Progress 09/01/08 to 08/31/10
Outputs
This Project was approved for a no-cost extension until August 2011. The Aquaculture Education and Development Center at Gadsden State Community College USDA SPEC project entitled " teaching, research, and web-enhanced learning experiences within a post-secondary aquaculture curriculum has reached its conclusion and was a highly successful project with many of the ambitious grant objectives being met or exceeded . Curriculum and laboratory development has exceeded grant expectations and most of these lessons have been in use since Fall 2009. All four content courses in the GSCC Aquaculture program are now web-enhanced (WEBCT, Blackboard, Respondus) with downloadable power-point presentations, word files, online quizzes, and digitally recorded classroom lectures via tegrity software. GSCC student instruction of K12 students was exceeded with respect to student contact hours during classroom, outreach, and recruiting activities. Student participation in research projects has been highly successful and is on-going. Dr. Andrew Gannon from Birmingham Southern College completed a six-month research sabbatical onsite using technical support from both GSCC and a local k12 program. In addition, cage and tank aquaculture trials were run with research teams examining density dependent growth factors, spawning success, survival, and feed training of yellow perch. Recruiting related objectives have been a huge success as a direct result of this grant program. Student numbers increased from 8 students in Fall 2008 to 27 students in Fall 2009 to 35 students currently pursuing degrees at this time. This increase is due in large part to the efforts of GSCC program students getting involved in program recruiting efforts at area high schools, k12 field experiences, and k12 facility tours. Aquaculture systems in use in Alabama high schools have been located, three systems have been reacquired to be refitted and redistributed. A new transfer agreement has been completed with the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and other agreements are still in the discussion stages with JSU, UAB, and USA. The existing agreement with Auburn University will need to be renegotiated due to recent changes in their curriculum. PRODUCTS: Products that have occurred as a direct result of this grant project include: more than 20 digital web-enchanced lectures with powerpoints (>100% complete), 8 new laboratory exercises (100% complete), GSCC students had over 200 contact hours with K12 students in classrooms, tours, career events, and outreach activities (>100% complete), professional development activities were attended by 35 post-secondary students, 9 secondary students, and one secondary teacher (>100% complete), GSCC program enrollment increased by over 300%, and one new transfer agreement is in place. Five GSCC aquaculture students attended paid offsite internships in industry including one who spent 6 months in the Dominican Republic. In addition to the specific grant products addressed above there were several related products that occurred as an indirect result of this grant project. GSCC Aquaculture hosted 27 different K12 field trips impacting more than 800 students. We organized and hosted the 11th and 12th annual 5 Day teacher aquaculture workshops for 28 teachers from all over the nation. We also hosted several fishing events that impacted over 800 kids from a wide variety of socio-economic groups including such groups as: cub and boy scouts, under-privileged and handicapped kids, students in drug rehabilitation programs, foster parents and foster kids, big brothers and big sisters, and Etowah county DHR. OUTCOMES: Fall semester 2008 and spring semester 2009 were used as benchmarks to examine the effectiveness of the web-enhanced classes that started in fall 2009 and will extend into spring 2010. Standardized pre and post testing has occurred each semester to assess student learning and the data collected to date suggests that student learning is modestly increased with the web-enhanced material delivery (3.5% increase with 40 different student learning objectives). Statistics further indicate (not surprisingly) that students who use the web-enhanced materials achieve higher grades than those that do not. This observation is however biased by the student motivation and attitudes toward learning. Motivated students are probably more likely to use the materials. Student enrollment has increased by over 300% during the project term and we think it is likely that this increase is due, at least in part, to using existing students to recruit new students. GSCC aquaculture students are" invested" in the program and enthusiastic about sharing their experiences with other potential recruits. This grant paid for student workers and provided them with the opportunity to do just that with visiting K12 programs, regional career days, and other outreach activities. Through the last two SPECA grants this program has become much more visible in the community, the region, and the state. We believe this increase in visibility is paying dividends in recruitment. Student professional /career development has increased as a result of attending the Alabama Fisheries Association meeting in Auburn, AL (2009) and Muscle Shoals (2010). In all 35 GSCC students, nine secondary students and one secondary teacher attended one or both of these meetings. Students attending the activity responded positively on surveys with an average response of 4.5 out of a possible 5. In addition, five GSCC students received professional development through paid internships within the aquaculture industry and responses from the internship supervisors indicated excellence in preparation, skills and knowledge. An additional indirect outcome of the project is the continued support of K12 aquaculture programs throughout the nation. The annual 5-day workshop trained 28 new teachers to use aquaculture as a tool to teach science and math. Overall, the GSCC program directly impacted over 2000 people state-wide through education and outreach activities and over 800 students directly through field and classroom experiences. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: As a direct result of the program, visiting students have been exposed to classroom materials and laboratory activities produced. GSCC aquaculture students have used web-enhanced classroom materials and laboratory activities/materials during the grant period. In addition, hundreds of K12 students were exposed to these materials during field and classroom experiences. The GSCC Advisory Committee for Aquaculture was presented with the yearly productivity report that included grant activities. In addition, the project has directly and indirectly resulted in the following press releases during the grant period. Press Releases: 1. Alabama Community College System News Clip July 23, 2009 "Gadsden State holds aquaculture workshop for K-12 teachers" 2. Alabama Community College System News Clip June 8, 2009 "Hammer: Farmed seafood is important" 3. Gadsden Times Published: Monday, May 25, 2009 "GSCC student interns in Dominican Republic" Top Ten most read story of the week. 4. Article in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Annual Report. Published March 2009. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The success of the current and previous projects has brought about several other opportunities for continued project support, public relations, and public expansion. The GSCC Aquaculture program is a partner on a new SPEC project submitted by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System that began in Sept 2009. The GSCC Aquaculture program collaborated with a visiting professor from Birmingham Southern College to research calcium budgets in freshwater prawns. Work with GSCC-trained K12 teachers continues as do field experiences for k12 programs. The 2009-2010 academic year had 15 K12 field experiences, six career day and college day events, four major fishing events, and fish shipments to schools in Connecticut, West Virginia, and all over Alabama. The GSCC Aquaculture program is currently partnering with private entrepreneur to write grant proposals for economic development and aquaculture in the Northeast Alabama Region. Another unique opportunity has arisen. At last year's World Aquaculture Society meeting in San Diego during a special session for researchers using zebrafish, a small tropical fish used as a biomedical research model, a need was expressed to train technicians in animal husbandry and standardize methods of animal care in labs throughout the world. An advisory committee member from the GSCC program was in attendance and expressed an interest in using GSCC for such training. Weeks later we participated in a conference call with representatives from NIH, Harvard University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Aquaneering (an aquatic engineering firm), and the University of Washington. We have been asked to develop curriculum and training for technicians, researchers, veterinarians, and other interested parties that will attend workshops held at GSCC and later replicated nationwide. It is estimated that there are nearly 500 medical research labs world-wide that use zebrafish as a model. This would create abundant quality job opportunities for students of the GSCC Aquaculture Program. Two GSCC students are currently employed at Vanderbilt Medical Center in their zebrafish husbandry facility. This opportunity will be the focus of our next SPECA proposal.
Impacts
This grant project has greatly impacted over 40 students in the GSCC Aquaculture program through web-enhanced learning experiences and media access, professional development opportunities, internship opportunities, and instructional/ outreach contact time with K12 students and the community. The project has impacted over 800 k12 students that have visited the GSCC facility over the duration of the project. The project has impacted approximately over 2000 fourth grade students who attended water festival activities taught by GSCC students during the duration of the project. The project has impacted over 1200 1st grade students who attended the Farm City event taught by GSCC faculty, staff, and students. The GSCC Aquaculture program has trained over 180 school teachers in 5-day aquaculture workshops since 1999. There were over 1087 visitors to the GSCC Aquaculture facility annually. GSCC aquaculture students, faculty, and staff participated in over 14 community events impacting 730 people through 63 contact hours and 84 man-hours of volunteer work in 2009 alone.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/08 to 08/31/09
Outputs
The Aquaculture Education and Development Center at Gadsden State Community College USDA SPEC project entitled " teaching, research, and web-enhanced learning experiences within a post-secondary aquaculture curriculum has reached its one-year anniversary and is already a successful project with many of the grant objectives being complete at this time. Objectives one and two have been completed and these lessons are in use. All four content courses in the GSCC Aquaculture program are now web-enhanced (WEBCT, Blackboard) with downloadable power-point presentations, word files, and digitally recorded classroom lectures via tegrity software. Objective three is behind schedule with respect to lesson development but student contact hours with k12 students have greatly exceeded targeted objectives at this time. The faculty and staff continue to work on this objective weekly and quality classroom presentations and lessons are being produced but this objective is behind schedule and may not be completed to the extent proposed by the grants termination. Objective has been highly successful and is on-going. Dr. Andrew Gannon from Birmingham Southern College is completing a research sabbatical onsite where he is using technical support from both GSCC and a local k12 program. In addition, cage aquaculture trials are being run with post-secondary, K12 , and faculty research teams examining density dependent growth factors with both tilapia and rainbow trout. Objective five has progressed more slowly than first thought and at the grant anniversary is in the late design and early testing stages. This objective should be completed on or near schedule though the simulation will no doubt require more testing, assessment, and revision at the grant termination. Objective six has been a huge success as a direct result of this grant program. Student numbers increased from 8 students in Fall 2008 to 27 students in Fall 2009. This increase is due in large part to the efforts of GSCC program students getting involved in program recruiting efforts at area high schools, k12 field experiences, and k12 facility tours. Objective seven has 25 of 27 k12 recirculating aquaculture systems located and assessed. Most of the systems are in working order and in use; one system will be re-outfitted and relocated in the coming weeks. Objectives eight and nine are works in progress, meetings have been held but progress is slow (as expected) in college bureaucracy. PRODUCTS: Products that have occurred as a direct result of this grant project include: 12 digital web-enchanced lectures with powerpoints (100% complete), eight new laboratory exercises (100% complete), an economic simulation for aquaculture students (50% completed), 10 K12 aquaculture lessons developed by students (50% complete), a 200% increase in enrollment (100% complete), and new K12 and 4-year enrollment opportunities (25% complete). GSCC Aquaculture students spent nearly 30 contact hours with visiting k12 students from all over the state giving tours and participating in career days and college fairs. Student professional development was enhanced when 12 GSCC aquaculture students attended the Alabama Fisheries Association (AFA) meeting in Auburn, AL. Four GSCC aquaculture students attended paid offsite internships in industry including one who spent 6 months in the Dominican Republic. In addition to the specific grant objectives there were several related products that occurred as an indirect result of the grant project. GSCC Aquaculture hosted 8 different K12 field trips for 287 students. We organized and taught the 11th annual 5 Day teacher aquaculture workshop for 20 teachers from all over the nation. We had 1087 visitors to the facility and taught in 6 different K12 schools for over 600 k12 students. We also hosted two fishing events for kids: an event each for 394 boy scouts, 80 under-privileged and handicapped kids, 48 students in drug rehabilitation programs, and 80 people from Etowah county DHR. OUTCOMES: Fall semester 2008 and spring semester 2009 will be used as benchmarks to examine the effectiveness of the web-enhanced classes that started in fall 2009 and will extend into spring 2010. Standardized pre and post testing has occurred each semester to assess student learning and early data collection suggests that student learning is increased with the web-enhanced material delivery that started in fall 2009. More and more students are using the web-enhanced materials as the semester goes on. We will have a good idea how the numbers will fall by the end of this semester fall 2009. Student comprehension of aquaculture/biology concepts and computer skills has also been enhanced as they GSCC aquaculture students work on individual lessons for k12 instruction. Student enrollment has greatly increased (over 200%) as GSCC aquaculture students are enthusiastically presenting the program to visiting k12 students and at college/career days around the college service area. Student professional /career development has increased as a result of attending the Alabama Fisheries Association meeting in Auburn, AL. Four students received professional development through paid internships within the aquaculture industry. An indirect outcome of the project is the continued support of K12 aquaculture programs throughout the nation. The annual 5-day workshop trained 20 new teachers to use aquaculture as a tool to teach science and math. The GSCC program impacted over 2000 people state-wide through education and outreach activities and over 287 students directly through field and classroom experiences. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: As a direct result of the program, visiting students have been exposed to classroom materials and laboratory activities produced. Twenty seven GSCC aquaculture students are accessing classroom materials on WEBCT during the fall semester 2009. The GSCC Advisory Committee for Aquaculture was presented with the yearly report as well as a report and relevant grant activities. In addition, the project has directly and indirectly resulted in the following press releases during the first year. Press Releases: 1. Alabama Community College System News Clip July 23, 2009 "Gadsden State holds aquaculture workshop for K-12 teachers" 2. Alabama Community College System News Clip June 8, 2009 "Hammer: Farmed seafood is important" 3. Gadsden Times Published: Monday, May 25, 2009 "GSCC student interns in Dominican Republic" Top Ten most read story of the week. 4. Article in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Annual Report. Published March 2009. FUTURE INITIATIVES: The success of the current and previous projects has brought about several other opportunities for continued project support, public relations, and public expansion. The GSCC Aquaculture program is a partner on a new SPEC project submitted by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System that began in Sept 2009. The GSCC Aquaculture program is collaborating on research with a visiting professor from Birmingham Southern College. This research will likely continue into the foreseeable future. Work with GSCC-trained K12 teachers continues as do field experiences for k12 programs. Fall semester 2009 had eight K12 field experiences, three career day and college day events, two major fishing events, and fish shipments to schools in Connecticut, West Virginia, and all over Alabama. The GSCC Aquaculture is currently partnering with private entrepreneur to write grant proposals for economic development and aquaculture in the Northeast Alabama Region.
Impacts
This grant project has greatly impacted the students of the GSCC Aquaculture program through web-enhanced learning experiences and media access, professional development opportunities, internship opportunities, and instructional/ outreach contact time with K12 students and the community. The GSCC Aquaculture program has trained over 170 school teachers in 5-day aquaculture workshops since 1999. In 2008 the GSCC aquaculture program directly impacted over 2000 people state-wide. There were over 1087 visitors to the GSCC Aquaculture facility. The GSCC program hosted 8 different K12 programs for field trips totaling 287 students. GSCC aquaculture students, faculty, and staff participated in over 14 community events impacting 730 people through 63 contact hours and 84 man-hours of volunteer work.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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