Source: BLUEGRASS COMMUNITY & TECHNICAL COLLEGE submitted to NRP
DIVERSIFYING AND MULTIPLYING PATHWAYS INTO AGRICULTURE IN KENTUCKY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031508
Grant No.
2023-38414-41218
Cumulative Award Amt.
$49,994.00
Proposal No.
2023-05374
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2023
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2026
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[SPECA]- Secondary Challenge Program
Recipient Organization
BLUEGRASS COMMUNITY & TECHNICAL COLLEGE
470 COOPER DR
LEXINGTON,KY 40506
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of Bluegrass Community and Technical College project is to create new and updated agriculture curriculum that improves educational pathways (high-school to baccalaureate credentials) and better serves 21st century agriculture educational needs in Kentucky. Curriculum updates reflect changes in food crops, technology, demographics, and economic and social models of production and distribution not matched by current educational credentials. New forms of agriculture such as urban and sustainable production, closed system, high-tech indoor farms, community-supported agriculture, and farmers' markets require new combinations of knowledge and skills.The beneficiaries for curriculum improvements are residents of BCTC's service area who need affordable access to postsecondary credentials. Potential audiences include high school students engaged in dual credit coursework, and college students pursuing postsecondary credentials in agriculture or horticulture.Funds will support two products:(1) New and revised curriculum that delivers agricultural knowledge and skillsof interest to aspiring urban and peri-urban food producersin support of 2+2 degree articulation with state universities. This includes a new track in the AAS degree devoted to urban agriculture;a revised Sustainable Agricultural track that articulates with at least one 4 year agricultural studies program and is better suited to southeastern Kentucky's style of farming;expansion of certificates so that they can stand alone and be accessible to students who need financial aid; and(2) Afield laboratory for student to gain hands-on experience through supervised practical training in the application and evaluation of the knowledge, skills and technology integrated into the curriculum.The impacts of the project include improvements in student learning through practical experience, more individuals seeking postsecondary credentials in agriculture due to increased affordability and availability of stacked credentials, and expansion of the curriculum to other colleges in Kentucky.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360503020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Goal Statement:The goalof the Bluegrass Community and Technical College project is to create new and updated agriculture curriculum that improves educational pathways (high-school to baccalaureate credentials) and better serves 21st century agriculture educational needs in Kentucky. New forms of agriculture such as urban and sustainable production, closed system, high-tech indoor farms, community-supported agriculture, and farmers' markets require new combinations of knowledge and skills. Curriculum updates will reflect changes in food crops, technology, demographics, and economic and social models of production and distribution not matched by current educational credentials.New curriculum willmeetfive objectives. First, it must better suit the kind of farming activity that occurs in southeastern Kentucky which includes urban, technologically advanced production as well as small scale fruit and vegetable production for local community marketing. Second, it must provide potential new farmers with skills and knowledge that lead to the sustainable use of resources or which support the development of food production within or close to urban centers. Third, it must better connect diverse forms of food production with community food marketing to support local food networks and promote shorter supply chains. Fourth, it must provide pathways into more diverse forms of agriculture with associated entry and exit points so more individuals can acquire the skills and knowledge they need to support their aspirations for food production. Finally, the curriculum must better articulate with baccalaureate degree programs at 4 year institutions so as to reduce credits waste and its associate cost.
Project Methods
Efforts:Professor Audrey Brock will meet with urban, sustainable, and permaculture food producers in the region to solicit feedback in terms of what students should know to obtain employment with these kinds of food producers.Professor Brock will develop an electronic survey to help identify the skills and knowledge these food producers believe graduates from the agricultural studies program should have.Usingfeedback from the discussions and survey, Professor Brock and colleagues will develop curriculum using Backward Design processes (see Loberti and Dewsbury 2018) to address learning outcomes, and adapt the specialized knowledge and experience of these food produces for incorporation into the curriculumso that students can apply these strategies as part of their hands-on practical experiences.Professor Brock and colleagues will investigate the addition of courses to existing agriculture certificates as well as design of new certificates that support multiple exit points. Currently no agriculture certificates are eligible for financial aid as stand-alone certificates, so the addition of 1 or 2 more courses will make the existing certificates eligible for financial aid.Professor Brock will engage with faculty at the University of Kentuckyto determine their interest in developing an articulation agreement, and outreach will be conducted to two other universities within BCTC's service area: Kentucky State University, an historic minority serving institution,and Eastern Kentucky University, which serves the rural areas of southeastern Kentucky. The goal of these meetings is to ascertain the knowledge and skills that associate degree holders should have prior to entry into the 4 year program, and to increase the number of courses that successfully transfer as equivalencies rather than elective credit.Timeline of Efforts:September/October 2023:Identify and contact food producers, businesses, and extension office staff in BCTC's service region who are willing to provide feedback re: new curriculum/learning needs.Analyze feedback to identify needed learning outcomes by production mode (urban, greenhouse, rural/traditional small scale).November/December 2023:Draft curriculum using backward design to identify tracks for degree and additional components for certificates.MILESTONE1: finished draft curriculum.January to March 2024:Submit draft curriculum to college for initial processing.April 2024:Continue approval process at System level curriculum. MILESTONE 2. Curriculum Approved and classes for fall scheduled.May 2024:Initiate activities to begin hiring a field lab manager with BCTC HR: job description, qualifications, advertising.July/August 2024:Employ lab manager and begin preparation of field lab site. MILESTONE3. Added capacity to deliver curriculum.August to December 2024:Begin teaching two introductory classes in person to develop interest and provide students with the opportunity to have hands on experience via the field laboratory. Negotiate with local area high schools for online or in person teaching of curriculum.January to May 2025:Add additional classes to the college catalog for Spring semester so more students can take the introductory classes and others can continue to learn. MILESTONE4. 2 semesters of courses delivered successfully completing one academic cycle.June to August 2025:Schedule summer classes so students can pursue planting and harvesting during the summer. The summer classes may be delivered as internships so that students can implement leadership skills and develop opportunities to market produce at the Lexington farmer's market or for delivery to community organizations who would benefit from fresh fruit and vegetables. MILESTONE5. Students complete planting/harvest/sale cycle.September 2025 to August 2026:Project funds support field manager role; curriculum is in secondyear of delivery.Evaluation Plans: The project will be evaluated via formative feedback allowing for improvements or change in activities and summative feedback so that reports can be presented as part of the dissemination process. Evaluation of progress towards the development of new and updated curriculum will be provided via the standard internal peer review processes that KCTCS uses to determine that curriculum meets the required standards. Additional feedback will be solicited from those individuals and organizations who provided input to its development to ensure that learning outcomes meet the needs and recommendations of employers, local businesses, and faculty at transfer institution. Evaluation during the implementation phase will employ the college's standard 'Student evaluation of instruction' survey instrument that students complete anonymously so that instructors can measure the efficacy of their instruction and delivery of skills and knowledge. At the end of each semester, the project director will prepare a summative report detailing the activities completed eachsemester and the next steps towards completion of the project objectives. The data collected as part of the summative evaluation will be in two phases (development of curriculum and implementation/teaching). In the first phase, summative evaluation will report the responses to surveys administered by the project manager to those individuals and organizations who provided input. The second phase will report the findings from student evaluations of instruction. Both these types of report will be developed into presentations that will be deliveredat the college's annual Changing Classroom Cultures (focus on experiential learning) and another regional conference to be identified.

Progress 09/15/24 to 09/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:We are reaching undergraduate students at college who are interested in learning about agriculture/horticulture. Changes/Problems:The faculty member who was PI left the college so we had a period without management by expert ag faculty. The Dean for Innovation operated as a place holder until I was appointed to lead the effort. In the meantime, BCTC was awarded a subawardee from NSF Epscor via Kentucky State University and a sub award via a KSU USDA grant focused on developing skills for veterans to becom beginning farmers. These additional resources on our campus led to negotiations with the Provost to help fund a faculty line so that we will have on staff a full time faculty. We do not have permission to hire a faculty member with a background in agriculture. Instead we are requesting if a staff scientist can teach some ag courses as overloads. The staff scientist is focused on setting up and managing an aquaponics greenhouse, so we are hoping that introductory courses can be scheduled that will provide students with opportunities for learning about agriculture, practice planting and tending planting beds as well as use acquaponics to learn about the nutrient cycle. We are also investigating if we can lay out a new strip of field that can be turned into a more extensive planting area that would support community membes as well as students. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We are preparing plant beds for students/community members to engage with horticultural learning activities so they can develop their interest and knowledge about agriculture. We hope to use these planting beds in Spring 2026 so students can trial activities. We plan to collaborate with a staff scientist engaged in NSF project developing aquaponics greenhouse so we can use space in the green house for seed starting, and learning about acquaponics. We have developed an on campus group of students who are engaged in cultivating planting in raised beds on campus and will seek to expand their interest and scope in the spring to produce more plants/vegetables that can be delivered to our on-campus foodbank in support of needy student families. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to continue meeting with colleagues at Eastern Kentucky University and Kentucky State Univerity which have the curriculum that best articulates with BCTC's existing courses and proposed new courses under development. I also plan to hire a part time worker to prepare ground at our Leestown campus so that students can access plant plots in readiness for teach courses in the fall 2025, or if possible in the summer of 2025. I plan to work on new curriculum and process it through the college and KCTCS's curriculum committees so that we can articulate new courses with local partners. I plan to solicit more student engagement with the project activities, expand planting areas in the new beds and encourage students to cultivate plants that can provide greens /vegetables for the student food pantry on campus.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Existing agri related curriculum was adopted from KCTCS so BCTC can offer these classes. By adopting this curriculum we can offer classes as part of dual credit as well as prison education to include preparation of incarcertated individuals to prepare for employment in agriculture/horticulture. Contact was made with ag departments at partner universities to set up meetings in 2025 to establish best strategies for transfer partners for BCTC students.so adopted curriculum articulates more easily with regional universities. Meeting with Culture and Belong VP to discuss recruiting underserved/underresourced students into agricultural careers. Negotiation with BCTC Provost to establish a faculty line to teach agricultural classes. BCTC currently has no professor meeting its accreditation needs for an agr instructor. This negotiation rests on advancing the hiring of an agricultural instructor/technical ag project manager as part of grant BCTC Workforce Solutions has due to involvement in a subaward from Kentucky State University as part of an Epscor NSF award.. This new position will help the college meet its grant obligations by having on staff an agricultural instructor capable of teaching ag courses and building the ag program.

Publications


    Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The efforts for the Sept 2023 - Sept 2024 time period is the survey that was submitted to local, small-scale farmers andthe university partners that shared thoughts of collaboration and possible pathways for BCTC to explore. Changes/Problems:Our inital PI has left the college and we have been attempting to identify a replacement PI to implement next steps. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I have shared my findings about efficencies that could be made in the curriculum and potential pathways with our KCTCS and university partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to work with the KCTCS curriculum committee to discuss and update curriculum. We will create pathways based on what courses the curriculum includes.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? The initial work done to create new and updated agriculture curriculum that improves educational pathways (high-school to baccalaureate credentials) and better serves 21st century agriculture educational needs in Kentucky includes exploring existing curriculum in the KCTCS catalog, working with area universities to see how the existing curriculum would align and document ways our curriculum could be updated to create a better pathway, polling small, local farmers to get a better understanding of their needs, and exploring what next steps are in the process. Great progress has been made in this short time.

    Publications