Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project addresses critical HEC goals of enhancing the instructional quality and improving student capabilities in the food, agricultural, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences. It improves the preparedness of college graduates for the modern work environment, addressing urgent industry needs for well-rounded professionals able to work in interdisciplinary settings.Specifically, the project designs and implements an innovative Interdisciplinary Curriculum offering a comprehensive set of novel practice-oriented curricular materials and instructional methods in FANH and other majors in early college studies enhancing student career readiness. It is based on a previous study, building upon the developed Multidisciplinary Curriculum Integration framework implemented at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. Research findings show that early interdisciplinary exposure is more effective in developing interdisciplinary collaboration, critical problem solving, and leadership skills in students. Student early interdisciplinary experiences followed by the advanced practices in the upper-level courses will benefit industry via reduced training costs, enhanced job retention, improved team productivity, optimized products, and early career advancement.To accomplish this goal, a 3-year interdisciplinary research program is proposed. Year 1: course curriculum and instructional methods are designed and piloted; Years 2&3: implementation and expansion of the course combining students from various academic programs, data collection, analyses, and improvements. Academic community collaboration will be promoted via conferences and educational workshops.The project combines quantitative statistical methods and qualitative approaches to ensure analytical rigor and provide comprehensive insight into the key drivers of professional skills among students in FANH disciplines with special focus on underrepresented groups. The anticipated impact includes the transformative advancement in higher education FANH curriculum and teaching methods for student career-readiness and improved professional skills.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The Long-Term Goal of the Project is to contribute to the food, agricultural, natural resources, and human (FANH) science education practices by creating and promoting a teaching methodology to address the gap in professional skills that impact employability and job retention of college graduates. The proposed project focuses on interdisciplinary teamwork, problem solving, and leadership skills as these are prioritized by employers and align with the FANH educational needs. It aims to strengthen South Dakota State University's (SDSU) educational capacity by enhancing the quality of instruction via development and implementation of curricula changes to effectively teach and facilitate students' career readiness competencies.The project will focus on three primary objectives:Objective 1: Design and implement the Interdisciplinary Teaching Methodology (ITeaM) in early undergraduate curriculum, to address student career readiness and employer expectations regarding interdisciplinary collaboration, problem solving, and leadership skills of college graduates, with special attention to underrepresented student groups.Objective 2: Develop recommendations for implementation of the Interdisciplinary Pedagogy in early undergraduate curriculum; educate faculty on the Interdisciplinary Teaching Methodology (ITeaM) and support the institutional implementation.Objective 3: Disseminate the ITeaM and the evidence-based results of its implementation to broader academic and research community.The project's anticipated impacts on improving the quality of FANH science education include the following.Impact 1: Designing and implementing the Interdisciplinary Teaching Methodology (ITeaM) in early undergraduate curriculum will improve preparedness of college graduates for effective transition from school to a workplace and readiness to face challenges of the modern industry. It will also provide opportunities for underrepresented groups of students to practice leadership and problem-solving skills for higher employability. Benefits to employers will include reduced training costs for new hires, enhanced job retention and long-term career advancement, and higher-quality workforce long-term.Impact 2: Developing recommendations to implement the novel best practices will lead to an institutional shift toward the Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching in FANH, STEM, Social Sciences, and Business programs. It will also enhance faculty and GTA professional development and promote adoption of the interdisciplinary student-centered methodology in teaching practices.Impact 3: Dissemination of the ITeaM and the evidence-based results of its implementation to broader academic and research community will advance the educational theory and practice in the areas of interdisciplinary collaboration and teaching to promote and sustain further initiatives in high-quality education.This project addresses the USDA strategic goals to facilitate rural prosperity and economic development by contributing to the workforce availability and career readiness. The project meets goals of the HEC program to improve student learning in FANH programs through development of new curricular materials and instructional methods. It contributes to the national and international goals to cultivate student proficiency in the skills most demanded in the contemporary workplace.
Project Methods
The proposed 3-year project will be based on the Multidisciplinary Curricula Integration framework, interdisciplinary teaching model, and research findings from the previous study. The Project Team will design, implement, and co-teach an interdisciplinary curriculum in the FANH and other majors in early UG studies. Students will be exposed to interdisciplinary collaboration at least two times in their program: in the first or second year (the proposed course) and in their last year and/or in the graduate school (the sustained course from Phase I).In Year 1 the Project Team will design the curriculum and instructional methods for the 200-level 'Introduction to Interdisciplinary Experiences' course for early seeds of interdisciplinary collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills. The course will be offered in Years 1-2 to students from Animal Science, Ag Engineering, Biology & Microbiology, Dairy and Food Science, Operations Management, and Plant Science majors. In Year 3 the Project Team will scale up the interdisciplinary curriculum and instructional methods to expand to Social Sciences majors.The Project Team will collect and analyze data and implement improvements to the interdisciplinary curriculum as needed in Years 1-3. Additional faculty members (3-5 per year) will be recruited for participation in the interdisciplinary curriculum design via creating discipline-specific content (lectures, assignments) for interdisciplinary integration. The faculty-participants will attend the required training on Interdisciplinary Teaching Methodology (ITeaM), delivered by the PD/Co-PIs every summer in Y1-3, and will have opportunities to co-teach the Intro to Interdisciplinary Experiences course, as well as to join the MTT. Summer stipends will be provided to the participating faculty to promote participation and facilitate recruitment. The proposed workshops and training will be delivered by the PD/PIs via the SDSU Center for Professional Enrichment and Teaching Excellence (CPETE) programs for faculty professional development and will result in faculty certification. Collaborations with the external to SDSU academic community will be promoted via conferences, educational workshops, and publications in Years 2-3.Each Year 1-3, the PD and the PIs will train two undergraduate and/or graduate research assistants to participate in all research activities under close supervision by the PIs. When recruiting, attention will be given to talented students from underrepresented groups, including first-generation students, non-traditional students, women, American Indians, and African American students. It is expected that the student research assistant's participation in the interdisciplinary research team will promote development of their own professional skills and better understanding of career readiness requirements. The exposure to research activities will promote student interest and capabilities to pursue a research or academic career path after graduation.Each Year 1-3, the Project Team will deliver the ITeaM module for 4-6 graduate teaching assistants enrolled in the GTA Professional Certification Program through SDSU CPETE. After completion of the ITeaM module, the GTAs will be invited to participate in co-teaching of selected session in the Introduction to Interdisciplinary Experiences course shown in Table 2. The course will be offered in Years 1-3 in the Fall semester as a short (8 weeks) 1-credit course, which will meet once a week for two hours. The half-semester timeline is selected to accommodate the large course enrollments expected for this course in future by splitting all interested students in two cohorts: first 8 weeks and last 8 weeks of the Fall semester. The course will meet in person with 1-2 faculty from the MTT facilitating each class session along with one GTA for their Professional Certification program credit. The discipline-specific lectures and assignments will be developed and recorded by participating faculty through the summer stipend program. All student submissions and artifacts generated in the course will be uploaded and stored in D2L. CATME evaluation will be conducted to assess teams' dynamics and collaboration skills.Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected and analyzed in Years 1-3 to assess efficacy of the ITeaM and the UG interdisciplinary curriculum for development of student interdisciplinary collaboration, problem solving, and leadership skills. Data will include:student self-assessment of their current skill level and progress on Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) (online survey via QuestionPro using Likert scale and open-ended questions);summative and formative assessment of SLOs via tests, project grading rubrics, teammates evaluation (quantitative measures/grades at the beginning and at the end of the project);student written reflection on their progress on SLOs.The Interdisciplinary Understanding Questionnaire (IUQ) will be used to assess student progress in interdisciplinary understanding. Cooperative Learning Application Scale (CLAS) is another instrument that will be used for data collection from students and faculty. The instrument was developed to assess cooperative learning in different groups of students and was validated for use in different multigroup populations.For quantitative data, we will conduct non-parametric statistical analysis, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test and Mann-Whitney test, to assess students' progress on learning outcomes and to compare perceptions of traditional students versus underrepresented groups of students. Qualitative data (answers to the open-ended questions and student reflections) will be analyzed via Qualitative Comparative Analysis, to compare professional skills development processes for different groups of students, as well as identify key themes and draw conclusions regarding the efficacy of the proposed teaching methodology and interdisciplinary curriculum. Additional data that will be collected and analyzed in Years 1-3 include student satisfaction with their learning experience (online survey); and faculty experience survey (online survey using Likert scale and open-ended questions). Due to the mixed methods approach, triangulation for data collection and analysis, and nonparametric quantitative analysis, we will be able test for internal and external validity and reliability and for robustness of the results. Results will be presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.Evaluation Plan. The Population Health Evaluation Center (PHEC) is a service center providing evaluation and assessment services to faculty at SDSU and clients throughout South Dakota. Evaluation efforts will be led by Mary Jo Benton Lee, PhD, who has experience conducting educational evaluation using a variety of methods. The project evaluation plan includes formative and summative evaluations performed by the project evaluator. The PD/PIs will meet with the project evaluator at the beginning of each year to discuss project plans and objectives and to identify metrics. At the end of each year, the evaluator will provide feedback on completed activities, determine the need and strategies for improvement (formative evaluation), and assess project outcomes (summative evaluation). The project evaluator will provide formative evaluation and feedback in Years 1-2 to improve the project execution and quality of expected outcomes. Summative evaluation will be provided in Years 1-3 to describe and summarize the extent to which the project goals have been met and the expected outcomes have been achieved, including qualitative evaluation of the project impact. Suggestions from the evaluator will be closely examined by PD. Plans will be put forth to make desired changes and to assure that all project goals are met.