Abstract
All of us are uneasy about the future of agriculture and, more specifically, horticulture. The winds of change are blowing violently and we wonder if we are using our energies and talents in the right way. Are we sleeping while cataclysmic forces build up? Recent articles in HortScience warn, “We have some running to do to catch up with the world”. Or, “The public is getting the wrong message”.
outstanding Vegetable Publication Award recognizes significant accomplishments of researchers working in a diverse array of topics around vegetables. At the same time, the award encourages better quality research and more effective communication through
/10. Injury symptoms peaked at 21 DAT and the three highest rates of 1/50, 1/10, and 1/4 showed injury (± 1 SE ) ranging from 25% (± 8%) to 30% (± 2%) ( Fig. 1 ). At 21 DAT at the vegetative stage, the effective herbicide dose required to cause 5% injury (ED5
Abstract
Effective verbal communication is essential not only in teaching and extension, but also in research. Research results presented at meetings are often rendered ineffective due to a poor presentation or indecipherable slides (1). Recent reports in HortScience have addressed the preparation of posters, a popular means of communication at meetings (12, 13). However, although a person can “escape” a poor poster, this option is generally not available to the audience in a presented paper. Poor presentations accompanied by inadequate visuals create an even greater problem for students during lectures in the classroom. Graduate seminars, mandatory in virtually all institutions, can provide the training ground for developing effective communication skills, preparing audio-visuals, and understanding that to be meaningful a presentation must be tailored to the audience.
Effective communication of horticultural information over long distances requires the ability to present and receive not only text-based information but also images, sounds, and live-action video. Until recently, the Internet enabled users to communicate in each of these four modes, but not simultaneously. However, as a result of the World-Wide Web (WWW) project and the creation of NCSA Mosaic software, Internet users are able to access and deliver practically any form of communication, as long as it can be digitized. Information from around the world on literally thousands of subjects is now available 24 hours a day. Opportunities to communicate with the general public, primary and secondary science students, or practicing horticulturists are no longer limited by publication delays, travel distances, or media limitations.
Horticulture students often lack practical experience integrating information from diverse sources to solve complex real-life problems. Capstone courses seek to remedy this by giving students an opportunity to demonstrate a range of workplace skills such as teamwork, effective communication, and critical thinking. Sponsored competitions provide educators with an active-learning framework into which the goals of a capstone course can be developed. The Greenhouse of the Future competition allowed undergraduate students to conceptualize, develop, and prototype innovative greenhouse designs in a national competition venue. This article explains the guidelines of the Greenhouse of the Future competition and discusses how the competition was integrated into the capstone course Greenhouse Management.
Experiential learning is an integral component of successful career preparation for the horticulture industry. The limited-enrollment practicum course through Sparty's Flowers has been taught for 7 years, and accounts largely for the overall success of the retail floriculture program. Structure is built into the course by assigning weekly individual learning objectives and assignments. Students, in turn, develop their own action plans, upon which evaluation is based. Interactive group meetings replace formal lectures for more effective instructional delivery. Knowledge retention is enhanced as lessons are experienced, not only heard and read. Technical hands-on experiences of design, display, advertising, recordkeeping, sales, and merchandising sharpen abilities. Professional skills, such as time management, interpersonal communication, leadership, and creative problem solving are also developed and fostered by all members of the class. Practicum instruction, as an example of effective collaborative learning, allows a creative and realistic approach to teaching horticulture.
Survey analysis of retail florists in the midwestern United States and floral mass marketers, nationally, identified 18 major services provided by floral suppliers for their retail customers and quantified the retailers' perceived importance of the services. Product quality maintenance, order/delivery reliability, product availability, response to problems, and personnel courtesy were rated by retailers as the five most important services provided by floral suppliers. Retail florists viewed the importance of the 18 services with primary and secondary concerns, whereas mass marketers largely viewed the services as equally important. Mass marketers perceived services related to product marketing, packaging, labeling, and communication/order information services with greater importance than retail florists. The service profiles provide floral suppliers with market information to develop more effective service programs targeted for specific customer segments.
The use of disease-free greenhouse-grown plug transplants for the establishment of field plantings of many vegetable crops in the arid west and southwestern regions of the United States has become a very important part of the agricultural system in these areas. The development of effective disease-control programs for use in the greenhouse involves a broad knowledge of production systems, water management, growing media, cultural techniques, etc., as well as knowledge of the discipline of plant pathology. The consultant in this field also must know the people and organizations with whom he is working. His goal is not simply the passing on of technical information, but also assisting in the incorporation of that information into the total growing program. Good communication skills and the development of an atmosphere of trust between all parties concerned are a vital part of the consultant's work.
University communicators (writers, editors, designers, videographers, multimedia specialists, etc.) often are asked by a scientist to help her or him redesign a completed, or partially-completed, information package. This may be a rough draft of a publication that will include photos already taken, a plan for a video that will include field work already competed, a CD-ROM that will include photos, video, and sound already in hand. Communicators call these “salvage jobs.” It is like being asked to give advice on the most effective design of an experiment—when the experiment is three-fourths done. The emerging world of on-line electronic information offers support in real time to people working in a vast array of fields. It is critically important that communicators and other information professionals collaborate, at the project initiation stage, with scientists in “creation teams” to plan effective information design and delivery. Also, it is important that electronic information packages to be used for decision support be peer reviewed for communication, as well as scientific, integrity. The session's presenters will explain why.