Progress 08/01/10 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: One of the most significant outputs for the life of this project include the focus group conducted with high school guidance counselors. We learned how these counselors engage their students when providing information about career choices, how they help their students gather information about potential colleges, and how they assist their students in making a match between potential colleges and their career choices. Another significant output were the focus groups conducted with high school students. We learned about their current career aspirations, what questions they have regarding these careers, and how they would go about finding answers to these questions. For those students who were indecisive regarding a future career, we enquired about what questions they would need answered in order to make a career choice. In addition to the questions posed to these students, we also evaluated the amount of time students stayed on a website while trying to gather career and college information. From this, we learned that students prefer seeking information that can be given in a quick manner, such as via video. From the information gathered through the above meetings, we generated interview questions for University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences undergraduate students, professors, and alumni. Thirty-seven individuals were interviewed, totaling more than 18 and one-half hours of video. A portion of these videos have been edited into short segments, approximately 30 to 90 seconds in length, and have been uploaded onto the project's website (http://careerchoices.arizona.edu). Promotion of this website has been done through the Western Regional Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, the annual Back to School Resource Fair for Arizona teachers, and the annual Teacher's Day at UA. Teachers have also been informed of the website via our listserve of hundreds of educators who have already expressed interest in the incorporation of Agriculture in the Classroom. Also, the five county district supervisors in Maricopa County have learned of the website during the annual Farm-City Breakfasts within each of the five supervisor's districts. PARTICIPANTS: Monica Pastor is the principal investigator for this project. She has overseen all aspects and coordinated regular meetings with Brandon Moak, the Agriculture Literacy program coordinator, who performs the day-to-day duties associated with this program. Pastor and Moak have attended the focus groups with teachers and students and together analyzed the information obtained from these meetings which culminated into the interview questions. Moak met and solicited referrals from the ten department heads within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He contacted each of the referrals and synchronized their schedules to create 37 interviews. Glenn Gigstad, a faculty member within the college's Educational and Communications Technologies, filmed each of the interviews and provided the means for digitally transferring the videos to a computer for editing. Moak traveled over 3,100 miles and Gigstad traveled over 1,300 to conduct the 37 interviews. Moak has developed and launched the website. He has also edited a significant portion of these videos and placed a portion of these on the website. He is still in the process of editing video and making them available on the website as they are completed. The seven high school guidance counselors who collaborated with us during the focus group were Angelica Ramos and Joely Sanders from the Buckeye Union High School District, Patrick Annesley, Chris Hoerber, and Vicki Massey from the Mesa Public Schools District, and two teachers from a Phoenix charter school, Laura Brown and Margaret Duran. We also collaborated with Leslie McGruder from Precision High School in Phoenix, AZ and Leah Hodges from Youngker High School in Buckeye, AZ who coordinated with us in conducting two focus groups with their 36 students. TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted audience for this project are Arizona high school students. The Education Career Action Plan program structured by the state of Arizona for all high school students is still in its infancy. Although the mandate is in place, there are no formulated policies in place by the Arizona Department of Education. It has been left up to the school district, and in some cases the school itself, to determine how to track and enforce this program. Therefore, there is no centralized data available to track students' indications of career objectives, and as such, no pre and post assessment of students' interest in food and agricultural sciences is possible. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: There were significant delays in obtaining referrals from the department heads and synchronizing schedules with interviewees. Additionally, the interviews themselves took longer than previously estimated, yielding an average of 30 minutes in length. This produced over 18 and a half hours of video to sift through in order to create 30-90 second clips which contain significant information in a short period of time. This has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website. Although the website has now been launched, only a limited number of videos are available. However, Pastor and Moak are committed to the completion and maintenance of the site.
Impacts
Delays in obtaining referrals and interviewees' availability, combined with the higher-than-expected volume of video to edit, has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website. Although the website is now active, only a limited number of videos are available. Therefore, no change in knowledge, actions, or conditions can be reported at this time. Furthermore, the Education Career Action Plan program structured by the state of Arizona for all high school students is still in its infancy. Although the mandate is in place, there are no formulated policies in place by the Arizona Department of Education. It has been left up to the school district, and in some cases the school itself, to determine how to track and enforce this program. Therefore, there is no centralized data available to track students' indications of career objectives, and as such, no pre and post assessment of students' interest in food and agricultural sciences is possible. Pastor, principal investigator to this project, and Moak, project coordinator, are committed to the continual development of this website and its incorporation into the recruitment process for The University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences which will result in an increase in students pursuing and earning the degrees necessary to fulfill scientific and professional careers in the food and agricultural sciences.
Publications
- This project has produced the website, CareerChoices, found at (http://careerchoices.arizona.edu). The videographer is Glenn Gigstad (2011) with The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Educational and Communications Technologies. The video editor and webmaster is Brandon Moak (2011) with The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County.
|
Progress 08/01/11 to 01/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: One of the most significant outputs for the life of this project include the focus group conducted with high school guidance counselors. We learned how these counselors engage their students when providing information about career choices, how they help their students gather information about potential colleges, and how they assist their students in making a match between potential colleges and their career choices. Another significant output were the focus groups conducted with high school students. We learned about their current career aspirations, what questions they have regarding these careers, and how they would go about finding answers to these questions. For those students who were indecisive regarding a future career, we enquired about what questions they would need answered in order to make a career choice. In addition to the questions posed to these students, we also evaluated the amount of time students stayed on a website while trying to gather career and college information. From this, we learned that students prefer seeking information that can be given in a quick manner, such as via video. From the information gathered through the above meetings, we generated interview questions for University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences undergraduate students, professors, and alumni. Thirty-seven individuals were interviewed, totaling more than 18 and one-half hours of video. A portion of these videos have been edited into short segments, approximately 30 to 90 seconds in length, and have been uploaded onto the project's website (http://careerchoices.arizona.edu). Promotion of this website has been done through the Western Regional Agriculture in the Classroom Conference, the annual Back to School Resource Fair for Arizona teachers, and the annual Teacher's Day at UA. Teachers have also been informed of the website via our listserve of hundreds of educators who have already expressed interest in the incorporation of Agriculture in the Classroom. Also, the five county district supervisors in Maricopa County have learned of the website during the annual Farm-City Breakfasts within each of the five supervisor's districts. PARTICIPANTS: Monica Pastor is the principal investigator for this project. She has overseen all aspects and coordinated regular meetings with Brandon Moak, the Agriculture Literacy program coordinator, who performs the day-to-day duties associated with this program. Pastor and Moak have attended the focus groups with teachers and students and together analyzed the information obtained from these meetings which culminated into the interview questions. Moak met and solicited referrals from the ten department heads within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He contacted each of the referrals and synchronized their schedules to create 37 interviews. Glenn Gigstad, a faculty member within the college's Educational and Communications Technologies, filmed each of the interviews and provided the means for digitally transferring the videos to a computer for editing. Moak traveled over 3,100 miles and Gigstad traveled over 1,300 to conduct the 37 interviews. Moak has developed and launched the website. He has also edited a significant portion of these videos and placed a portion of these on the website. He is still in the process of editing video and making them available on the website as they are completed. The seven high school guidance counselors who collaborated with us during the focus group were Angelica Ramos and Joely Sanders from the Buckeye Union High School District, Patrick Annesley, Chris Hoerber, and Vicki Massey from the Mesa Public Schools District, and two teachers from a Phoenix charter school, Laura Brown and Margaret Duran. We also collaborated with Leslie McGruder from Precision High School in Phoenix, AZ and Leah Hodges from Youngker High School in Buckeye, AZ who coordinated with us in conducting two focus groups with their 36 students. TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted audience for this project are Arizona high school students. The Education Career Action Plan program structured by the state of Arizona for all high school students is still in its infancy. Although the mandate is in place, there are no formulated policies in place by the Arizona Department of Education. It has been left up to the school district, and in some cases the school itself, to determine how to track and enforce this program. Therefore, there is no centralized data available to track students' indications of career objectives, and as such, no pre and post assessment of students' interest in food and agricultural sciences is possible. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: There were significant delays in obtaining referrals from the department heads and synchronizing schedules with interviewees. Additionally, the interviews themselves took longer than previously estimated, yielding an average of 30 minutes in length. This produced over 18 and a half hours of video to sift through in order to create 30-90 second clips which contain significant information in a short period of time. This has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website. Although the website has now been launched, only a limited number of videos are available. However, Pastor and Moak are committed to the completion and maintenance of the site.
Impacts
Delays in obtaining referrals and interviewees' availability, combined with the higher-than-expected volume of video to edit, has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website. Although the website is now active, only a limited number of videos are available. Therefore, no change in knowledge, actions, or conditions can be reported at this time. Furthermore, the Education Career Action Plan program structured by the state of Arizona for all high school students is still in its infancy. Although the mandate is in place, there are no formulated policies in place by the Arizona Department of Education. It has been left up to the school district, and in some cases the school itself, to determine how to track and enforce this program. Therefore, there is no centralized data available to track students' indications of career objectives, and as such, no pre and post assessment of students' interest in food and agricultural sciences is possible. Pastor, principal investigator to this project, and Moak, project coordinator, are committed to the continual development of this website and its incorporation into the recruitment process for The University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences which will result in an increase in students pursuing and earning the degrees necessary to fulfill scientific and professional careers in the food and agricultural sciences.
Publications
- This project has produced the website, CareerChoices, found at (http://careerchoices.arizona.edu). The videographer is Glenn Gigstad (2011) with The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Educational and Communications Technologies. The video editor and webmaster is Brandon Moak (2011) with The University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County.
|
Progress 08/01/10 to 07/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: We contacted high school guidance counselors from several local school districts and met with seven of them from three school districts to understand the ways they engage their students when providing information about career choices. We explored Arizona's mandated Education Career Action Plan (ECAP) and how these counselors were fulfilling these requirements with their students. The intent of the Arizona legislation was for ECAP to "reflect the student's current plan of coursework, career aspirations, and extended learning opportunities in order to develop the student's academic and career goals" (ECAP, 2008). We also discussed the strategies that they employed when helping their students gather information about potential colleges and how to match them with their career choices. Two focus groups were also conducted with 36 high school students from two districts. We asked these students about their current career aspirations, what questions they have regarding these careers, and how they would go about finding answers to these questions. For those students who were indecisive regarding a future career, we enquired about what questions they would need answered in order to make a career choice. We then posed hypothetical situations in which students were able to ask questions of college students, professors, and someone who was doing what the students wanted for their career. We also evaluated the amount of time students stayed on a website while trying to gather career and college information. From the information gathered through the above meetings, we generated interview questions for University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences undergraduate students, professors, and alumni. Within the college, there are eleven schools and departments, ten of which have undergraduate programs. From these ten schools and departments, the department heads were contacted in order to obtain referrals for potential interviewees. We asked for undergraduate students who had a clear understanding of their own career choice and how to successfully pursue that career; from the professors, we sought those who are dynamic and engaging to students; and the alumni had to be working within a field that utilized their degree. These referrals were contacted, and schedules were economically coordinated in order to minimize lengthy travel. Thirty-seven individuals were interviewed, totaling more than 18 and one-half hours of video. These videos are presently being edited into short segments, approximately 30 to 90 seconds in length, which will be the main basis for the website content. The short duration of the videos is in consideration of the amount of time students stayed on a web page when researching careers and/or colleges. In February, 2011, this project was presented to participants of the Western Regional Agriculture in the Classroom Conference. PARTICIPANTS: Monica Pastor is the principal investigator for this project. She has overseen all aspects and coordinated regular meetings with Brandon Moak, the Agriculture Literacy program coordinator, who performs the day-to-day duties associated with this program. Pastor and Moak have attended the focus groups with teachers and students and together analyzed the information obtained from these meetings which culminated into the interview questions. Moak met and solicited referrals from the ten department heads within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He contacted each of the referrals and synchronized their schedules to create 37 interviews. Glenn Gigstad, a faculty member within the college's Educational and Communications Technologies, filmed each of the interviews and provided the means for digitally transferring the videos to a computer for editing. Moak traveled over 3,100 miles and Gigstad traveled over 1,300 to conduct the 37 interviews. Moak is in the process of editing these videos and developing the website associated with these interviews. The seven high school guidance counselors who collaborated with us during the focus group were Angelica Ramos and Joely Sanders from the Buckeye Union High School District, Patrick Annesley, Chris Hoerber, and Vicki Massey from the Mesa Public Schools District, and two teachers from a Phoenix charter school, Laura Brown and Margaret Duran. We also collaborated with Leslie McGruder from Precision High School in Phoenix, AZ and Leah Hodges from Youngker High School in Buckeye, AZ who coordinated with us in conducting two focus groups with their 36 students. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The Education Career Action Plan program structured by the state of Arizona for all high school students is still in its infancy. Although the mandate is in place, there are no formulated policies in place by the Arizona Department of Education. It has been left up to the school district, and in some cases the school itself, to determine how to track and enforce this program. Therefore, there is no centralized data available to track students' indications of career objectives, and as such, no pre and post assessment of students' interest in food and agricultural sciences is possible. Furthermore, there were significant delays in obtaining referrals from the department heads and synchronizing schedules with interviewees. Additionally, the interviews themselves took longer than previously estimated, yielding an average of 30 minutes in length. This produced over 18 and a half hours of video to sift through and create 30-90 second clips which contain significant information in a short period of time. This has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website; however, these processes are both underway.
Impacts
Delays in obtaining referrals and interviewees' availability, combined with the higher-than-expected volume of video to edit, has resulted in a delay for developing and launching the website. Therefore, no change in knowledge, actions, or conditions can be reported at this time.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|
|