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AEE 500 Agricutural Education, Schools & Society
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Course Description: AEE 500 Agricultural Education, Schools & Society. The role and structure of modern agricultural education within the overall educational system.  School organization and governance, curriculum, teacher roles and responsibilities, educational philosophy and history, multiculturalism, special need students, impact of technology, professionalism, and current educational trends and issues.

Facilitator Information:
picture of Dr. John Rayfield

Name:
Gary Moore John Rayfield

Institution:
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University

Office Phone:
919-515-1756
919-513-3838
Home Phone:
919-460-7475
 -

e-mail:
gary_moore@ncsu.edu
john_rayfield@ncsu.edu
Fax:
919-515-9060
919-515-1965
Mailing Address:
Department of Agricultural and Extension Education
Box 7607 
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695
Department of Agricultural and Extension Education
Box 7607 
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695

Office:
1 Ricks Hall, NC State 13 Ricks Hall, NC State


Course Goals:

The overall objective of this course is to equip learners with an in-depth knowledge of the structure and organization of modern agricultural education as a part of the education system. As a result of taking this course students will be able to:

1. Understand how school systems operate.
2. Identify the goals of education in today's society.
3. Determine what it is like to be a teacher.
4. Describe the governance system found in education.
5. Identify the various types of schools in which agricultural education is found.
6. Articulate a philosophy of agricultural education.
7. Explain the history of agricultural education.
8. Implement a complete program of agricultural education within a school system.
9. Describe the roles and responsibilities of agriculture teachers.
10. Delineate the leadership structure of agricultural education.
11. Identify the state and federal role in agricultural education.
12. Identify major trends and issues impacting on education and agricultural education.
13. Identify strategies for addressing multicultural and special needs students in agricultural education.
14. Determine the role of professional organizations and professionalism in education.


Prerequisites : There are no specific prerequisites for this course.

Course Text: 

1. Teachers, Schools, and Society by Myra Pollack Sadker and David Miller Sadker 8th edition, 2006. Publisher - McGraw Hill. You can order it on-line through Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com), Varsity Books (www.varsitybooks.com). Amazon (www.amazon.com) or other online book stores. You might find a used version at www.abebooks.com



Library Resources

If you are taking the course on-line, 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 course instructor.

Course Requirements

1. There will be a mid-term exam. This will cover all the material covered in lessons 1-6. You should take the exam no later than the first week in July. It will count for 20% of the grade. The exams will be predominately multiple choice. The exam will be administered through Vista.

2. There will be a final exam. This will cover all the materials covered in lessons 7-12.  It should be completed by August 8th. This exam will count for 20% of the grade. The exam will be adminsitered through Vista.

3. Write a 3-5 page paper describing agricultural education in your state. How does agricultural education operate in your state? Some of the points to be covered should include the curriculum taught, types of schools in which programs are offered, number and characteristics of teachers, FFA activities, SAE, state level governance and leadership, and other pertinent points. This will count for 15% of your total grade. You may have to contact some state level agricultural education officials to write this. It is due August 6th.

4. Spend 1/2 day shadowing an agriculture teacher. You will prepare a written report. This activity will count for 10% of the grade.This should be done as soon as possible. The report will be due June 25th. The guidelines for this assignment can be found at
http://www.ncsu.edu/cals/agexed/leap/aee500/teacher_observation.html

5. Interview a school administrator. This interview is to focus on the role of agricultural education within the total educational system. Specific guidelines for the interview will be found at http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/leap/aee500/Principal_Interview.html. You are to prepare a written report. This activity will count for 10% of the grade. It should be completed by July 16th. You can probably combine this assignment with the previous assignment. Just arrange an appointment with the principal the day you shadow the teacher.

6. Critically evaluate a school board meeting. The student will prepare a written report. This activity will count for 10% of the grade. This is due by July 27th but you are encouraged to submit it earlier if possible. A lot depends upon when your local school board meets. The report should adhere to the following format:

A. Describe the school board meeting. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. What were the topics discussed?
2. How many people were in attendance?
3. Who was in charge?
4. How involved was the superintendent?
5. Did the meeting run smoothly and professionally?
6. Were decisions made based on educational merit, finances, legal considerations or politics or some other criteria?
B. What are your observations and thoughts about the school board meeting?
C. What did you learn from this activity?
7. Participate in the class. Each week you will be expected to send an e-mail message to other members of the class. The e-mail message will be your response to a question posed by the instructor or assignment found in the lesson. You are required to do at least one weekly e-mail response but are highly encouraged to respond to comments made by others. It is hard to carry on a class discussion in a web class, but we will attempt that via e-mail. The postings should reflect thought. This activity is worth 15% of the grade. 


Grading Scale

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%

Attendance Policy If you are a web student, there is no attendance as such. However, you are strongly encouraged to plan a regular time each week to go to the web site and complete the lesson. If you don't do this, you will quickly get behind. You may move through the lessons more rapidly than indicated on the syllabus; but you should not go slower.

Academic Integrity : 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 one self 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 probably be working on your computer for some of 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.


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

If You are a Web Student, 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.

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. Complete the class pretest to get an overview of the lesson for the day.

4. Each week there will be chapters in the course texts to be read.

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 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 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. For some classes, there 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. 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.