Scaling-up Sustainable Land Management Practices through the Concept of the Rural Resource Centre: Reconciling Farmers' Interests with Research Agendas     

Takoutsing Bertin  Tchoundjeu Zacharie  Degrande Ann  Asaah Ebenezar  Tsobeng Alain 《The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension》2013,19(5):463-483

Abstract

Purpose: Formal agricultural research has generated vast amount of knowledge and fundamental insights on land management, but their low adoption has been attributed to the use of public extension approach. This research aims to address whether and how full participation of farmers through the concept of Rural Resource Centre (RRC) provides new insights for the development of alternative and farmers-based extension methods.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Using the Concept of RRC, this research assesses the role of farmers in on-farm demonstrations and scaling-up of land management practices, and investigates effective ways to enhance beneficial interactions between researchers, extension workers and farmers in view of improving adoption.

Findings: The findings suggest that farmers can effectively participate in demonstrations and scaling-up of agricultural practices. This participation is enhanced by judicious incentives such as higher crop yields that motivate farmers and influence adoption. The current success of the approach stems from the fact that farmers, extension workers and researchers jointly implement the activities and their different aims were achieved simultaneously: scientific results for researchers, better agricultural practices for extension workers, and economic success and free choice for farmers.

Practical implications: This research concludes that farmers have the capacities to play an innermost role in demonstrations and scaling-up of agricultural practices. However, there is a need to build and strengthen their capacities to facilitate their participation and contribution.

Originality/Value: The article demonstrates the value of the preponderant role of farmers in on-farm demonstrations and scaling-up practices by exhibiting the beneficial interactions between researchers, extension workers and farmers.  相似文献   

How Will They Understand if We Don’t Teach Them? The Status of Criminal Justice Education on Gay and Lesbian Issues     

Kevin D. Cannon  P. Ann Dirks‐Linhorst 《Journal of Criminal Justice Education》2013,24(2):262-278

Inclusion of race and gender in criminal justice education has, to some degree, been prompted as a result of perceived bias by criminal justice system professionals. Utilizing the race and gender experience as a template, interactions between the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) community and the criminal justice system are explored. This study surveyed criminal justice undergraduate degree programs to ascertain course content on gay and lesbian issues. Results indicate that an extremely small number of programs have such a course or alternatively incorporate GLBT issues within existing race and gender courses. Implications for criminal justice education are discussed.  相似文献   

Model Switching in a Learning Environment based on Multiple Models     

Julie‐Ann Sime 《Interactive Learning Environments》2013,21(1):109-124

The introduction of qualitative modelling techniques into learning environments, and intelligent training systems, requires not just the development of tools and techniques for modelling and simulation but also some guidance on how to use qualitative models in learning environments. This paper describes the rationale behind the design of a simulation based learning environment, the Model Switching PROcess rig Demonstration System (MS‐PRODS). Three qualitative and three quantitative simulations of the behavior of the physical system have been implemented using the ITSIE tools (Scott et al, 1990). The design of the learning environment is presented from the point of view of instruction and how the models are to be used to promote learning, in particular examining the model switching mechanism. This mechanism determines how to select and sequence the presentation of models to the learner during guided explorations of the domain. A knowledge based an alysis of the domain knowledge is combined with principles derived from Cognitive Flexibility Theory (Spiro 6 Jehng, 1990) to produce a generic design for a learning environment based on multiple models. The design and implementation of the learning environment is illustrated and a sample sequence of models presented. Finally, related work such as White & Frederiksen (1990) on model progression is discussed.  相似文献   

Static to Dynamic: Professional Identity as Inventory,Invention, and Performance in Classrooms and Workplaces     

M. Ann Brady  Joanna Schreiber 《Technical Communication Quarterly》2013,22(4):343-362

Although self-assessment is an important genre in both the academy and the workplace, it is often static. The resulting fixed identities are problematic in a creative economy that requires fluidity. Drawing on the work of Carruthers and Goffman, among others, we argue that memory and meditation, encompassing inventory and invention and coupled with rhetorical performance, constitute dynamic self-assessment.  相似文献   

Global Partnerships: Positioning Technical Communication Programs in the Context of Globalization     

Doreen Starke-Meyerring  Ann Hill Duin  Talene Palvetzian 《Technical Communication Quarterly》2013,22(2):139-174

Globalization is radically transforming technical communication (TC) both in the workplace and in higher education. This article examines these changes and the ways in which TC programs position themselves amid globalization, in particular the ways in which they use emerging global partnerships to prepare students for global work and citizenship. For this purpose, the authors report on a Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication-supported exploratory study of current partnership initiatives in TC programs. The study indicated a high level of activity, planning, and interest in global partnerships and revealed a range of creative and innovative partnerships that systematically integrate new opportunities for experiential learning, collaborative international research, and civic engagement in a global context into programs and their curricula. Partnerships also emphasize cultural sensitivity, equal partner contribution, and mutual benefit, thus offering alternatives to emerging global trade visions of higher education. The article also identifies key challenges that partnerships face, suggesting implications for programs and the field as a whole to facilitate successful partnerships.  相似文献   

“The Coat Traps All Your Body Heat”: Heterogeneity as Fundamental to Learning     

Ann S. Rosebery  Mark Ogonowski  Mary DiSchino  Beth Warren 《学习科学杂志》2013,22(3):322-357

This article explores heterogeneity as fundamental to learning. Inspired by Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia, a design team consisting of an experienced classroom teacher and 2 researchers investigated how a class of 3rd and 4th graders came to understand disciplinary points of view on heat, heat transfer, and the particulate nature of matter. Through a series of planned and unplanned encounters, official versions of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the particulate view of matter were juxtaposed with varied domains of experience of heat transfer and phase change in water. We analyze the children's discourse to examine how they populated these phenomena with meaning and what they learned in the process. We conclude by describing key principles and a conundrum that emerged from this research.  相似文献   

COMMUNITY COLLEGE RETENTION: DIFFERENTIATING AMONG STOPOUTS,DROPOUTS, AND OPTOUTS     

L. Adrianne Bonham  Jo Ann I. Luckie 《Community College Journal of Research & Practice》2013,37(6):543-554

One fact often overlooked in discussing the retention issue is that not everyone who fails to return to school is a dropout. Some persons return after an absence of a semester or more; they can be called stopouts. Some intended to take only a few classes and stop attending when they accomplish their educational goals; they can be called optouts. The only persons who should be labeled dropouts are those who failed to accomplish their educational goal and have no definite plans to accomplish it later.

During the 1990‐91 school year, Del Mar College (DMC) and the Texas A&M Adult and Extension Education program developed and executed a plan to identify, count, and interview nonreturnees at DMC. The purposes of the study were toprovide DMC with baseline data on its nonreturnees and to test the feasibility of gathering interview information by telephone.

Stopouts far outnumbered dropouts and optouts among respondents, with 303 of 399 nonreturnees identifying themselves as such.

In this article, we define relevant terms, outline the data‐gathering process and describe the findings of the present study, and present recommendations regarding data gathering and the focus of retention efforts.  相似文献   

A Longitudinal View of the Liberal Arts Curriculum a Decade After Merger: A Multiple Case Study of Community Colleges in Connecticut,Kentucky, and Louisiana     

Ann Norton  Kristin Wilson 《Community College Journal of Research & Practice》2013,37(7):591-602

This study is an examination of the state of the liberal arts curriculum in community colleges in three geographic regions of the United States. From a constructivist paradigm and using globalization theory as a theoretical framework, this multiple case study examined faculty work life and administrative processes related to curriculum change in merged community and technical colleges. Through an examination of research on globalization, mergers, and trends in the general education and liberal arts curriculum, a gap in the literature emerged in the studies of community college curriculums after merger. This study considers whether the focus on workforce development and decrease in the transfer mission has diminished the liberal arts courses in the college curriculum. Research on liberal arts courses identified them as courses that emphasize higher order thinking and the development of intellectual skills needed to engage in a democratic society. If students are not exposed to these skills, it may have a detrimental effect on a democratic society. Study findings suggested that the English and communication curriculums are narrowing and the mission is more toward workforce skill preparation. Also, the changing demographics of today[#x02019]s community college students, as well as the ongoing budget constraints, create challenges and frustrations for faculty members.  相似文献   

Preschoolers' Attention to Print During Shared Book Reading     

Mary Ann Evans  Karen Williamson  Tiffany Pursoo 《Scientific Studies of Reading》2013,17(1):106-129

Seventy-six children ages 3 to 5 were individually read two storybooks that had been specially formatted to contain salient printed words within the text, and illustrations and text on left or right-facing pages. The reader pointed to each word while reading to half of the children. After each book, children were asked to recognize elements of the illustrations and the specially formatted text elements from among a set of foils. Videotaped sessions were coded for the time children spent looking toward the pages with print versus illustrations. Analyses showed that the percentage of time looking at print was less than 2% in the no-pointing condition but increased with age. Pointing to the words increased print-looking time for all age groups and print target recognition for 4-year-olds. After controlling for receptive vocabulary, visual memory, and maturation associated with these scores, emergent orthography and letter-word identification predicted time looking at print and recognition of the print elements.  相似文献   

DIRECTOR COMPETENCIES AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: THE ROLE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION     

Ruth Ann Ball 《Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education》2013,34(2):201-205

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