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project is summarized in Table 1 . Fig. 1. Potted ornamental plants for sale along a street in Dakar, Senegal. Fig. 2. Ornamental plantings at a hotel in Dakar, Senegal. Table 1. Proposed project schedule with deliverables for the curriculum development
I thank Chris Carlson for providing data on the curricular development process at Kent State Univ.-Salem.
As organic agriculture continues to grow, pressure from students and the public to develop novel curricula to address specific needs of this sector of agriculture also will increase. More students from the cities and with limited background in production agriculture are enrolling in agricultural programs with special interest in organic production. This new student population is demanding new curricula based on a better understanding of agroecology principles and more experiential training. Several universities throughout the nation have engaged in a profound curriculum transformation to satisfy the emerging need of students in organic production. This workshop was organized to bring together experts that are working on different organic and sustainable agriculture curricula throughout the country to share their experiences and lessons learned. Most of these curricula include a traditional classroom teaching component, a major experiential component, a student farm for hands-on experience and internships, and in some cases a marketing—typically a community supported agriculture (CSA)—component. Others programs are more extension oriented, providing applied training to growers outside of the university teaching curriculum.
How do you teach community supported agriculture (CSA) principles, small-scale organic farming, and local food issues at a major land grant university and develop related small-scale farming research and outreach? You create a place and opportunities for students, staff, and faculty to work together with the soil and plants to raise food in a non-classroom farm setting. After several years of discussion and obtaining funding, the Michigan State University (MSU) Student Organic Farm (SOF) CSA started in May 2003 with 25 memberships and increased to 50 after 1 year. The farm allows experiential learning of CSA management, crop selection, scheduling, maintenance, harvest, and organic farming methods. The CSA helps many MSU students and faculty see the value of supporting local organic food systems. With more than 3 years of experience working with students to run the SOF and the CSA, we are in the process of developing an organic farming certificate program. A total of 40 credits will include 12 months on campus plus a 16-week on-farm internship. The program has three major components: 1) organic farming courses with seven one-credit courses; 2) horticultural crop production courses with eight courses for a total of 15 credits; and 3) approximately 20 credits of experiential course work combined with classroom and independent learning.
Recipients of a monthly horticultural job opportunities newsletter and firms or organizations listing positions in the newsletter were surveyed to determine the perceived value of the newsletter as a job search and recruitment tool, respectively. Survey information was used to develop a profile of the individuals and organizations using the newsletter. Original position descriptions on which the briefer newsletter listings were based were used to develop a profile of the industry segment, degree and/or experience requirements, geographic location, and starting salaries and benefits of positions listed from January 1993 to December 1994. While the newsletter generated contact between prospective employees and employers, only 20% of the prospective employees received job offers by responding to newsletter listings. The newsletter was valued more by individual recipients as a job search tool than by institutional recipients or private industry as a recruitment tool. Starting salaries of listed positions were comparable to those previously reported in industry and academic surveys. Foreign language skills and previous work experience were requested more frequently than above-minimum (typically 2.00) grade point averages or completion of government or industry certification programs. Landscape-related disciplines constituted most BS or BA positions listed, whereas advanced degree positions were distributed more evenly over horticulture-related disciplines. Data supported the inclusion of internship programs and foreign language requirements in horticulture curricula.
preschoolers ( Midden and Chambers, 2000 ). Skelly and Zajicek (1998) reported an increase in positive environmental attitudes of second- and fourth-grade students participating in a garden-based curriculum. Because food is almost wholly derived, ultimately
informed decisions about future extension program development. Some causes are likely curriculum based and others are likely based on the nature of online asynchronous programming. With the online program, the program coordinator had complete control of the
included in an undergraduate sustainable agriculture major ( Parr et al., 2007 ). Using the guiding principles of this technique, the authors anonymously gathered the options of sustainable agriculture curriculum experts through a series of structured
curriculum development and a framework for assessment of student learning ( Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2010 ). Learning outcomes are usually developed for specific institutions based on available resources, current personnel, and the
universities ( McPherson, 2001 ). To help fulfill this part of their mission, many institutions of higher education include some form of an international perspectives requirement as part of their undergraduate curriculum ( Crunkilton et al., 2003 ). One of Iowa