–2023; and (3–4) selecting, analyzing, and synthesizing evidence into a narrative review. Results yielded 5715 records, and 36 sources were selected that described and depicted graphic frameworks and models examined for purpose, scale, political ideology, paradigm, discourse, principles, governance, and democracy. Evidence was used to develop a graphic food systems governance typology with distinct political ideologies (i.e., neoliberal, reformist, progressive, radical); paradigms (i.e., maintain, reform, transition, transform); discourses (i.e., food enterprise, food security, food justice, food sovereignty); types of governance (i.e., multistakeholder, shared, self); and democracy (i.e., representative, participatory, deliberative). This proof-of-concept typology could be applied to examine how change agents use advocacy and activism to strengthen governance for sustainable diets, regenerative food systems, and planetary health.
- Courageous Followership in Support of VCE's MissionKaufman, Eric K.; Oyedare, Israel (2024-02-07)VCE has an ambitious mission, and its fulfillment requires active engagement of all VCE personnel. Courageous Followership offers a new model for the follower role that provides dynamic support for leaders but does not hesitate to constructively question or challenge directives that conflict with the common purpose. Similarly, the concept of Intelligent Disobedience provides guidance for conscious decision-making when faced with an order than may be inappropriate, particularly considering issues that may be in the "blind spot" of a leaders view. This workshop will be an introduction to these complementary frameworks, as well as related resources for effective collaboration among VCE professionals in pursuit of the organizational mission.
- Adoption of Humanistic Pedagogy to Leadership Education in Higher EducationOyedare, Israel; Kaufman, Eric K. (2024-02-08)The leadership education and development of students and young professionals have become a composite focus area for many higher institutions, particularly business schools (Allen et al., 2022). This has consequently inspired an increase in research on the different approaches and frameworks for teaching leadership to students (Allen et al., 2022; Watkins et al. 2017). The use of humanistic pedagogy in leadership education is an approach that puts to perspective the four important viewpoints in teaching leadership - the educator, student, learning procedures, and learning circumstances - but places more emphasis on the human or humane end of the learning process and perceptions students hold about the world (Javadi & Tahmasbi, 2020; Purswell, 2019). Allen et al. (2022) asserted that relevant leadership skills such as problem-solving, relational, change, and innovation skills require a variety of humanistic approaches for students to fully embrace and internalize them. This approach prioritizes students' learning on the value of their self-identity and focuses on their full development (Rustan Effendi et al., 2020). Integral to humanistic pedagogy is the human learning theory that has its roots in the psychological study and observation of the individual student and their relationships with the learning environment (Purswell, 2019). Johnson (2014) asserted that this theory pays attention to the affective dimension of students such as their self-concept, individual values, and emotions; which are a natural extension of how they perceive and learn leadership. A conceptual review of selected literature revealed the following characteristics of humanistic learning theory: - Emphasis on the formation of the human values of students, the educators' ability to understand the student, the attention of educators to the emotions of students during a learning process, and the involvement of students throughout this process (Tolstova & Levasheva, 2019). - Prioritises these four elements - confidence in progress, reasons, inclusiveness, and focus on individualism (Rustan Effendi et al., 2020). - Giving students opportunities to take an interest in what is to be learned, ensuring self-directed learning, and creating a conducive learning environment (Johnson, 2014). Notably, Allen et al. (2022) posited that using humanistic pedagogy to teach leadership courses in higher education helps students become self-aware of their need for leadership education and value the importance of the concept of self-leadership. This further leads to students finding their purpose in leadership as against seeing leadership as a problem-solving approach (Waddock, 2016). Moreover, an essential aspect of adopting humanistic pedagogy in teaching leadership is that it inspires commitment to lifelong learning among leadership students that extends beyond their college education (Waddock, 2016).
- THE POWER OF THE MICROPHONE: Podcasting as an effective instructional tool for leadership educationCouncil, Austin; Bletscher, Caitlin (Journal of Leadership Education, 2022-10-03)
- Developing human potential: A personal approach to leadershipMatkin, Gina S.; Headrick, Jason; Sunderman, Hannah M. (Pressbooks, 2023-08-01)
- Introduction to Leading from the Middle in Higher Education: MentoringSunderman, Hannah M.; Orsini, Jonathan (Wiley, 2023-11-28)“Leading from the Middle in Higher Education: Mentoring” is a Journal of Leadership Studies Symposium dededicated to the significance of mentoring in higher education, emphasizing the role of mentoring in leadership development for undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty. To introduce the symposium, the current article provide insights into effective mentoring practices for mentors and mentees. The article delves into the definition of mentoring, both formal and informal, and discusses the benefits of mentoring within higher education. Additionally, it highlights crucial aspects of effective mentors and offers guidance on being an effective mentee.
- Intercultural Mentoring in Higher EducationAdebayo, Bolanle; Sunderman, Hannah M. (Wiley, 2023-11-27)Intercultural mentoring is increasing in higher education in response to diversification and globalization. While intercultural mentoring relationships experience unique challenges, it can be a development learning opportunity for both mentors and mentees. Therefore, the current article discusses the following aspects of intercultural mentoring relationships in higher education: benefits and challenges, recommendations for effective practice, the role of mentors and mentees in ensuring a successful relationship, and future research frontiers. Mentors and mentees in intercultural mentoring relationships, as well as formal mentoring programs with intercultural mentoring dyads, will benefit from the recommendations offered in the current article.
- Assessing and measuring leadership identityHastings, Lindsay J.; Sunderman, Hannah M. (Wiley)This article explores numerous complexities involved in assessing and measuring leadership identity development. It also reviews leader and leadership identity as well as prior attempts to assess leader and leadership identity development. Recommendations for effective assessment and measurement practices when diagnosing development in leader and leadership identity are offered.
- Theory-driven approach to developing socially responsible leadership among college students who mentor: CongruenceSunderman, Hannah M.; Hastings, Lindsay (National Association of Campus Activities, 2023-02)The Social Change Model of Leadership (SCM) is the most widely used student leadership development model in higher education. Therefore, the purpose of the current paper is to share a theory-driven approach to developing Congruence, an individual value of the SCM. We discuss the development and implementation of a two-part virtual leader development intervention focused on college students who mentor K-12 youth. Part One was a virtual, twohour content block in the fall with interactive activities. Part Two was a small-group, virtual meeting in the spring with in-depth discussions. The intervention focused on recognizing congruent leadership and considering a situation from multiple values. The intervention was evaluated based on the learning objectives, and mentors perceived notable growth. The purpose of the current scholarship-to-practice brief is that leadership educators and student affairs practitioners can utilize the curriculum to facilitate and evaluate a Congruence intervention in a curricular or co-curricular setting.