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an assessment of extension education curriculum at land grant universities amy harder assistant professor university of florida diane mashburn 4 h extension agent university of arkansas cooperative extension service matt ...

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                             AN ASSESSMENT OF EXTENSION EDUCATION CURRICULUM 
                                               AT LAND GRANT UNIVERSITIES 
                                                                     
                                                  Amy Harder, Assistant Professor 
                                                         University of Florida 
                                              Diane Mashburn, 4-H Extension Agent 
                                       University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service 
                                                 Matt Benge, 4-H Extension Agent 
                                                University of Florida IFAS Extension 
                                                                     
                 
                                                                     
                                                               Abstract 
                 
                A  critical  assessment  of  extension  education  is  needed  to  ensure  there  are  adequate 
                opportunities for students to study extension education and that the curriculum is relevant to 
                today’s Cooperative Extension Service. This descriptive study was conducted to assess extension 
                education  curriculum  by  identifying  and  comparing  the  courses  being  taught  at  land  grant 
                universities with the competency areas in the Ohio State model of extension education. Courses 
                related to extension knowledge, leadership, and management; theories of human development 
                and learning; program planning, implementation, and evaluation; and applied research were 
                most  commonly included in  the  curriculum.  The  lack  of  balance  in  the  curriculum  and  the 
                discrepancies between the Ohio State model and current practice indicate a need for continued 
                discussion about the types of courses that should be included in extension education curriculum. 
                 
                 
                                 Introduction                           as desirable (National Job Bank, 2008). Yet 
                                                                        extension agents need to improve their skills 
                    Cooperative  Extension  is  a  dynamic              in  job-related  areas  beyond  their  specific 
                organization that seeks to meet the needs of            programmatic  expertise  and  the  scope  of 
                a constantly changing society. Its ability to           primary      and     secondary       classroom 
                be  successful  in  this  mission  is  largely          management. Adult education and volunteer 
                dependent on the professional abilities of the          management are two such skill areas closely 
                extension  agents  interfacing  with  clientele         associated with employment in Cooperative 
                (Stone & Coppernoll, 2004). Enrolling in an             Extension  (Franz,  2007;  Schmeising  & 
                undergraduate  or  graduate  degree  program            Safrit, 2007).  
                in  extension  education  is  a  common  way                According  to  Scheer,  Ferrari,  Earnest, 
                agents prepare themselves for employment,               and  Connors  (2006),  ―developing  and 
                yet research has often favored topics such as           revising  academic  programs  must  be  an 
                inservice     training     and     professional         ongoing      process‖     (Implications     and 
                development       (e.g.,    Conklin,     Hook,          Conclusions,  ¶  1).  Extension  education 
                Kelbaugh,      &    Nieto,    2002;     Gamon,          should  not  be  exempt  from  such  scrutiny. 
                Mohamed,  &  Trede,  1989;  Waters  &                   However, Scheer et al.’s review of extension 
                Haskell,    1988)    rather   than    academic          education at The Ohio State University was 
                preparation.                                            the   first   published    article   to   focus 
                    The  lack  of  research  directed  toward           exclusively on extension education in recent 
                extension  education  curriculum  may  be               years.  Studies  addressing  the  academic 
                because  the  need  for  such  a  program  is           preparation of extension agents are largely 
                misunderstood.      The     written    position         absent  from  the  major  journals  of  the 
                descriptions  for  open  Extension  positions           profession  (e.g.,  Journal  of  Extension, 
                frequently  describe  a  desire  for  applicants        Journal of Agricultural Education, Journal 
                with  degrees  in  programmatic  fields  other          of International Agricultural and Extension 
                than extension education; rarely is a degree            Education). This stands in contrast to peers 
                in extension education specifically identified          within  agricultural  teacher  education,  who 
                Journal of Agricultural Education                  22                         Volume 50, Number 3, 2009 
                   Harder, Mashburn, & Benge                                                              An Assessment of Extension… 
                   have  re-examined  their  coursework  and                       needs,  (b)  formulation  of  objectives,  (c) 
                   program focus at regular intervals (Barrick,                    selection  of  content,  (d)  organization  of 
                   1993;  McLean  &  Camp,  2000;  Myers  &                        content,      (e)     selection       of     learning 
                   Dyer, 2004). Given the challenge of keeping                     experiences,  (f)  organization  of  learning 
                   extension  education  curriculum  relevant                      experiences, and (g) determination of what 
                   (Acker & Grieshop, 2004), it is past time for                   to evaluate and how to do so. Taba’s model 
                   a critical assessment of extension education                    illustrates  the  theory  that  content  can  be 
                   throughout the country.                                         organized  so  as  to  achieve  educational 
                                                                                   objectives.  Therefore,  selection  of  the 
                              Review of Literature and                             appropriate content is a critical step towards 
                       Theoretical/Conceptual Framework                            achieving        a     program’s         educational 
                                                                                   objectives. 
                       Historically,  extension  education  has                         Scheer  et  al.  (2006)  developed  a 
                   focused on topics typically associated with                     conceptual model known as the Ohio State 
                   being an extension agent, such as program                       model to organize extension education; it is 
                   planning and evaluation. Legacy and Wells                       the only one known to have been published 
                   (1987) found experienced agents identified                      and  thus  provides  a  starting  point  for 
                   program  planning,  evaluation,  and  the                       curriculum research. Tyler (1949) argued, 
                   development of media presentations as the                             
                   three most important instructional items for                          Since  the  real  purpose  of  education  is 
                   extension  education.  The  most  important                          not to have the instructor perform certain 
                   topics  for  internship  preparation  were                           activities  but  to  bring  about  significant 
                   considered  to  be  program  planning  and                           changes  in  the  students'  pattern  of 
                   maintenance,  committee  involvement,  and                           behavior,  it  becomes  important  to 
                   personal visits.                                                     recognize      that    any     statements       of 
                       Acker  and  Grieshop  (2004)  examined                           objectives  … should be a statement of 
                   the  types  of  undergraduate  and  graduate                         changes to take place in the students. (p. 
                   courses  offered  in  the  broader  area  of                         44) 
                   agricultural  and  extension  education.  Most                        
                   common  at  the  undergraduate  level  were                          Although       in     recent     years      some 
                   topics such as communication, personal and                      universities  have  expanded  their  view  of 
                   professional       leadership,      and      teaching           extension education to include a variety of 
                   methods.  Graduate  coursework  focused  on                     nonformal  education  careers,  the  broad 
                   research,  advanced  teaching  methods,  and                    objective of the Ohio State model is to teach 
                   leadership  development.  Program  planning                     students      the     knowledge,        skills,    and 
                   and development courses were common at                          behaviors         necessary        for       eventual 
                   both academic levels, but the frequency of                      employment  in  Cooperative  Extension 
                   their  occurrence  was  not  indicative  of  the                (Scheer et al., 2006). 
                   importance  found  by  Legacy  and  Wells                            The  Ohio  State  model  has  10  core 
                   (1987).                                                         competency areas (see Figure 1) necessary 
                       Formal  extension  education  programs                      for  success  in  Cooperative  Extension  and, 
                   can  play  an  integral  role  in  developing                   consequently,  essential  for  inclusion  in 
                   students’     job     skills    by    providing       a         extension       education       curriculum.       The 
                   curriculum       uniquely       tailored     to    the          competency  areas  were  identified  using 
                   competencies         required       of     extension            selected portions of the work of Cooper and 
                   professionals.  According  to  Kelly  (2004),                   Graham (2001), Levine (as cited in Scheer et 
                   curriculum is ―the overall rationale for any                    al.,  2006),  and  common  requirements  for 
                   educational  programme‖  (p.  4).  Taba’s                       employment  in  Cooperative  Extension 
                   (1962)  theory  of  curriculum  development                     (Scheer et al.).  Cooper  and  Graham  found 
                   proposed a sequential approach to designing                     that    extension  agents  and  supervisors 
                   curriculum based on the scientific analysis                     considered  seven  competency  areas  to  be 
                   of  society,  culture,  the  learner,  and  the                 important.  In  order  of  greatest  to  least 
                   nature  of  knowledge.  Seven  steps  were                      importance,  they  were:  (a)  faculty/staff 
                   included in Taba’s model: (a) diagnosis of                      relations;  (b)  public  relations;  (c)  work 
                   Journal of Agricultural Education                         23                              Volume 50, Number 3, 2009 
                 Harder, Mashburn, & Benge                                                     An Assessment of Extension… 
                 habits;       (d) pr      ogram        planning,          (d) c ommunication  skills;  (e) e ducational 
                 implementation, and evaluation; (e) personal              and infor mation  technology;  (f) fa cilitative 
                 skills,  (f) man agement responsibilities, and            leadership        (g)       diversity a       nd 
                 (g) personal and professional development.                multiculturalism;      (h) mar    keting a    nd    
                 Similarly,    Levine id    entified 10       core         quality se rvice;  (i) e xternal  linkages;  and   
                 competencies:  (a) pr ogram  planning  and                (j)  professionalism and career development 
                 development;  (b) pr ogram  implementation                (Michigan S tate  University Ex tension, 
                 and    delivery;    (c) e  valuation,    applied          2008). 
                 research,            and sc           holarship;                          
                  
                  
                                                                                                                             
                 Figure 1. Foundations of The Ohio State model of extension education. 
                     Scheer et al. (2006) linked the identified            thirty supporting theoretical references has 
                 competencies to the theoretical foundations               not been included in this article. 
                 of extension education. Each competency                       Scheer et al. (2006) used the Ohio State 
                 area identified from the research was                     model to evaluate the undergraduate and 
                 grounded in theory. For example, the adult                graduate extension education curriculum at 
                 learning competency area was theoretically                The Ohio State University and to determine 
                 supported by the work of Brookfield (1988),               where improvement might be needed. Their 
                 Knowles (1990), and Knowles, Holton, and                  use of the model to evaluate the curriculum 
                 Swanson (1998). Because of space                          led to the identification of gaps and the 
                 constraints, an exhaustive listing of the                 subsequent addition of a course to the 
                 Journal of Agricultural Education                   24                          Volume 50, Number 3, 2009 
                 Harder, Mashburn, & Benge                                                     An Assessment of Extension… 
                 curriculum. A similar process, based on the               included  in  the  study.  Courses  listed  as 
                 Ohio State model, was used in this study to               departmental requirements and/or approved 
                 identify    gaps    in   extension     education          electives  for  extension  education  were 
                 curriculum at the national level.                         included  in  the  data  analysis.  Graduate 
                                                                           courses were defined as courses designated 
                                     Purpose                               at   the    500/5000       level    or    above. 
                                                                           Undergraduate  courses  were  defined  as 
                     The purpose of this study was to assess               courses designated at the 400/4000 level or 
                 the content included in extension education               below.  To  the  extent  possible,  general 
                 curriculum  at  land  grant  universities  with           university  requirements  for  undergraduates 
                 formal extension education majors, minors,                were  not  included  in  the  data  analysis. 
                 or graduate specializations. Specifically, the            Examples  of  courses  considered  to  be 
                 objectives were to:                                       general  university  requirements  included 
                                                                           basic  mathematics  courses  and  freshman 
                     1.  Identify  the  courses  included  in              orientation seminars.  
                         extension  education  curriculum  at                  Gall  et  al.  (2007)  said  ―the  use  of 
                         the   undergraduate  and  graduate                standard     coding      categories      permits 
                         levels.                                           comparison with other studies that have used 
                     2.  Compare  the  courses  included  in               the same system‖ (p. 289). Given the stated 
                         extension      curriculum       at    the         objective  to  compare  courses  included  in 
                         undergraduate  and  graduate  levels              extension  education  curriculum  at  the 
                         with  the  competency  areas  in  the             undergraduate and graduate levels with the 
                         Ohio  State  model  of  extension                 competency areas in the Ohio State model, 
                         education.                                        the  competency  areas  within  that  model 
                                                                           were used to code the data. The competency 
                              Methods/Procedures                           areas   were:  (a)  extension  knowledge, 
                                                                           leadership,      and      management;         (b) 
                     This     descriptive     study     used     a         technology;     (c)    communications;        (d) 
                 quantitative  approach  to  content  analysis             program  planning,  implementation,  and 
                 (Gall,  Gall,  &  Borg,  2007)  to  gather  data          evaluation; (e) applied research; (f) diversity 
                 from the Web sites of universities and tribal             and  pluralism;  (g)  marketing  and  public 
                 colleges  within  the  land-grant  system.  A             relations;    (h)     theories     of     human 
                 quantitative  approach  to  content  analysis             development      and     learning;     (i)   risk 
                 differs  from  a  qualitative  approach  in  that         management;         and      (j)     community 
                 frequencies are used to derive meaning from               development  process  and  diffusion.  The 
                 the  data,  whereas  a  qualitative  approach             placement  of  a  course  into  a  competency 
                 emphasizes        the     researcher‘s       own          area was primarily based on the course title. 
                 interpretation (Gall et al.). In the context of           Course catalog descriptions were used to aid 
                 this study, a quantitative approach to content            in  the  coding  process  when  course  titles 
                 analysis literally meant counting the number              were     perceived      to    be    ambiguous. 
                 and  the  types  of  courses  offered  by  land           Frequencies and percentages were reported 
                 grant  universities.  A  census  of  the  1862,           for  the  types  of  courses  available  at  the 
                 1890, and 1994 land grant universities and                undergraduate and graduate levels. 
                 tribal  colleges  (collectively  abbreviated  as              Where  the  Ohio  State  model  failed  to 
                 LGUs) was conducted in September 2007.                    capture  certain  courses,  the  researchers 
                 The population for the study was restricted               clustered those courses into categories based 
                 to  the  primary  campus of each LGU (N =                 on  course  titles  and  catalog  descriptions. 
                 108).                                                     Revisions  were  conducted  until  consensus 
                     Courses within extension education were               was  reached  among  the  researchers  with 
                 identified  by  reviewing  each  LGU‘s  Web               regard  to  the  placement  of  courses  into 
                 site.  Only  LGUs  which  clearly  designated             categories.  The  use  of  the  terminology 
                 an extension education undergraduate major                ―category‖  to  describe  clusters  of  courses 
                 and/or  minor  (n  =  11)  or  graduate                   not captured in the Ohio State model versus 
                 specialization  (n  =  21)  had  their  courses           ―competency area‖ should be noted because 
                 Journal of Agricultural Education                   25                          Volume 50, Number 3, 2009 
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...An assessment of extension education curriculum at land grant universities amy harder assistant professor university florida diane mashburn h agent arkansas cooperative service matt benge ifas abstract a critical is needed to ensure there are adequate opportunities for students study and that the relevant today s this descriptive was conducted assess by identifying comparing courses being taught with competency areas in ohio state model related knowledge leadership management theories human development learning program planning implementation evaluation applied research were most commonly included lack balance discrepancies between current practice indicate need continued discussion about types should be introduction as desirable national job bank yet agents improve their skills dynamic beyond specific organization seeks meet needs programmatic expertise scope constantly changing society its ability primary secondary classroom successful mission largely adult volunteer dependent on pro...

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