12 research outputs found
Good Practice Guide: threshold learning outcomes for agriculture
No full textTina Botwright, Amanda J. Abl
Agriculture: Integrative learning and a new network of agricultural educators
No full textThe core sciences that contribute to agriculture include biology, mathematics, chemistry and physics but our students must integrate and learn to apply their knowledge to agricultural problems in the context of any social, environmental or economic constraints. As such, the Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for Agriculture, although aligned with the TLOs for Science, also capture the contribution of other disciplines and emphasise transferable and applied skills that will allow graduates to contribute to a successful career in a wide range of roles (please see www.agltas.edu.au). This professional focus is often reflected within the activities and assessment tasks set by teachers. The recently published Good Practice Guide for the Agriculture TLOs highlights student-led inquiry and experiential learning, especially work integrated learning (WIL), in the Agriculture discipline. Currently, there is no forum for our discipline to discuss good teaching practice and the challenges facing agricultural educators. We are therefore establishing a national network to encourage the scholarship of learning and teaching for agricultural educators. The purpose of this workshop is two-fold:
1) To share and discuss examples of activities and assessment that develop integrative, multi-disciplinary knowledge and ability of students to solve complex problems; and;
2) To discuss the nature and purpose of the agriculture network.
Academics from other disciplines who have an interest in multidisciplinary teaching are welcome to join the workshop.
For more information, please contact either Tina Botwright Acuña ([email protected]) or Amanda Able ([email protected]).
Dr Tina Botwright Acuña is a senior Lecturer and coordinator of the undergraduate agriculture degrees at the University of Tasmania. Tina successfully led the OLT-funded ‘A consensus approach to defining standards for learning outcomes and informing curricula design for Agriculture (AgLTAS)’ (see www.agltas.edu.au) and co-edited Good Practice Guide: Threshold Learning Outcomes for Agriculture. Tina was a Science and Mathematics Network of Australian University Educators (SaMnet) Scholar from 2011 to 2012. She was awarded a Vice Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2014 by the University of Tasmania for leadership in assessment practice that enhances student learning outcomes and the development of national academic learning and teaching standards to inform curriculum design.
Professor Amanda Able was a member of the AgLTAS project team and co-edited Good Practice Guide: Threshold Learning Outcomes for Agriculture. Amanda is the Associate Dean (Curriculum) for the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide and teaches into the Agricultural Sciences and related disciplines. Her educational research is currently exploring the efficacy of small group discovery and WIL in the development of research skills and integrative knowledge. Amanda was awarded the Executive Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005, and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists Teaching Award in 2009. As the Molecular Plant Breeding CRC Education Program Leader (2003-2008), Amanda also led the team that developed the secondary school educational program Get into Genes (awarded the CRC Excellence and Innovation in Education Award in 2006)
Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement for Agriculture
No full textTina Botwright Acuña, Amanda Able, Jo-Anne Kelder, Phoebe Bobbi, Yann Guisard, Bill Bellotti, Glenn McDonald, Richard Doyle, Paul Wormell and Holger Meink
Good practice guide: Threshold learning outcomes for agriculture
No full textBackground
The Good Practice Guide: Threshold Learning Outcomes for Agriculture (the Good Practice Guide) builds on the national Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement for Agriculture (AgLTAS), which was developed through an extensive consultation process among academics, students and industry personnel across Australia.
The AgLTAS facilitates the implementation of academic standards by the agriculture discipline community and informs curriculum design. It describes the nature and extent of agriculture and provides five key Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) that describe what a pass-level graduate will know, understand and be able to do upon graduation from a bachelor-level degree in agriculture or a related discipline. The TLOs are: Understanding agriculture; Knowledge of agriculture; Inquiry and problem-solving; Communication; and Personal and professional responsibility (Botwright Acuña et al. 2014).
Aims
Having set the learning outcomes for agriculture, the next step was to demonstrate that students achieve the TLOs through assessment. The Good Practice Guide provides academics with strategies for teaching and case studies of aligned assessment for each TLO.
The Good Practice Guide is intended for use by academics who teach into undergraduate degrees (or related areas), including but not limited to: agribusiness, animal science, agricultural economics, horticulture, agriculture and agricultural science, viticulture and oenology, agricultural business management, agrifood systems and wine science.
Methodology
The authors of each chapter have modelled components of the Good Practice Guide on those used for each of the individual Good Practice Guides for Science and Law. However, all TLOs were combined into a single 143 pp guide as an acknowledgement of how the TLOs are often addressed in an integrated way.
Each TLO chapter contains the following:
1. a literature review related to the interpretation of the TLO hyperlinked with case studies of assessment practice
2. an annotated list of resources that may be useful in teaching specifically addressing that TLO
3. a summary of the key issues, outcomes synthesised from the literature review and future opportunities identified
4. case studies of assessment practice aligned to the TLO.
References are collated at the end of the Good Practice Guide. An electronic copy of the Guide is available at www.agltas.edu.au
Conclusions
A key distinguishing feature of agriculture is its multidisciplinary nature and the contribution of disciplines other than science, such as economics and the social sciences. The integration of these disciplines in the context of agriculture is important for student achievement of the TLOs.
Two common themes appear throughout the Good Practice Guide: 1) the interdisciplinary
nature of agriculture; and; 2) the emphasis on transferable and applied skills that will allow
graduates to contribute to the successful practice of agriculture in a wide range of roles. The
authors have also provided discussion to guide the interpretation of each overarching TLO.
Botwright Acuna, T. L., Able, A. J., Kelder, J., Bobbi, P., Guisard, Y., Bellotti, W., McDonald, G., Doyle, R., Wormell, P., & Meinke, H. (2014). Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement for Agriculture. Sydney, Australia: Office for Learning and Teaching.
Botwright Acuña, T. L., & Able, A. J. (Eds.) (2016). Good Practice Guide: Threshold Learning Outcomes for Agriculture. Sydney, Australia: Office for Learning and Teaching
Hardpan penetration ability of wheat roots
No full textThis project, funded through the new GRDC initiative ‘Root Systems for Australian Soils’, builds on current and past research undertaken in WA that has described the pattern of root growth of annual crops in a range of field soils with chemical and/or physical barriers to growth, including hard soils and drought. It is not known whether genetic diversity exists for root growth in soils containing a hardpan among the currently-available wheat cultivars and breeding lines. Genotypic variation in root penetration ability has been reported in other cereals (Yu et al. 1995; Kubo et al. 2004), and validated in our own research, using a pot technique where a thin disc of wax and petroleum jelly is placed in a soil column to simulate a hardpan (Botwright Acuna and Wade 2005). Partitioning of the soil column by the wax layer makes it possible to examine the interaction between hardpan strength and soil moisture stress. Our pot experiments have revealed differences in root penetration ability under drought among 24 wheat cultivars and breeding lines. These results are compared with observations on their rooting depths in two contrasting soil types in field experiments undertaken in Merredin. This technique will have application in identifying promising lines for wheat breeding programs and in the interpretation of field performance of wheat grown in soils containing a hardpan
SMARTfarm Learning Hub: Next generation technologies for agricultural education: Final report 2018
No full textIn 2015-2016 there were 282,000 people employed in agriculture in Australia (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences [ABARES], 2017). Despite the recognition that the modern agricultural industry is complex and demanding, it still has one of the lowest proportion of workers with post-secondary qualifications across the economy (Senate Standing Committees on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2012), with approximately 7.8 per cent of the agricultural workforce with tertiary qualifications compared with 25 per cent for the broader population (Pratley, 2012). Pratley and Botwright Acuna (2015) have also reported that there is already a skills shortage in the industry, with an estimated four jobs available for every tertiary agricultural graduate in Australia
Academic, industry and student perspectives on the inclusion of “vocational knowledge” in a ‘learning and teaching academic standards statement’ for agriculture
No full textThis paper reports on the perspective of industry stakeholders in a national project to develop a Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) Statement for the Agriculture discipline. The AgLTAS Statement will be aligned with the Science LTAS Statement published in 2011 and comprise a discourse on the nature and extent of the Agriculture discipline and a set of Threshold Learning Outcome (TLO) statements specific to Agriculture. Agricultural research and teaching relies on strong links with industry due to the applied nature of the discipline. Without these links, sustainable and profitable practice change in agricultural systems cannot be achieved. A pilot project, in 2011-2012, with academic staff from three Australian universities identified vocational knowledge as a potential focus for a TLO. The AgLTAS project provides the opportunity to validate or refute this TLO by seeking input from a wider group of stakeholders, including industry. National consensus is being sought by a process of iterative consultation with academics, students and industry stakeholders and tested across four Australian universities. We have collected qualitative and quantitative data from industry participants who attended a series of workshops across most Australian States and Territories and through an online survey. Surprisingly, and contrary to the findings of the pilot project, industry representatives considered vocational knowledge of lesser importance to the need for students to attain highly developed problem solving and communication skills that can generate new opportunities and innovation in agriculture. Industry-specific (vocational) knowledge was generally regarded as attainable during on-the-job training after graduation. This finding prompts the question whether the AgLTAS Statement should be linked to professional accreditation that may be attained after graduation.Tina Botwright Acuna, Jo-Anne Kelder, Amanda J. Able, Yann Guisard, William D. Bellotti, Glenn McDonald, Richard Doyle, Paul Wormell, Holger Meink
Potential Role of Fungal Endophytes in Biological Nitrification Inhibition in Brachiaria Grass Species
No full textEffect of Endophyte Association with Brachiaria Species on Shoot and Root Morpho-physiological Responses under Drought Stress
No full textA greenhouse experiment was conducted at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia to evaluate effects of the fungal endophyte, Acremonium implicatum, on growth and physiological responses of five Brachiaria cultivars. Plants were grown under well-watered (WW) and drought-stressed (DS) conditions, with (E+) and without (E-) endophyte; and their morpho-physiological responses were determined. Significant two-way and three-way interactions produced variable effects on leaf area, number of tillers, shoot elongation, shoot biomass, total root diameter, diameter of cortex, area of stele and diameter of xylem vessel. Main effect of endophyte significantly increased leaf stomatal conductance and reduced diameter of xylem. Smaller leaf area was found in endophyte-infected than control plants of three cultivars, both under WW and DS conditions, which indicates a cost of endophyte infection to the host cultivars. Large root diameter and area of stele under WW conditions, as well as small diameter of xylem vessels in some cultivars suggests that endophyte may improve efficiency for water uptake and use under different water regimes. Less Root Cortical Aerenchyma (RCA) was observed in endophyte-infected plants of Tully and Cayman than the control, which may influence plant capacity for resource acquisition in Brachiaria. Genotype-specific variation among hosts generally segregated the cultivars in terms of their shoot and root responses, based on presence (E+) or absence (E-) of endophyte. However, future studies should examine how association of A. implicatum with Brachiaria grass affects capacity for water uptake and carbon accumulation, and the role of RCA in these processes
Grain quality of rainfed rice (Oryza sativa) genotypes in Central Queensland, Australia
No full textWater is a major cost (20-30%) for Australian rice production as the industry water use is very high (12.3ML/ha) due to flood irrigation. Developing appropriate rainfed rice varieties provide alternatives for the rice industry to maintain growth while the cost for water is increasing and availability is decreasing. However, maintaining high grain quality from rainfed production systems may pose challenges. Thirteen dryland rice genotypes (7 long 6 medium grain lines) were tested during the summer rainy season in Alton Downs, QLD under rainfed and strategic irrigation management in the 2013/14 season. Measured grain quality parameters only differ due to varieties but not due to water management practice (rainfed vs strategic irrigation). Four of the medium grain varieties (Lasix XB, Inaminka XD, Linklaer A1 and Laski VII) produced grain yield of 4 – 5 t/ha with strategic irrigation but were compromised with low amylose and grain protein. The gel temperature was generally higher for long grain and lower for medium grain type varieties. The millout percentage however was not linked to grain type nor to irrigation method, and all tested varieties recorded millout in excess of 50%. All tested medium grain types were earlier for maturity compared to long grain type. Therefore, the planting time for the long grain type may need to be adjusted to maintain their yield and quality. Yield and detailed grain quality analysis from crop grown in wider agro-ecological zones with full growing seasons will be presented from crops planted in the 2014/2015 season
