Vocational Education Commons^™

An Evaluation Of A Cooperative Extension Internship Program, Lisa Ellis Mccormick, Karen A. Vines, Subrato Kumar Kuri

The Journal of Extension

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the Virginia Cooperative Extension internship program from the perspective of student participants and their supervisors. Three focus groups were conducted with internship supervisors from the summer of 2019. Student survey data was used to identify concerns from the student perspective to inform the supervisor focus group questions. In addition to the questions, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was also used to collect qualitative data within the supervisor focus groups. Findings suggest areas of strength that can be used in marketing as well as opportunities for program improvement.

Revisiting The Master Food Volunteer Program: Examining How To Enhance Nutrition Education In The United States, Stacey Viera, Lindsey Haynes-Maslow

The Journal of Extension

America’s diet-related illness crisis intersects with a lack of nutrition literacy, nutrition security, and systemic inequities. The Cooperative Extension Service’s (CES) national infrastructure could potentially provide equitable access to quality nutrition education in the US utilizing a Master Food Volunteer (MFV) model. This research brief examined preliminary evidence for the MFV model as a support for CES agents and paraprofessionals, and results show a paucity of evidence. Further research and a pilot program with pre-established measures for health-related knowledge and behaviors could elucidate the model’s potential to increase equitable access to evidence-based programming, nutrition, and implementation guidance.

Framing The Needs Of School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers To Meet Twenty-First Century Programs Demands, Kayla Marsh

All Theses

Teacher attrition is a historic problem that globally is considered to be an educational crisis. SBAE is not exempt from this crisis with teacher shortages dating back to the passing of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917. For the past three decades, researchers have studied this phenomenon to better understand the needs of SBAE teachers in order to increase recruitment and retention as well as improve work-life balance.

While several needs are recurring current efforts are not resulting in actionable change for SBAE teachers. To gain perspectives on the problem, qualitative interviews were conducted with SBAE teachers as well as an …

An Assessment Of The Needs Of School-Based Agricultural Educators And Other Professionals In Agricultural Service Agencies For A Professional Online Master’S Degree In Agricultural Education, Maria Mercedes Rossi

All Dissertations

Online learning is one form of distance education mediated through information and communications technology such as the Internet or other technologies. The teaching content is delivered online, and instructors develop teaching modules that enhance their learning and interactivity (student-student, teacher-student, and content-student). Using social cognitive theory (SCT) concepts, the research team developed and validated a multidimensional instrument tool to assess the needs for a professional online master’s degree in agricultural education. The study aimed to assess participants’ readiness and motivations to learn online and identify participants’ needs and experience with online learning. Participants’ perceptions of online learning were assessed and …