Course Information

Course Description:

• AEE 523 Adult Education in Agriculture (North Carolina State ) - Designed to meet needs of leaders in adult education. Opportunity to study some of the basic problems and values in working with adult groups. Attention given to problem of fitting educational program for adults into public school programs and other educational programs as well as to methods of teaching adults.

• ASTE 6240 Strategies for Teaching Adults (Utah State ) - Addresses the context and providers of adult education. In addition, adult learning theories and participation models are examined.

• AGED 5308 -  Foundations of Adult Education (Texas Tech ) - Study and investigation of recent advances, concepts, and current problems in agricultural and extension education. Emphasis on programs for adults.

Facilitator Information :	Spring 2007 Facilitator
Name:	Dr. Mark J. Kistler	Dr. James H.  Smith	Dr. Gary Straquadine
Institution:	North Carolina State University	Texas Tech University	Utah State University
Office:	210-C Ricks Hall	Box 42131
Office Phone:	919-513-2349	806-742-2816	(435) 797-3521
e-mail:	mark_kistler@ncsu.edu (note: there is an underline between mark and kistler)	james.h.smith@ttu.edu	gary.straquadine@usu.edu
Fax:	919-515-1965	(806) 742-2880
Mailing Address:	Department of Agricultural and Extension Education Box 7607  North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695-7607	Department of Agricultural Education and Communications Box 42131  Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-2131	Agricultural Systems Technology and Education Department ASTE Building Utah State University Logan, UT 84322-2300

Course Goals:

As a result of participation in this course you will be able to:

1. Describe the development of adult education in agricultural and extension  education.
2. Identify principles of conducting adult education programs.
3. Use teaching methods appropriate for adult audiences.
4. Plan and develop programs in adult education in agricultural and extension education.
5. Utilize advisory groups in planning adult programs.
6. Develop a plan to evaluate adult education programs.
7. Describe basic models of  adult education in agricultural and extension education.

Course Prerequisites: There are no specific prerequisites for this course other than the desire to improve ones skills as an adult educator.  

Course Text:

The text used is Effective Adult Learning by Robert J. Birkenholz (1999 copyright). This paperback is published by Pearson/Prentice Hall. http://vig.prenhall.com:8081/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0813431603,00.html The book can be ordered directly from Prentice Hall or from sources such as Amazon Books or Barnes and Noble.

A couple of textbooks that have been used with this course in the past are Planning Programs for Adult Learners by Rosemary S. Caffarella (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2002,  2nd ed.) and Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning by Stephen D. Brookfield (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1986 or 1991 reprint). Chapters in these texts that relate to the lesson topic will be listed each week in case you have either of these books and want to do further study on the topic. 

Other references that you may find useful include:

• The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles, Elwood Holton, & Richard Swnason (Gulf Publishing, 1998, 5th ed. or 2005, 6th ed.)
• Learning in Adulthood by Sharan Merriam & Rosemary Caffarella (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999, 2nd ed.).
• Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education by Sharan Merriam & Phyllis Cunningham, Editors (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1989).
• Developing Teaching Style in Adult Education by Joe Heimlich & Emmalou Norland (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1994).
• Adult Learning Methods by Michael Galbraith, Editor (Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, 1990).
• Mastering the Teaching of Adults by Jerold Apps (Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, 1991).
• Facilitating Adult Learning: A Transactional Process by Michael Galbraith (Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, 1991).

Library Resources:

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 & Discussion Board Participation. Worksheets are to be completed and turned in for a grade, as assigned.  WebCT Discussion Board participation will be listed in the assignment section for each class.  The weekly worksheets and discussion board participation will count for 30% of your grade.  For the discussion board, each student is required to respond to the instructor's question and to at least one peer's response in order to receive full credit.
2. Philosophy of Adult Education . This paper (1-3 double-spaced pages in length) is due at the end of Class 4 (February 11).  This will count for 10% of your grade.
3. Mid-term Exam. The exam will include all the material from classes 1-7.  This exam will count for 10% of your grade.  The exam will be March 16-18 (you will  have the weekend to work on it).
   
4. Adult Education Meeting. You are to attend and evaluate an adult class/meeting (off-campus). This should be an educational program related to your field. Prepare a summary of the meeting then analyze each step in the adult education process (Harbstreit's Top Seven Issues) to determine how well the program was planned and conducted (Example #1 , Example #2 , Example #3 ). This will count for 10% of your grade. It is due at the end of Class 13 (April 22).
5. Evaluation Tool. You are to develop an evaluation instrument for the meeting you're planning for the next assignment. Use the materials from Class 13 to help with this activity. You should base this evaluation instrument on one of the models discussed in Class 13 ( Example #1 , Example #2 , note the difference between a single person's project, #1, and a group project, #2 ). You can work with your team members (next assignment). This activity will count for 5% of your grade and is due with your adult education workshop due at the end of Class 14 (April 27).
6. Adult Education Class or Workshop . You are to plan an adult education workshop. This will include a) developing a needs assessment instrument, b) conducting a needs assessment, c) planning an instructional program, d) developing or securing instructional materials, e) developing promotional materials, f) identifying a meeting site, g) preparing a lesson plan and/or h) securing a speaker and i) developing other plans needed to conduct the program (budgets, promotional materials, etc.). This activity will count for 25% of your grade. Your final product will be a document with detailed information about each step in the process and will be a minimum of 12-15 pages in length (Current Example this is a 2.5 Mb file; have patience ). You can team up with other students in the class (2-3) and do this as a group project (a group project is significantly more detailed than a single person's project ).  This project is due at the end of Class 14 (April 27).
7. Final Exam. This exam will include all the materials from classes 8-14. It will be taken during final exam week on Tuesday, May 1. This exam will count for 10% of your grade.

Grading Scale:
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%
     B+ =  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:

• 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 are not crisp and sharp.
• 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.  All wriitten work should be formatted to follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed).
  

Academic Integrity : Both faculty and students at participating institutions 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.  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 - Students and faculty 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 Office of Disability Services for Students 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 a documented disability, please schedule an appointment with the course instructor to discuss academic accommodations.  

Field Trips : 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. During week 1 of the class you will click on week 1. The dates that correspond with each week are in parenthesis. You should complete the lesson some time during that week. Our objective is to have the lesson for each week posted by Friday of the preceding week.
2. When you go the the weekly lesson, you are to first view the learning objectives 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. Each week there will be one or more chapters in the course text to be read. This will be in the list of learning activities. Typically the reading assignments will be listed after the pretest.
5. 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 course 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 will need to have the Acrobat Reader on your computer. If you don't have this program, it can be downloaded for free from Adobe .
6. 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.
7. For 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. For the Spring of 2007 this will be Dr. Mark J. Kistler at North Carolina State University. The e-mail address is mark_kistler@ncsu.edu and the fax number is 919-515-1965.  You might want to print out the worksheet early in the lesson and then refer to it as you complete the various learning activities.
8.   The course has an electronic discussion board in WebCT. You can go to this site an engage in dialogue with the other class members through responding to the instructor's question and to a peer's response. This is not in real time so you will need to drop in from time to time and add your contributions. You should plan on visiting the chat room at least once a week. On some weeks there will be specific directions regarding posting questions or comments in the chat room. You can click on the icon at the first of this paragraph or the one near the top of the page to enter the chat room . The URL for loggin in to Web CT is http://vista.ncsu.edu/index.php 
9. You should establish a standard time every week to work on this class and then do it. 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.

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