Course Description:

AEE 535 Teaching Agriculture in Secondary Schools- Application of theoretical models and research on effective teaching in secondary agricultural education programs. Teaching strategies, planning required, and instructional management for students with varying backgrounds. Evaluation of student learning and teacher evaluation of instruction.

Instructors:
Name:	Jim Flowers	James Knight	Michael K. Swan
Institution:	North Carolina State University	University of Arizona	Washington State University
Office Phone:	(919) 515-1758	(520) 621-9144	(509) 335-2899
Home Phone:	(919) 362-9501
e-mail:	jim_flowers@ncsu.edu	jknight@ag.arizona.edu	mswan@wsu.edu
Fax:	(919) 515-9060	(520) 621-9889	509-335-2722
Mailing Address:	Department of Agricultural and Extension Education Box 7607 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 27695-7607	Department of Agricultural Education University of Arizona  Forbes Bldg. Room 224  Tucson, Arizona 85721	Washington State University Biological Systems Engineering Department 205 L.J. Smith Hall Pullman, Washington  99164-6120

Upon completion of this course, student will be able to:

1. Discuss the role of agricultural education teachers in meeting the needs of their students and the community.
2. Explain principles of teaching and learning and their application to agricultural education.
3. Compare and contrast models of teaching and their application to agricultural education.
4. Adapt teaching strategies to meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles, varying academic abilities, and from varying cultural backgrounds.
5. Incorporate strategies to improve the ability of secondary agriculture students to read and write within the context of agriculture.
6. Utilize appropriate planning strategies for delivering instruction in agriculture.
7. Develop a plan for classroom management and maintaining discipline to agricultural education settings.
8. Select evaluation techniques appropriate for providing formative and summative feedback to students.
9. Self-evaluate their teaching performance in an effort to improve teaching effectiveness.

There are no specific prerequisites for this course other than the desire to improve one's skills as an educator.

Required Text: None. Materials for the course will be available on-line.

As a distance education student 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 any help logging into the library please contact the instructor.

1.    Weekly assignments:  40%

In most weeks there will be assignments to be completed that are associated with the learning activities.  The purpose of the weekly assignments is to check for understanding and to encourage students to keep up to date with the course readings, etc.  These assignments may be e-mailed (as attachments) to the instructor.  Faxes and surface mail are also accepted, but e-mail attachments are preferred.

Students will select an agricultural topic and deliver a 10 minute lesson using one of the teaching techniques discussed in class. The lesson will be videotaped and mailed to the instructor. The instructor has the ability to view standard VHS tapes in his office. Therefore, only standard size videotapes may be used. If you use digital video, check with the instructor to make sure your file can be viewed.

5.   Final Exam: 15%.

         Exam will be mailed to a proctor identified by the student and administered by the proctor. Exam must be received by the date specified on the course outline.

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%

Specific Requirements:

A.  Neat- All work submitted must be of high quality and professional in manner.  Hundreds of resumes are thrown into the trash every year because they are not 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.

The students and faculty of North Carolina State University believe in the willingness of students to affirm and adhere to the essential values of honesty and integrity in all their academic endeavors is exemplified in this Honor Pledge:

It is the University policy that all students sign the Honor Pledge on test and assignments for each course specified by the instructor.

While recognizing that one feature of distance education is to allow flexibility in the time to complete the course assignments, it is still an expectation that weekly assignments be completed in a reasonable period of time.  This prevents students from getting too far behind in the course and allows the instructor to assign grades in a consistent manner.  Therefore, students are allowed no more than two weeks to complete an assignment without penalty.  If a student is not able to complete the assignment(s) during this time frame, they should notify the instructor and explain the reason for a late assignment.  The due date for all assignments is the Friday of the week of the lesson unless specified otherwise in the instructions for the assignment. Late assignments (more than two weeks late) will result in a 10% deduction in the grade for the assignment unless the student receives prior approval from the instructor. This policy allows for some extra time if work loads or class loads are high in any one week, but only allows one extra week to complete the assignment without penalty.

Assignments turned in over a month late will result in a 20% deduction.

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.

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 or view their web site http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/offices/affirm_action/dss/#general

If you have a documented disability, please contact the course instructor to discuss academic accommodations.

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

1. Each week you will click on the class link that corresponds to that week (See above, top right). 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 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, the instructor may increase your grade to the higher grade.

4. Each week there will be reading assignments. 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 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. Most of the lessons will include a Power Point presentation on the lesson topic. When you click the link to the Power Point 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 Power Point presentation. If you have Power Point 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. On most weeks you will complete an assignment 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 this fall semester the instructor will be Jim Flowers at North Carolina State University. The e-mail address is jim_flowers@ncsu.edu and the fax number is 919-515-1965.  Assignmnents are due on Friday of the week of the lesson. They are considered late if they are received more than a week after their due date. For example, an assignment for a lesson is due on Friday, September 2. It is late if it is submitted later than the following Friday, September 9. See Policy on Late Assignments.

8. 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.