Progress 09/15/06 to 09/14/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Through Phase I, (2006-2008), education on wheels technology workshops were held in: Stanton and Bolivar Tennessee, Santee- South Carolina, Natchez- Mississippi, Quincy - Florida, Americus, Georgia, Marvell, Arkansas, South Boston, Virginia and Enterprise, Alabama. Two hundred (200) participants attended and completed the two-days workshop. Both genders were very well represented. Prior to their participation each participant was registered to the website: www. forestandrange.org. Many private landowners, especially those underserved and limited resources, do not access the services that Extension agents, educators, and specialists can provide. They may be minority groups, young landowners, absentee owners, or retired framers or woodland owners or professionals who have just bought their property. These landowner audiences are difficult to reach, but may benefit the most from the technical expertise that extension professional can provide to them. The National Leaning Center for Private Forest and Range landowners offers natural resource educators a variety of tools that can help them to connect to a wider landowner audience. PARTICIPANTS: TSU collaborated with personnel from the State Forestry Commissions USDA-Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Services, State Extension Services, other Land grant Universities (both the 1862 and 1890) and local farmers groups and clubs. Many people were involved and I can not describe each individual. Others involved came from the State Wildlife Resources and civic organizations. Tennessee State University personnel included students and faculty and staff. All in all contributed highly to the success of this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Many private landowners, especially those underserved and limited resources that did not access to the services that Extension agents, educators, and specialists can provide were targeted. These were minority groups, young landowners, absentee owners, or retired framers or woodland owners or professionals who have just bought their property. These landowner audiences are difficult to reach but in this project our extension professionals thrived to provide them with the best education program. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: In Phase II we will involve County agriculture agents and area foresters. Field visits will be enhanced and farmers to participate in discussions and dialogue.
Impacts
During the education on wheels technology workshops each partcipants was able to log-in to the website and able to access a significant number of modules. Each module presents a visitor with an opportunity to engage in self-directed learning. Modules are designed to provide the learner with the knowledge and skills to engage in sustainable natural resource management practices. These materials address a wide array natural resource management issues and serve the interests of a national audience in an innovative way. The learning modules provide on-demand learning to clientele that they can use to fit their individual needs and schedules, a feature that is unique to a web-based program. Two surveys were administered before and after the workshop to evaluate if there were significant impacts in the level of knowledge for each individual. Through this project, collaborations in technology transfer and natural resources among faculties and staffs within the 1890 land grant system and local, state and federal agencies has been significantly enhanced. Presentations were made at the ANREP National Conference that was held in Madison, Wisconsin, in June 2008 and at the Galaxy III, National Conference, at Indianapolis Convention Center, September, 2009. Awards. Several national awards were received by the Mobile technology Team: They include: Exceptional Award of Excellence presented by ADEC 2008: Presented to the Tennessee State University, Cooperative Extension Program Mobile Technology Team. Gold Award for Excellence 2008: For Multistate or Regional Project using Mobile Information Technology presented by the Southern Region Extension Forestry
Publications
- Idassi, J.O, Sargent, E.J. and Hinsey, J. 2008. Education on Wheels. Mobile Information Forestry Technology Programs For Limited Resources Landowners Project at 1890 Land Grant Institutions.
- Idassi, J.O., Sargent, J.E. and Hinsey, J. 2008. Mobile Information Technology Forestry Programs for Limited Resource Audiences at Tennessee State University: Presented to the Galaxy III and ANREP Conferences, and ARD Symposium, Atlanta.
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Progress 09/15/06 to 09/14/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The 1890 institutions have targeted their Extension programs quite well to non-traditional audiences. The hallmark and strength of the 1890 institutions is targeting the hard-to-reach, non-traditional, limited-resource farmers, woodland owners, and families. The Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA) of 1978 has provided federal funding specifically for expanding Extension programs that target forest and rangeland resources. Compared to the funding available to support forest and range resources from RREA, the funding appropriated to the 1890 institutions is not sufficient. Faculty and staff in the 1890 system have identified a special need and are seeking funding from the RREA National Focus Funds to conduct educational programs using their mobile information technology and distance education capabilities across the 1890s landscape. The project uses a combination of traditional landowner training workshops and on-site training using mobile internet platform. Activity
Objectives for this project will be to: 1) organize a series of landowners training workshops and provide educational materials to small limited resources, minority farmers and forest woodland owners to engage them in sustainable management of their land. TSU will collaborate with the State Forestry Commission, USDA-Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Services and State Extension Services in organization and training of this non-traditional clientele; 2) access the needs of educational programs in existing extension communities near 1890 Land Grant Institutions as related the sustainable management of land. Landowners will sketch the map of their property and indicate their projected goals; 3) conduct two field trips to visit sites in which landowners are involved in an agroforestry practice and alternative land management for wildlife and the ecosystem in general. TSU will collaborate with State Wildlife Resources, Forestry Commission , and Fisheries, USDA-Forest
Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service; 4) provide hands-on training and extension support to farmers and wood landowners on how to get information using the mobile information satellite van; 5) build an information base of exiting training materials, produce user-friendly extension fact-sheets, poster and DVDs to be used by county extension agents and farmers and wood landowner groups to better understand available technologies for sustainable management of their farms and woodlands; 6) promote forest owner-to-forest owner (farmer to farmer) visits and exchange of information through problem identification, cross-site visits and map-sketching discussions; 7)empower forest landowners to practice responsible stewardship with each forest owner conducting sustainable management of their land.
PARTICIPANTS: There were several partners who were involved in organizing and assisting in training. These are USDA-NRCS and Forest Services. Local civic groups took part also in organizing and mobilizing the local farmers and woodland owners to attend the workshops. Extension agents from the following 1890 Land Grant Universities: Alcorn State University, Florida A&MU, Fort Valley State University, Tennessee State University, South Carolina State University, University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Virginia State University were highly involved in assisting our training team.
TARGET AUDIENCES: Small woodland owners and farmers that do not have access to computers and the internet will have their local public library work with them in various ways: First, the local public libraries will set some training workshops so that they can get used to using computers; Second, the local public libraries will set an account for each farmers and will assit them in getting passwords and login info to use the ccomputers. Several local farmers and woodland associations will be established in various regions and there will be future workshops on estate planning and small busness planning and etc.
PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Future workshops will involve training the trainers, i.e., their local county agents and local area foresters. These trainers will work closely with small farmers and woodlandowners in assisting them on how to purchase and use computers, especially how to search information uaing the website: forestandrange.org.
Impacts
Education on wheels technology workshops were held in Stanton and Bolivar, TN, Santee, SC, Natchez, MS, Quincy, FL, Americus, GA, Marvell, AR and South Boston, VA. The agenda for the two days workshop comprised of the following topics: Pre-workshop survey; introduction to Technology (Usage of Computers); how to create a digital photography CD; a video: the forest story; introduction to internet browsing; introduction to forest and range.org: An Internet tool for forest landowners; forest stewardship plans; conservation practices (USDA-NRCS Websites); land appraisal: Where should I start?, starting with your County Property Tax Assessor; GIS and Mapping (property location); Public Library Resources and post-workshop survey. One hundred and twenty-one (121) participants attended and completed the two-day workshop. Fifty percent of participants were females and fifty percent were males. Prior to their participation participants was registered at the website:
forestandrange.org. Participants were asked to fill a pre-workshop survey to evaluate their computer usage knowledge and if they have worked with a computer before. Returned pre-workshop surveys indicated that seventy-seven participants owned a computer and forty-four participants did not own a computer. Seventy-four of workshop attendees had internet service and twenty-one had no internet service. There were a significant number of participants (about twenty-six) not aware of the availability internet services in their community. During the workshops, participants were able to login to the website and access a significant number of modules that have information on estate planning, forest management, agro forestry and other topics. The agenda used for this workshop brought forty speakers from various agencies. These speakers brought with them various information materials for the participants to read. Participants indicated that they would like to see a continuation of this type of
computer online workshop, i.e. mobile internet platform, because some of them may not be able to access these services from their homes due to the lack of computers and poor health. Comments from various participants: "We need so much information, whatever choice, will be a benefit to us, educate us." said a participant in Marvell, AK. While in Stanton, TN one landowner said: "There is no amount of knowledge that is more useful than Technology. Technology is very useful." In Natchez, MS, another participant said: "This workshop has been great; it has made so much information available to our community. It has opened communication lines between individuals, county officials, colleges and other organization in regards to forestry and landowners. Through this project, collaborations in technology transfer and natural resources among faculties and staffs within the 1890 land grant system and local, state and federal agencies has been enhanced. In addition, a significant number of
participants indicated their interest to seek forest information through the forestandrange.org website.
Publications
- Idassi, J.O., Sargent, E.J. and Hinsey, J. (2007). Education on Wheels: Mobile Information Forestry Technology Programs For Limited Resources Landowners Project at 1890 Land Grant Institutions. Poster presented at the Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, December 3-2, 2007, Tuskegee University.
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