AEE 501 Foundations of Agricultural and Extension Education. 3(3-0). S. The development and organization of agricultural and extension education in America from colonial times to the present. Emphasis on the role of societal and scientific changes, the federal government, and philosophy on the evolution of agricultural and extension education.

WHY TAKE THIS COURSE?

Every discipline has a foundation core of knowledge. Professionals in the field should be cognizant of the discipline's foundations. This will give individuals a better understanding of the practices of the field, help them to appreciate the discipline, and may guide their practice. It is the mark of an educated individual to be aware of the philosophical and historical underpinnings of his/her discipline.

Foundation: The basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported (The American Heritage Dictionary)

E. D. Hirsch Jr. wrote a book in 1987 titled "Cultural Literacy." In this forceful manifesto Professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., argues that children in the United States are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to  function in contemporary society. They lack cultural literacy: a grasp of background information that writers and speakers assume their audience already has. Thus even if a student has a basic competence in the English language, he or she has little chance of entering the American mainstream without knowing what a silicon chip is, or when the Civil War was fought. In this book Hirsch identifies 5,000 names, dates, essential facts and concepts that an educated person should know. I have developed a list of some 100 names, dates and essential facts and concepts that a professional in agricultural and extension education should know in order to possess "AgriCULTURAL and Extension Education LITERACY." If you don't recognize or know the items listed, you should.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of this course is to acquaint the students with the major events and factors that have contributed to the development of agricultural and extension education in the United States. By the end of this course the student will understand why American agricultural and extension education is as it is today. Specific objectives include:

To identify major scientific discoveries and events in American agriculture that impacted on the information delivery system. (LEADSERVE 3, NCDPI-ADV 4, NC Professional Teaching Standard 3)

To describe social events in America that contributed to the development of agricultural and extension education. (LEADSERVE 7, NCDPI-ADV 4, , NC Professional Teaching Standard 3)

To familiarize students with the impact of federal and state legislation on agricultural and extension education. (LEADSERVE 3, NCDPI - ADV 4, , NC Professional Teaching Standard 3)

To develop an understanding of the major divisions of philosophy and their relationship to agricultural and extension education. (LEADSERVE 4, NCDPI-ADV 4, , NC Professional Teaching Standard 4)

To familiarize students with major educational philosophers and the leaders in agricultural and extension education. (LEADSERVE 4, NCDPI-ADV 4, , NC Professional Teaching Standard 4)

To acquaint students with current beliefs, practices and structure of agricultural and extension education. (LEADSERVE 2, NCDPI-ADV 4, , NC Professional Teaching Standard 3)

There are no specific prerequisites for this course other than the desire to learn more about agricultural and extension education. This is a required course for all graduate degrees in the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education.

TEXT/WEB RESOURCES

There is no comprehensive textbook for this class. All of the class readings will be posted on the web site. However, this does not prevent one from using a variety of other resources. There are hundreds of books and other library resources available on the topics studied in this course.

If you are enrolled for this course through North Carolina State, you have complete access to the NCSU library. The URL that explains all the library resources available to you is http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/distance/ If you need help logging into the library please contact the NCSU course instructor.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Weekly worksheets.  There will be a weekly worksheet or activity sheet on most weeks to be completed. This is to help guide your reading and viewing of on-line materials. These worksheets are to be submitted via mail, fax or electronic mail within one week of the date listed on the topical outline (e-mail attachments are prefered). Worksheet 1 will be due on week 2, worksheet 2 will be due on week 3, etc. From time to time questions will be given to you via e-mail and you are to respond.

Completing the on-line pretests each week will be considering in determining your final grade if you are on the border line between two grades. The fact that you took the pretest will count for you. Your actual score on the pretest doesn't matter, just the fact that you took the pretest is all that matters. 

The weekly assignments will count 25% of your grade.

2. The NCSU library has several farm periodicals (newspapers and mangazines) they were published in the early 1800s. These used to be easily accessable from the stacks. But now they are in storage. You can still get them but it takes several days to retrieved them from the storage areas. Some of these early publications include the American Farmer (Call Number S1.A5), the Cultivator [S1 C8] and the Farmer's Register [S1 F3]). I have copied 11 of the articles from the American Farmer and posted them on-line in lesson 1. You are to read all 11 articles (some are just one paragraph long) and then prepare a 1-2 page paper where you answer the following questions (provide actual examples from the articles when appropriate):


• Who is writing the articles? What are their qualifications for writing?
• Do you suspect that some of the information may not be correct? Give examples
• Do you think that some of the information may be correct? Give examples.
• Would you say the information presented is based on scientifically valid research. If not, what is it based on?
  
• Overall, how would you  evaluated the level of scientific knowledge regarding agriculture that existed in the early 1800s based on these articles?
  
• If you conclude that the articles were lacking in scientific knowledge, how would you suggest the problem be rectified>
  

This is due the week of Class 2 (AUG 28). This assignment will count for 5% of your grade.

3. Interview a retired extension agent or agricultural teacher.  Basically, the purpose of the interview is to determine how extension or teaching changed during the career of the individual interviewed. Click here to see the interview protocol. You are to write a report of your interview clearly showing the answer to each point listed in the interview protocol document. This will be due during the week of October 2. This will count for 5% of your grade. If you need help in identifying a retired individual, please contact the instructor.

4. Conduct an original research study on some phase of agricultural or extension education. You might write about the history of agricultural or extension education in your county, Farmers Institutes, Corn Clubs, Farm Life Schools, Agricultural Societies, early extension efforts, early schooling, Seaman Knapp, Rosenwald Schools, the land grant college in your state,  Jane McKimmon, livestock chains, 4-H camps, etc. You will probably use old newspapers, school yearbooks, interviews, state documents etc. in preparing this report. It should be 5-10 pages in length (it can be longer) and should reflect scholarly work and be well documented. There must be at least 5 references. I prefer APA style but will accept any recognized style. This will count for 20% of your grade. This is due November 13.

 
5. A one page paper titled "My Philosophy of Agricultural or Extension Education" is required. This is to be turned in during the last week of class (Dec. 4) and should reflect substantial thought. You should identify the goals of agricultural or extension education and describe how these goals are best accomplished. This counts for 5% of your grade.

6. Two exams will be given.  One exam will be given October 16 and will cover the first half of the course.  The second exam will given during final exam week (December 11) and will cover the 2nd half of the course. Each exam will be multiple choice and and will contain 50 questions. If you are taking the course via the World Wide Web you can come to campus to take the exams or identify a proctor in your local area who is willing to administer the exams. The proctor should be a minister, librarian, county extension director, school administrator or other non-related, respected individual in the community.  The exams will be mailed to the proctor. Each exam will count for 20% of your grade (40% total).

This course is graded using the + and - system. The breakdown of the grading system is as follows

A+ = 97%
A =  94-96%
A- =  90-93%
Bt =  87-89%
B =  84-86%
B- = 80-83%
C+ = 77-79%
C = 74-76%
C- = 70-73%
D+ = 67-69%
D = 64-66%
D- = 60-63%
F = 59%

Graduate level work should be:

A. Neat - There is no excuse for sloppy work at the graduate level. You can have fantastic ideas and thoughts but if your work is sloppy, colleagues will think your thoughts and ideas are sloppy also. Hundreds of resumes are thrown into the trash every year because they aren't crisp and sharp.

B. Use Proper Grammar - words should be spelled correctly, sentences should be complete, paragraphs should be paragraphs, rules of correct English usage should be followed, etc.

 Both faculty and students at North Carolina State University have a responsibility to maintain academic integrity. An informational brochure about academic integrity is available from the university and students are encouraged to obtain a copy. Additional information is contained in the NCSU Code of Student Conduct. Academic Dishonesty Scholarly activity is marked by honesty, fairness and rigor. A scholar does not take credit for the work of others, does not take unfair advantage of others, and does not perform acts which frustrate the scholarly efforts of others. The violation of any of these principles is academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes the giving, taking, or presenting of information or material by a student with the intent of unethically or fraudulently aiding oneself or another person on any work which is to be considered in the determination of a grade or the completion of academic requirements.

The Honor Pledge - The students and faculty of NCSU believe that the willingness of students to affirm and adhere to the essential values of honesty and integrity in all their academic endeavors is exemplified in the Honor Pledge: I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this test or assignment. It is university policy that all students sign the Honor Pledge on tests and assignments for each course as specified by the instructor

LABORATORY SAFETY

This course does not have a laboratory. However, you will be working on your computer during the lessons. Thousands of computers are damaged each year because of power surges, and most of these come through the phone line and damage the modem. You are strongly encouraged to get a modem surge protector and/or to unplug you computer include the modem/phone connection during stormy weather.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 mandate that the faculty provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities.  These accommodations are based on the premise that students with disabilities need an equal opportunity to acquire information and demonstrate what they have learned; not have an advantage over others in the class.  This does not mean lowering class standards, but it may mean having students learn and express knowledge in a different mode.

All students registered with the NC State Office of Disability Services for Students (DSS) will provide the instructor with an accommodation letter.  This letter verifies that appropriate medical documentation is on file and that the student has a substantiated disability requiring effective reasonable accommodations. Accommodations for which the student qualifies will also be included in the letter.  If you have not registered with the DSS and have a learning disability, you should register in Suite 1900, Student Health Center.

If you have a documented disability, please schedule an appointment with the course instructor to discuss academic accommodations.

There are no group field trips or field trip costs associated with this course.

HOW DOES A WEB COURSE WORK?

1. Each week you will click on the class link that corresponds to that week. You should complete the lesson some time during that week.

2. When you go the the weekly lesson, you are to first view the list of topics for the lesson. This is your guide as to what you should learn.

3. Next, complete the pretest. You will receive a score immediately after you take the pretest. The pretest is designed to serve as an advanced organizer for the lesson materials (in other words to motivate you to learn). You should not expect to score high on the pretest. If you did, there would be no need to take the class. Please type your e-mail address in the block that asks for it at the end of the pre-test. This lets me know you have completed the pretest. It has no bearing on your grade unless you are on the borderline. If you are on the borderline and have completed all the pretests during the semester, your grade will be bumped to the higher grade.

4.  One of the benefits of taking a course on-line is the opportunity to experience a multitude of varied materials found on the Internet. Under the list of learning activities there will be a list of web sites, journal articles, papers and other materials to be reviewed. In this class we try to utilize the power of the World Wide Web (WWW). You are to visit each site that is listed under the learning activities and read or view the materials. For some of the materials, you night  need to have the Acrobat Reader on your computer. If you don't have this program, it can be downloaded for free from Adobe.

5. Typically the last item listed under the learning activities will be a PowerPoint presentation on the lesson topic. When you click the link to the PowerPoint presentation, you will have two options. One option will be to view each slide utilizing your WWW web viewer. The other option will be to download the PowerPoint presentation. If you have PowerPoint on your computer, you may want to download the presentation to your computer, and then open and run the presentation on your computer. This is more time efficient than viewing each slide individually on the WWW. Also, you have the option of printing the slide show and can set your printer to print six slides per page.

6. On most weeks you will complete a worksheet that relates to the weekly lesson. That is to be completed and e-mailed (or faxed) to the instructor of record for the course.  The e-mail address is gary_moore@ncsu.edu and the fax number is 919-515-9060.  You might want to print out the worksheet early in the lesson and then refer to it as you complete the various learning activities. E-mailed assignments are always graded prior to other types of submissions.

7. You should establish a standard time every week to work on this class and then do it if you are taking the course on the web. You don't want to get behind because it will be hard to catch up. In a typical on-campus class you would spend 3 hours in the classroom and 6-9 hours reading and doing assignments during a week. This class will take similar time commitments.