694 research outputs found
Syllabi for Introduction to Graduate Teaching Scholars (GTS)
No full textSyllabi for the Graduate Teaching Scholars courses are offered to complement "Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty" (2022) edited by Donna Westfall-Rudd, Courtney Vengrin, and Jeremy Elliot-Engel which is available at https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching.
ALCE 6415 "Introduction to Graduate Teaching Scholars (GTS)" offers Graduate Teaching Scholars opportunities to observe university course organization and instruction. Observations serve as a platform for course discussions focused on planning course instruction, examining student centered teaching strategies, and design of student assessments. Scholars work with faculty mentors to become familiar with the teaching expectations and resources for course assigned in the program
Introduction to Whole Farm Planning
No full textProvides information to help beginning farmers and ranchers with farm planning decisions
Motivation of Youth Program Volunteers
No full textThis study is focused on the motivation behind youth program volunteers. Specifically, research centered on what motivated volunteers to get involved with the My Turn organization as well as what motivated them to stay involved with the program after their initial engagement. The Herzberg Two-Factor theory provided a framework for this study. A total of eight participants were interviewed using a qualitative research method. Each participant was a current or former Virginia Tech athlete who volunteered with the My Turn organization in some way since its creation in 2020. After a thorough analysis of the data, the five themes that emerged were: caring for the youth, self-actualization, serving community/giving back, building substantial relationships, and mentorship. These factors were highlighted numerous times throughout the data collection process. These were the aspects that were most significant to volunteers and impacted their decisions to both get involved and stay involved. Based on these findings, recommendations were made to current and future youth organization administrators. These recommendations include adding some kind of training requirement for the volunteers. Training such as sensitivity training or mental health workshops could really help to make volunteers a much better resource to the youth. The information from this research could be utilized to bring in effective, caring volunteers to assist in the ultimate goal of youth development.MAL
Spotsylvania County Meaningful Day Program
No full textThe Spotsylvania County Meaningful Day Program (SCMDP) engages students in a one-day, hands-on learning experience that promotes critical thinking about agriculture, forestry, watershed management, and watershed ecology. The SCMDP was modeled after the Virginia Soil & Water Conservation Districts’(VASWCD) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE), to fulfill Spotsylvania’s Elementary Schools environmental literacy requirements as part of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. The SCMDP uses experiential learning theory as building blocks for educational knowledge to be shared from the partnering agencies to the students. This research project investigated the station facilitators and fourth grade teachers to understand how they perceived the SCMDP, and MWEE programs, and how they related to the educational topics of environmental literacy and experiential learning. Findings revealed that half of the participants were unaware of the goal of these programs, and did not know how to integrate the principles of experiential learning theory into the stations or their teaching. Recommendations include offering professional development for the facilitators and teachers, updating the stations to adapt to the changing Standards of Learning, and working with all agencies and teachers to offer consistent communication about the future programs.MAL
Vegetable Value Chain
No full textNepal is known for its three unique topographical regions: Mountain, Hill, and Terai. Since the Himalayan range is cold and damp and therefore unable to produce vegetables, most of the agricultural products such as vegetables, fruits, cereal crops, coffee, and tea are grown in Hilly and Terai regions. Waling, a city located in the hilly district of Syangja, has engaged in high production of vegetables. Its residents have embraced the production and marketing of vegetables as their main source of income generation. Despite the economic potentiality of vegetables, famers have been unsuccessful in garnering maximum benefits. The vegetable value chain, which ranges from conception to consumption, is affected by numerous factors that have generated obstacles in maximizing benefits and minimizing risks. Hence, the objective of this study was to analyze the influencing factors and log jams in the existing vegetable value chain through famers’ interviews, focus group discussion, and consultation with farmers’ groups, institutions, and individuals through phenomenological study. The study identified lack of effective technologies for packaging of grown vegetables, frequent price fluctuation, poor group management, and unavailability of quality seeds as the log jams of this value chain. In order to reduce and possibly eliminate these log jams, agricultural professionals should develop packaging methods using cardboard boxes and plastic carets that are readily available in the markets of major cities of Nepal, coordinate farmers and wholesalers during the product flowing process, and establish a cold store to preserve products and maintain quality.MAL
Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty
No full textTeaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty provides insight and strategies for successful teaching, advising, and mentoring postsecondary students. In particular, the authors offer support and encouragement for implementing student-centered teaching practices relevant to college classrooms. This book is designed for new university teaching faculty and graduate teaching assistants looking for innovative teaching resources.
As an Open Educational Resource (OER), this textbook provides university instructors free access to high-quality teaching materials based on the experiences of fellow new instructors. Twenty contributors and two co-editors from the current students and alumni of university teaching scholars programs offer this resource for fellow faculty and graduate students to improve instruction and engagement. Each chapter comes from the experiences and expertise of these talented individuals who speak directly to their peers.
If you are an instructor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this form.
How to access this book
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Online: in Pressbooks at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/universityteaching.
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The main landing page for this book is: https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching.
Table of contents
Chapter 1: Relational Learning: Creating a “Working Alliance” in the Classroom
VIGNETTE: Supporting International Graduate Teaching Assistants
Chapter 2: Authenticity
VIGNETTE: Structure and Organization to Facilitate Learning in My Large Class During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Chapter 3: Indigenizing Your Classroom: A Practice in Inclusion Pedagogy
Chapter 4: Teaching Practices for Student-Centered Learning Online
Chapter 5: Technology Makes It Easier
VIGNETTE: No really, I don’t have internet
Chapter 6: Fun Fridays: Incorporating Hands-on Learning into Lecture Courses
Chapter 7: Using Grade Appeals as a Learning Tool
VIGNETTE: Does "Fairness" Get in the Way of Learning and Equity?
Chapter 8: How to Oversee a Laboratory Course Taught by Teaching Assistants: Experiences in the Lab and Field
VIGNETTE: Use of Personal Response System in Classrooms
Chapter 9: Teaching, Training, and Mentoring Students in Research Practices Inside and Outside the Classroom
VIGNETTE: Lessons Learned as a First-Time Experiential Learning Program Instructor
Chapter 10: The Power of Extension: Research, Teaching, and Outreach for Broader Impacts
Chapter 11: Program Planning for Community Engagement and Broader Impacts
Chapter 12: Personalized Advising that Is Purposely Inconsistent: The Constants of Great Advisors and the Variability that Demands Adaptability
Chapter 13: Engaging the Fear: How to Utilize Student Evaluations, Accept Feedback, and Further Teaching Practice
VIGNETTE: So You've Landed the Job... (or Surviving Your First Semester)
Editors
Donna Westfall-Rudd, Courtney Vengrin, and Jeremy Elliott-Engel
Contributors
Hannah Angel, Ghadir Asadi, Anne M. Brown, Caitlin Cridland, Courtney A. Crist, Nasim Ebadi, Jeremy Elliott-Engel, Javier S. Garcia, Leah Hamilton, Laura Hanzly, Gordon Jones, Qualla ᏆᎳ Ketchum, Sihui Ma, Rachel Mack, Chris McCullough, Didier Mena-Aguilar, William Moore, Emily Ott, Courtney Vengrin, and Bethany Wolters
This work is published by Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in association with Virginia Tech Publishing.
Suggested citation
Westfall-Rudd, D., Vengrin, C., and Elliott-Engle, J. (eds.) Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early-Career Faculty. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching License: CC BY-NC 4.0.
Chapter proposal reviewers
Kirby Barrick, Emeritus Professor and former Associate Dean of Agricultural Education, University of Florida
Kellie Claflin, Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Tracy Rutherford, Department Head, Agriculture Leadership and Community Education, Virginia Tech
Peer review
Leah Hamilton, Department of Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech
Editorial
Layout, accessibility, and typesetting: Leah Hamilton
Illustration and cover design: Kindred Grey
Production editor: Caitlin Bean
Project manager / editor: Anita Walz
ISBN (print): 978-1-949373-49-3
ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-949373-83-7
ISBN (PDF): 978-1-949373-48-6
ISBN (Pressbooks): 978-1-949373-47-9
https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/universityteaching
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/universityteaching
Accessibility
Virginia Tech Publishing is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The HTML and screen reader–friendly PDF versions of this book utilize header structures and include alternative text which allow for machine-readability. An ePub version is also available
Virginia Whole Farm Planning: An Educational Program for Farm Startup and Development
No full textThis workbook provides information about whole farm planning, marketing, developing a business management plan, acquiring land and tenure of land, and practicing sustainable farming
Community-Based Education through a Paraprofessional Model: An Experiential Learning Perspective of Peer Education
No full textIn community-based peer education models, it is necessary to understand the relationship between learning, context and paraprofessional identity construction. Social relations are important in community education program implementation (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007); impacting power structure within communities and organizations (Cervero & Wilson, 1994, 2006; Forester, 1989). This study explored the conceptual and practical role of experience in a paraprofessional educator model and focused on the situated, contextual experiences of paraprofessionals in the communities they work and live as unique, challenging, and potentially positive for learning outcomes. Schön's narrative dialogue of reflection (1983) proved to be the essential missing piece in working with community educators toward successful development and autonomy.
In-depth qualitative interviews with 19 paraprofessional community-based peer educators with a state level family nutrition program contributed to findings relevant to how social context, critical reflection, and identity development influence an understanding of experience and the ability to impact knowledge and behavior change in clients. Individual interviews and focus groups allowed narrative exploration of topics as they evolved throughout the study; giving voice to paraprofessional program assistants in a way not previously done. The findings of this study provide insight necessary for the assessment of new conceptualizations of practice for paraprofessional models in expanding community impact and highlight the need for assessment of contemporary program delivery in a way that fosters the continual development of lay educators through reflective practice. Recommendations are made for a reassessment of historically significant program models in order to embrace paraprofessionals as more broadly defined socially mediated and socially situated influential practitioners.Ph. D
Teaching with Technology in an Agriculture Associate's Degree Program
No full textStudents in any educational setting need to learn how to integrate and successfully use technology to be successful in a future career. While no one educational system can teach every skill, faculty can help integrate technology and model skills that students will need later in life. Using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations as a model, the researcher examined technology integration and how it affected engagement, motivation, and learning in the classroom setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of technology integration in an agriculture associate's degree program and evaluate the program from the faculty and student perspective. Ninety-six students enrolled in an agriculture associate's degree program served as the case study group. A qualitative approach guided the inquiry of the study and was represented through observations, participant interviews, and video collection using Noldus Observer.
Findings indicated that technology integration was being implemented in a purposeful way and the faculty work together to make decisions regarding what to integrate for the students' use in their courses. Technology integration decisions were supported by the faculty and program leader. Students viewed the technology as beneficial to their learning while enrolled in the program and as an asset when they graduated. Students reported that they felt as though technology was helping them remain engaged and motivated in the program. Students who participated in the recommend that the faculty use the course management system more efficiently to streamline content to students and the faculty use more features that the system offers such as chat and discussion boards. Students expressed a belief that these practices would help keep students more engaged during class time and help them locate resources more efficiently. It is recommended that faculty work to offer a blended learning experience in the classroom, with group work or guided practice. Finally, as an alternative to traditional assessment, it is recommended that faculty members in the program encourage students to work with technology outside of class to create videos or podcasts to illustrate what they are learning.Ph. D
A Case Study of a Beginner Gardening Program in North Carolina
No full textFood insecurity refers to the lack of reliable access to nutritious and affordable foods for people of all backgrounds (Meenar and Hoover, 2012) and is a problem faced by approximately 50 million Americans (Smith, 2011) and thirteen percent of North Carolina households. Food security and poverty have been directly linked and North Carolina's poverty rate (14.3%) is above the national level (13%) (Curtis, 2010). Community gardens have been recognized globally by many experts including health professionals, community organizers, environmental activists, and policymakers, as an "important contributor to economic development, food security, and environmental management"(Baker, 2004). Together, these professionals use gardens as a means to educate the public about food production and nutrition. Empirical research has documented many community garden benefits, however, the examination of educational programs associated with these gardens is limited.
The purpose of this case study was to examine the development and implementation of a beginner gardening program and its influence on program participants in an area known to be food insecure within North Carolina. The researcher utilized multiple means of qualitative methods including: 1) semi-structured pre- and post- interviews with program coordinators and participants, 2) content analysis, 3) a reflection journal used to observe the program, and the facilitation of a 4) focus group with program participants. The findings revealed the challenges program coordinators encountered throughout the development and implementation, as well as the effects of the beginner gardening program on program participants.Master of Science in Life Science
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