Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This grant proposal seeks funding for a pioneering initiative aimed at bridging the equity gap in the poultry industry for historically underrepresented groups. Collaborators California State University Fresno, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Iowa State University, and California Poly State University San Luis Obispo, will revolutionize workforce preparation and professional advancement for underrepresented student populations in the turkey and laying hen industries. This project will integrate a multidisciplinary approach to poultry science education and workforce development by developing online modules and training workshops that cover animal health, food safety, farm enhancement, and the economic impact of welfare standards, while also incorporating "edutainment" technologies and AI to enhance learning experiences, and providing training for pre-service ag teachers to extend these insights into high school classrooms. The project's objectives include developing comprehensive online welfare training modules, hosting turkey and laying hen handling workshops, development of industry-backed certification programs, enhancing the accessibility of poultry science resources across HSIs, augmenting professional development through career services and networking events, and expanding poultry education and career resources for high school educators. By prioritizing HSI students, PEEPS offers an innovative strategy to foster equity in poultry science education nationwide, enhancing the job market competitiveness of these students. The multifaceted approach not only benefits students entering the poultry industry but also those pursuing careers in FANH careers. This project will have great reach, in that it will support 1,668 students, and expose 6,340 additional students to the poultry industry.Priority Need Area 1. Attract and support undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in order to prepare them for careers related to the food, agricultural and natural resources systems and sciences in the United States. 2. Enhance the quality of postsecondary instruction within the above disciplines. 3. Provide opportunities and access to food and agricultural careers in the public and private sector. 4. Align the efforts of HSIs and other non-profit organizations to support academic development and career attainment of underrepresented groups.Educational Need Area 1. Curricula Design, Material Dev.; 3. Instruction Delivery Systems, 4. Scientific Instrumentation for Teaching, 5. Student Experiential Learning, 6. Student Recruitment and Retention
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
10%
Developmental
90%
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1 - UNIVERSITY/WORKFORCE KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT: Develop and implement curriculum and technical workshops covering poultry welfare and ethics, on farm welfare, key welfare indicators, and welfare management to become the recognized standard for postsecondary/workforce poultry welfare education. Project staff will: 1.) develop eight online training modules covering welfare, handling, and aspects of leadership in the layer and turkey supply chains: hatchery, on farm, processing, and transport/handling; 2.) evaluate user experience and design to identify areas for improvement to update accordingly; 3.) ensure scholarship opportunities for HSI students and HSI prioritization in enrollment in the training modules; 4.) extend remaining participation opportunities to university students nationwide and promote enrollment for the current poultry workforce; 5.) establish certification opportunities for module completion leading to certificates in Turkey KWIs and Layer KWIs.Objective 2 - UNIVERSITY SKILL ENRICHMENT: Develop and implement hands-on technical workshops to foster welfare and leadership skills, utilize experiential learning principles, encourage student recruitment and retention. Project staff will develop and host a four day intensive in-person welfare and handling workshops to include: 1.) a capstone project based learning (PBL) component; (2) practical welfare evaluation using industry-standard scientific instrumentation and equipment; 3.) integration of leadership and soft skills development through supervisory-based scenarios; 4.) encourage "unlearning" of outdated welfare and handling practices that may be held by inadequately trained students; 5.) use video footage of handling workshops to create a facilitator's guide and create additional learning content to include in the asynchronous training modules.Objective 3 - PROGRAM EXPANSION AND DOCUMENTATION FRAMEWORK: Create outreach and marketing opportunities for nationwide adoption of certificated curriculum by universities with poultry emphases. Project staff will: 1.) leverage existing cooperation between poultry representative powerhouse IPWA and senior personnel to develop promotional materials; 2.) host four promotional seminars to garner attention and demonstrate impact of developed educational resources to academic audiences during TedTalks at IPPE; 3.) integrate certification opportunities into LinkedIn to establish recognition of completion; 4.) promote awareness of the certification program with SBAE through California Agriculture Teachers Association (CATA) professional learning experiences.Objective 4 - CAREER VISION AND REALIZATION: Establish pre-service educator and poultry science student internship/ job pathways and career development opportunities through execution of job interview mentorship, career development via attendance at an international conference, and project outreach. Career development will include: 1.) equitable participation in IPPE conferences by poultry-emphasis HSI students; 2.) engagement in interviews for full time poultry internships and job employment at IPPE's College Student Career Program; 3.) focused opportunities for SBAE credential-seeking undergraduate/graduate students to develop educational resources for use in their future career classrooms; 4.) develop capacity of SBAE teachers in utilizing high impact learning experiences, including augmented reality and web-based VR tools in the classroom meant for increased engagement with poultry learning experiences and poultry career awareness activities for secondary students, while developing their own self-efficacy in poultry welfare, beyond; 5.) empower preservice teachers to promote poultry welfare and opportunities for secondary learners and practicing SBAE teachers to participate in industry badging; 6.) develop a model for student-led extension and outreach for other HSIs to use for high school student recruitment for SBAE educators; and 7.) support paid student internships for SBAE students with critical ag education non-profits such as California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom focused on integrating poultry education into K-12 classrooms.Objective 5 - UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL ACCESS: Elevate Fresno State's Center for the Optimization Of Poultry (COOP) infrastructure to become a centralized, bilingual academic hub focusing on regional and nationwide improvement in welfare education and job training with an emphasis on impacting HSI students and supporting career advancement. COOP will: 1.) align processing education and training resources with industry needs; 2.) administer a certificate program for all online and in-person educational opportunities; 3.) provide an online platform and public facing website; 4.) oversee administrative duties of maintaining up-to-date online educational materials; 5.) oversee student participation numbers and selection for project-funded opportunities; and 6.) oversee translation of content into Spanish to match HSI students' primary learning language.Objective Alignment with Institutional Goals and Strategic PlansCSU Fresno Plan 1: Impact learning via innovative programs and retention (access to classes, curriculum, course redesign) (Obj 1,2,3); Plan 4: Develop collaborative, engaged community partnerships (short courses/workshops, internships). (Obj 1,2,3,5)University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez Goal 2: Curricula and programs which integrate updated knowledge in all areas of learning, and integrate the use of technology within academic activities and to provide students with skill-development opportunities essential to their careers (Obj 1)Cal Poly SLO Goal 1B: Enhance success to attain skills in a competitive environment (Obj 1); Goal 1E:Provide high-impact experiences; Goal 3D: Develop campus climate of equity (Obj 4,5); Goal 4B: Develop alternative academic programs (Obj 1,2)Iowa State University Goal 1: ensure students receive exceptional education (Obj 1,2,3); Subgoal 4.3: Create, expand, & invest in opportunities for faculty, staff, & students to connect & build meaningful relations with others while recognizing the multiple intersecting identities, perspectives, & developmental differences people hold. (Obj 3,4,5)
Project Methods
Training content will expand on the scientifically based Key Welfare Indicator (KWI) Guides created by the International Poultry Welfare Alliance through a pre-established partnership and signed MOU with COOP.Facilitator guides created from content generated are intended to benefit other institutions, SBAE teachers, & 4-H leaders. Facilitators will diffuse poultry welfare practices, career opportunities, and leadership training into their own curriculum. Guides will include printable augmented flashcards, 360o video/photo tours, & web-based, virtual reality learning experience.enhance the quality of module/workshop content on applied industry welfare knowledge, we will leverage the existing connection between CSUF & IPWA.Focus SBAE educator recruitment on counties designated as service areas for the sixteen CSU HSIs. Content captured from the hands-on workshop will be used to develop training resourcesObjective 1 - UNIVERSITY/WORKFORCE KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT Methods and Plan of Operation: Training content will be developed to build and expand on the scientifically based Key Welfare Indicator (KWI) Guides created by the International Poultry Welfare Alliance through a pre-established partnership and signed MOU with COOP. Content will comprise a comprehensive list of KWIs with standardized instruction for practical measurement, 360 immersive experiences, realistic and animated visuals, economic considerations, worker safety instructions, as well as leadership and supervisor competencies. Industry specific visual content will be captured by coPD Tarrant from a network of established COOP advisory committee members for integration into the modules. Asynchronous modules will be linked through the COOP and IPWA websites, and will be hosted on an external LMS accessible through registration links. To increase curricula accessibility, curriculum will be created through Universal Design for Learning (5). Pre/post-tests will be deployed to measure participant outcomes and a posttest design to measure participant's perceptions and feedback. To reflect our effort of ensuring equity in quality career training for HSI and underrepresented communities, PEEPS will offer funded scholarships for training modules for 1,535 students where 94% of enrollment will be reserved for students attending HSI designated institutions, and/or high school ag programs found in HSI serving regions. 5% of enrollees will be reserved for graduate students in animal science or SBAE programs.Objective 2 - UNIVERSITY SKILL ENRICHMENT Methods and Plan of Operation: Facilitator guides created from content generated within this objective are intended to benefit other institutions, SBAE teachers, and 4-H leaders. Facilitators will diffuse poultry welfare practices, career opportunities, and leadership training into their own curriculum. Guides will include tools such as printable augmented flashcards, 360o video and photo tours, and creation of a web-based, virtual reality learning experience (6,7). Development of these educational tools will ensure increased accessibility to laying hen and turkey industry virtual experiences, especially critical to HSI students who lack access to experiential learning within their own institutions. Innovative summer workshops will take place at ISU, one of the only universities to house pilot commercial facilities for turkeys and layers; thus, maximizing training experience for attendees. Participants will be selected based off of an application evaluation and completion of online modules. Due to facility size restrictions, 16 students each year (12 from HSIs CSUF and UPRM, and 4 from ISU) will participate and of these, 3 each year will be graduate students. Pre/post-tests will be deployed to measure participant outcomes and a posttest design to measure participant's perceptions and feedback.Objective 3 - PROGRAM EXPANSION AND DOCUMENTATION FRAMEWORK Methods and Plan of Operation: To enhance the quality of module and workshop content on applied industry welfare knowledge, we will leverage the existing connection between CSUF and IPWA. This partnership allows the PDs to actively participate in public forums like TedTalks, promoting this collaboration. By doing so, we ensure that the information shared is always up to date and relevant. Continuing Education credit seminars will be leveraged through CATA to ensure SBAE participation.Objective 4 - CAREER VISION AND REALIZATION Methods and Plan of Operation: CSUF and UPRM students selected as HSI representatives for IPPE attendance will be evaluated on a ranking system to include metrics for participation in the modules and hands-on training, graduation date, participation in UPRM's interview training, and will prioritize students with underrepresented backgrounds. California State Universities (CSU) are regional serving institutions, and expect up to 95% of their enrollment to be located in their service counties. Therefore, to maximize serving future HSI-enrollees with PEEP programming, we will focus SBAE educator recruitment on those serving in the counties designated as service areas for the sixteen CSU HSIs. Content captured from the hands-on workshop will be used to develop training resources outlined above.Objective 5 - UNIVERSITY EDUCATIONAL ACCESS Methods and Plan of Operation: COOP staff will take responsibility for keeping online educational content current and tracking student engagement and success, ensuring resources are effectively supporting learning and participation in project-funded opportunities. To formalize the educational achievements, COOP will administer a certificate program for participants completing both online and in-person courses, thereby recognizing their skills and knowledge in a tangible way