Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:As this program has evolved so has our understanding of the audience. While the initial target audience was focused on students who are interested in a short term education which leads to a high paying in demand job, our means of finding this audience by traditional college recruitment strategies floundered. What we have come to realize is most traditional students are interested in a college "experience" and a short term certificate of completion is not as appealing as we had hoped. Our audience tends to be young farmers who are interested in application at thier own farms, older than average employees who are "reskilling" to be in a different career (example construction workers who are hired to be custom applicators), agronomy centers who wish to provide professional development for their employees and traditional students who are specifically interested in the Industry Training event only. Changes/Problems:Looking back to the challenges / problems in the previous year, I'm happy to realize that all of the improvement were made. The challenge to us this year was a turnover of several faculty members who participated in this grant. This resulted in new faculty members teaching courses, serving as CoPI and changes in the middle of the execution of the online courses. Goals for next year include: 1. Hiring/ Assigning faculty to teach ASM 102 and AGRI 102. 2. In fall set up meeting with Continuing Education / Train ND to make sure everyone knows their roles/responsibilities and financial status. 3. Continue to provide nondegree stipends, but clarify the accounting process for BSC and CE. 4. Determine if grant can/should be extended. 5. Finalize budgetary items and goals for the final year of the grant. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Raven Viper IV was used extensively during the Industry Training event. Both Heartland/Titan Ag and Butler Machinery were able to utilize the Raven system as a part of their day. Students were provided hands on learning on the system. A faculty member who teaches a course with the Raven Viper IV as part of the curriculum was able to attend one of the Industry Training days to learn more about the monitor and hands on activities that industry representatives presented. With faculty turnover, new faculty members are learning about the Devries Spray Chamber. Our new Agronomy instructor hopes to utilize the spray chamber in the Advanced Weed Science Course and possibly with undergraduate research trials. The Raven Viper IV has use in several courses including Agriculture Machinery Operations, Introduction to Precision Ag and Hydraulics/Electronics. Learning this system has been a development opportunity for several faculty members. Our new CoPI was able to participate in much of the Industry Training event. This will be of great assistance in preparing her to continue in her role as CoPI. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Marketing and Outreach about the Custom Applicator program was included in several events (T4 Tools, Trades, Torque and Tech), Spring Ag Academy, Bismarck Public Schools Open House, and several high school visits. CoPI attended ND Ag Expo Fargo, ND Nov/ 26-28, 2023. She was able to conduct a radio interview, speak at a Bayer Crop Science session, spoke with members in the North Dakota Ag Association while attending the Custom Applicator booth. Telephone interviews were held with AgWeek and the Farm and Ranch Guide (monthly publications) News releases were sent to all the ND Official County Newspapers in North Dakota An article was printed in the ND Ag Association Newsletter Brochures were sent out to all North Dakota Agronomy Centers. Mailing was sent to all ND Vocational Agriculture Instructors to recruit participants in the 2024 Training. Brochures were updated and disseminated at many recruiting events on and off campus. Scholarships · 15 scholarships were awarded for $250 each. Ads · Placed paid ads on BisMan Online · Placed paid ads Off the Wall advertising in several cities and restaurant locations in North Dakota. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As we enter the final year of the grant, we've learned many things about our audience for this educational program. Although the job outlook is great, attracting people to this job remains a struggle for many Agronomy Centers. Those who are recruited and attracted to this type of job aren't necessarily those who are interested in any academic pursuits. An apprentiship program may be of interest, although employees would need to change thier hiring patterns beyond seasonal employment. We have considered asking for an extension of the grant in order to hold another Industry Training event beyond 2025. That decision has not yet been made. The Industry Training event has been a great success for traditional college students pursuing an Agronomy career, in which custom application is one of their job duties. This event tends to be expensive (equipment costs and faciliator costs) and would be difficult for the college to provide without grant funding. Of greatest concern this year is paying close attention to the budgetary items and make decisions based on budget categories remaining. The PI and CoPI will be meeting over the summer to finalize any budgetary issues. We will consider participation in regional / national venuesto disseminate our project results. The two primary goals of this project have been met and executed for three years, and we're proud of the education that has been provided through this grant. Faculty development and exposure of our program to the Agronomy Industry have been clear winners for us. The number of students who have received high quality training, while disappointing to us with the online courses, has been great in the Industry Training event. We will continue to improve on the successes and tweak those parts of the program that can be improved.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Twenty nine students attended the Industry Training Event held in Marchof 2024. Students ranged from those in a traditional associates degree program to non degree students from continuing education. In the online courses, class enrollment varied between two and nine for each of the four courses. The Industry Training Event was spectacular, with no weather related events and expertise from all three companies that provided equipment. Like every other industry, turnover of employees is ever occurring and it's always a challenge to continuously improve an event, when the faciliators change from year to year. One of the companies that underwent a recent merger was fantastic in their facilitation of the event, as were the other companies with more veteran employees. An addition to the Industry Training Event was a panel discussion of three people working as custom applicators. Some of the comments about the panel were: "I liked the panel discussion. It is nice to hear from applicators when that is what we are going to do", "This was the best part. Firsthand experience is the best experience.", "It was good to hear real life opinions on stuff that happens in the field". The largest success this year was the number of currently enrolled students who were interested in the Industry Training as an elective course. Twenty five students seeking an AAS degree in either Agriculture Industry and Technology (Agronomy), Farm and Ranch Management or Agribusiness enrolled in the course. Twenty students applied for and were awarded scholarships (participant support) for the training. A sampling of evaluation comments included: What is one thing you learned? (How much technology is in a sprayer; The Rogator can recover chemicals from booms back into the tank; How the equipment keeps the rate steady through different field environments). What can be improved? (Hands on driving; provide more than one facilitator; Leave more time for open ended questions). We will take the information in the evaluations, and discuss improvements with the implement dealers. The Certificate of Completion for degree seeking students was not successful this year. The college has determined that a course will not be held unless 12 students are enrolled and we were unable to attract enough students. We will try for one more year, but it looks as though a certificate of completion is not of interest to degree seeking students. The college has experienced this with other certificate programs as well (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Ranch Operations, Geographic Information Systems). The online courses were held through the Continuing Education - Train ND Center. Three previous instructors have moved onto industry positions. One instructor was unable to fulfill the duties of the teaching position for Custom Applicator courses and the courses werecompleted by the Principal Investigator. Another course was assigned to a new faculty member who did a fantastic job. Because the courses were developed with excellent standards, changing faculty members isn't a large burden to the program. The CoPI position was also changed due to a faculty member moving to an industry position. That position wasn't officially approved until November, although the duties were performed starting in September. This year could best be summarized with some wins and some losses. The Industry Training for currently enrolled students is very positive, but turnover and limited numbers in the online courses is of concern. As we move into the final year of the grant, changes to how the training will be continued must be explored. The job outlook is fantastic for a Custom Applicators. Many companies call our office looking for employees and we encourage them to find a local person and send them to the training. This job tends to be seasonal, when not added to other responsibilities. That may contribute to the disconnect between training these employees.
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Progress 06/01/22 to 05/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the Custom Applicator program was expanded this year to include non degree seeking students by working with Train ND/Continuing Education. These non degree workforce students, as well as the traditional degree seeking students were enrolled simultaneously in the program. We allowed admittance to one or more classes, rather than only admittance to the entire program. We were successful in attracting students from two regional agronomy centers, who each sent several employees. Our student body also included a few farmers interested in purchasing applicator equipment and traditional students who were interested in one or more courses. The audience this year was much expanded and much more diverse in terms of backgrounds, interests and experience. Changes/Problems:The problems this year were primarly procedural and included complexities of having both degree and non degree seeking students. This created problems with registration, financial procedures, faculty communication, tracking of students, assessment from students and etc. Many telephone calls and teams meetings occurred to solve problems/issues. Our goals to alleviate many of these problems for next year include: 1. Improve BSC Commercial Applicator website to identify difference between degree seeking option vs. nondegree (TrainND Southwest workforce training) 2. Improve TrainND Southwest workforce training registration form and process. 3. Improve online communication with TrainND Southwest workforce training students 4. Increase class evaluations completion rates 5. Improve process of awarding nondegree (TrainND Southwest workforce training) stipends. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Devries Spray Chamber purchased with this grant was implemented to demonstrate herbicide injury characteristics for each Site of Action group registered in North Dakota. One faculty member and one staff member spent time to learn how to operate the spray chamber and then how best to utilize the chamber for students. Photos of injury were taken and used for online PowerPoint lectures and discussion in PLSC 105 online (Custom Applicator program - 18 students) and PLSC 243 (Advanced Weed Science - 26 students). The Raven Sprayer Simulator was utilized during the Industry Training Event by the CASE IH facilitators. It was a very nice addition to the CASEIH training as several attendees in Year 1 of the training asked for more "hands on" training. Currently the Raven Sprayer Simulator is being written into ASM 130 (Agriculture Industry Machinery Operations). This course is required for Agriculture Industry and Technology (AAS) students. Approximately 25 students per year are traditionally enrolled in that program. The Raven Sprayer Simulator was also featured in our Spring Agriculture Academy, a recruiting event with approximately 100 high school students. With recognition on our campus of the Custom Applicator program and the Industry Training event, we were able to purchase a FS Sprayer Simulator with an Economic Development Association grant. Two faculty members and one staff member have received training on the Simulator. The simulator focuses on road and field safety while operating a large self propelled sprayer. It is our hope during the Industry Training Event in 2024, students with no experience in operating a sprayer would be able to complete the beginner lessons. We also hope to have a class discussion with more experience operators leading the discussion. Currently, this piece of equipment will be utilized in the ASM 130 course mentioned above. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about the Custom Applicator program was disseminated at several career events including: T4(Tools, Trades, Torque, Tech)career event on our BSC campus, T4 Event Bowman ND;Spring Ag Academy, ND FFA Summer event, Bismarck Public School Open House,BSC Fall Open House and CET Spring Program Visit Day. With all of the these events, approximately 900 high school students learned about the Custom Applicator program at BSC. Information regarding the program was also shared at Advisory Board meetings, Agronomy Incentive Partner Round table, Farming for Bottom Line Conference, National Ag Day Celebration, and NDUS Articulation meetings. These adult groups learned about the program and offered any suggestions, as well as communicating to their industry networks. We also utilized media to highlight the program including: 30 sec Radio ad created and played on ND Iheart Radio stations and the Ag Central Radio Network October-December 2022;Commercial ad created and played on BEK television station October-December 2022;Iheart Radio KFYR Agri International radio interviews (4- 60sec spots);Social media posts; Facebook, Instagram Special recognition was given to BSC, when Lindsey Novak, CoPI, was able to be a guest speaker at the NDAA annual conference to disseminate information about the program to Agronomy managers and employees in ND. She was also able to host a booth at their trade fair. Other methods of dissemination include Agronomy center visits with operations managers,Industry training opportunity meetings specifically withAgtegra and CHS operations managers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We were extremely pleased with the response to the major changes made this year. Moving the program from fall to spring semester as well as placing emphasis on Workforce Training/non degree seeking students was definately a win for program participation. To that end, we will not make any major changes in the timing of the program. In order to keep the momentum going, we will again place emphasis on networking with industry in order to make then aware of this opportunity. Summer visits to agronomy center managers will be the primary focus of creating awareness of the program. Follow up meetings to supervisors who enrolled employees in Spring 2023 will also be conducted once spring work has slowed down for them. We were fortunate this year to attract a few employees who have had multiple years of sprayer operation. They were fantastic students and added to faculty enjoyment and especially class discussions. In our discussions with supervisors, we will further our discussion beyond beginner employees, to benefits to seasoned employees. We would also like to involvethis particular group of students in advising us on changes that may need to be made to a particular class.One idea is to invite this group of students to participate on a panel during the Industry Training event. This panel would discuss practical daily operational procedures of applicators. The Sprayer Simulator could help us create awareness of this career choice and we hope to continue to utilize it in high school student career events and social media posts. Other outreach opportunities will continue to be pursued.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This is the second year of the Certificate of Completion in Custom Agriculture Applicator. Many changes were made based on assessments and feedback received in Year 1.The courses were offered in an eight week period starting in January (Spring Semester) versus October (Fall Semester) as in Year 1. Precision Agriculture Operations (2 credit online) and Applied Agronomy (2 credit online) remained unchanged. Agriculture Math Basics went to curriculum committee for a name change to Fertilizer and Pesticide Calculations. Commerical Applicator Equipment and Certification was developed from a one credit to a two credit course. A one credit Agriculture Industry Training was added to the curriculum for students in other degree programs who wished to attend the Industry Training Event. The Industry Training event was held in March, versus December, at the end of the eight week curriculum. This change worked well for the Butler, Heartland Ag and RDO who provided equipment and facilitators for the event. Moving the program from fall semester to spring semester also worked well for degree seeking and workforce sponsored students. This change was made to accomodate a slow time of year for people in this profession. The timing did not work as well for faculty and left many with underload of courses in the fall semester and overload in spring semester. The other major change was an emphasis on non degree seeking students which were sponsored by their employers in the agriculture industry. We worked with several agronomy center managers to promote and explain the program, which resulted in 17non degree seeking students enrolled, with 11 completers. The tuition for non degree seeking students was administered by BSC Workforce/Train ND. We count this asthe great success of Year 2 of the program and we were extremely pleased with industry enrolling thier employees. Faculty very much enjoyed working with these non traditional industry sponsored students. They were able to see the revelvance of the course material to the job that they are already performing. We were able to garner information from this group to better the program in the future. One Certificate of Completion students were enrolled and completed the program. Fourteen traditional BSC students in other ag related degree programs participated in the Industry Training only. Another change was reallocating $10,000 from the Direct Cost budget category to Participant Support. We were able to provide stipends to compensate students for expenses during the Industry Training Event. Degree seeking students were eligible for scholarships. A pre/post exam was given to the students in the Industry Training event. Students self assessed their knowledge in thirteen areas. On a likert scale from 1-10, with 1 as no knowledge to 10 as an expert, students rates their knowledge 35% higher in the post test. Blizzard conditions during the Industry Training event caused some havoc with machinery logistics and campus closure, which provided less than ideal conditions for any informal discussions or formative assessment.
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Progress 06/01/21 to 05/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The Target Audience for the Certificate of Completion Custom Applicator programincludes older than average students who aren't able to commit to a campus experience, employees of agronomy centers who may need additional education beyond "on the job" training and those students who want to reach the workforce in a timely manner. This curriculum provides students with a short term curriculum that will allow them to take courses without forgoingother commitments to work and family. Students in this program will primarly work at Agronomy Centers across our region. Changes/Problems: Although we were confident with the quality of the four courses that were developed and also the content of the Agriculture Industry Training event, we were disappointed with the enrollment in the program. Our goal for the first year was 10 students and we ended up with 3 participants who were fully enrolled in the program. To address this concern, we are making some major changes to the program. Because the October start date was conflicting with the end of fall field work, feedback from industry showed interest in moving the start date back. We are confined to the limitations of the fall/spring semester at the college and so we have determined it best to move the four courses and the Industry Training Event to spring semester. The online courses will start in mid- January and conclude with the Industry Training Event in early March. This better coincides with traditional industry training in the upper Midwest. Additionally, the ASM 102 (Commercial Applicator Equipment and Certification) - 2 credits will be redeveloped into two courses ASM 102 (Applicator Equipment Operations and Maintenance - Online 2 credits) and AGRI 289 (Applicator Equipment Training and Certifications - on campus 1 credit). This will allow prospective students to enroll in the Applicator Equipment Trainingwithout the online coursework. With this change, the Certificate of Completion (COC) will be 9 credits, rather than 8. A faculty member will be contracted to further develop the ASM 102 course in fall of 2022 and then teach the ASM 102 and the AGRI 289 course in the spring of 2023. A name change of AGRI 102 from "Agriculture Math Basics"to "Fertilizer and Pesticide Calculations" will occur with the 22/23 catalog. This will better reflect the course content and be more attractive to prospective students and industry representatives. A non-degree option will be available through BSC Workforce/Train ND. They will work directly with industry in marketing to and registering industry employees for the four online courses and the Industry Training Event. We are hopeful that this option will be of more interest to non-traditional students. Because traditional financial aid is not available with a Certificate of Completion program, the financial burden is high for prospective students. To address this concern the BSC Foundation will offer ten $1,000 scholarships to COC Custom Applicator students. We have also reallocated some of the Direct Cost budget category to Participant Supports budget category to allow us to offerstipends to students who are fully enrolled in the COC Custom Applicator program. Much of the outreach conducted for the new program was accomplished through the use of internal resources. In order to attract more students to the program, we will be exploring options to work with an external firm to produce better outreach materials and recruit more students.We plan to contract with an outside marketing firm with the goal of attracting more students. Because of these changes to the timing of program delivery, the budget timeline will be shifted in some areas to allow for teaching in the spring semester, rather than fall semester. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In addition to the four online courses and sprayer clinic mentioned above, several other opportunities for training occurred. Two faculty members were trained on the Raven Viper IV display and spray simulator by the Butler Machinery representative. The faculty members were then able to train the three COC Custom Applicator students on the display. In Fall of 2022, students in PAG 276 (Data Collection and Management) will be trained on the Raven Viper IV. One faculty member and one staff member were trained to utilize the Spray Chamber. Future plans include demonstrations on herbicide mode of action forthe COC Custom Applicator students. This USDA grant opportunity allowed BSC faculty and staff toleverage funding with another grant to purchase an updated version of the Ag Leader Display. The "InCommand" Ag Leader display will replace the "Integra" display and content in PAG 105 andwill be updated to include information on this new display. Two faculty members will utilize this display in precision agriculture courses, which will be taught to all students in the Agriculture Industry and Technology (AAS) program which is approximately 25 students per year, as well as the COC Custom Applicator program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Outreach materials were developedto assist in recruiting new enrollees to the COC Custom Applicator program, as well as generating more interest in the program, career awareness, and importance to the agriculture industry. Materials included displays,banner, tablecloth and flyers to utilize and various outreach events. These annual outreach events included: Country Women Luncheon ,T4 Event Bowman; Advisory Board meetings, Extension Conference Tour, Agronomy Incentive Partner Round table, BSC Ag Careers Day, KMOT Ag Show, KFRY Agri International Trade Show, Farming for Bottom Line, National Ag Day Celebration, T4 High School STEM event in Watford City, Spring Ag Academy, ND FFA Summer event, BPS Open House. Presentations to explain the programweregiven at several of these local and statewide events.Project staff reached more than 1000 individuals through these events. A video was developed for social media to explain the COC Custom Applicator; also several social media digital images were developed and shared on facebook and instagram to promote interest and enrollment into the program. Several print medias pieces were developed to spread awareness of the program. A postcard mailer was sent to ND Department of Agriculture Ag Pest and Fertilizer division, the NDSU Extension Service County Extension Agents,BSCadvisory board and the NDSU Research Directions. A Degree Plan Fact Sheet was sent to a list of past students, ND High School Counselors, ND Ag Association members and past locations where our students have completed internships. A degree plan poster was mailed to sixty agronomy incentive partner locations. Information about the COC Custom Applicator program was shared with many agronomy centers. This has resulted in one regional agronomy center who is interested in partnering with BSC to train all of their beginner Custom Applicator employees. We are currently working with the Workforce Training Center at BSC to work out the details and provide a proposal to this company. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The Certificate of Completion Program will be offered again in the 22/23 year. However, using the student and industry feedback received for continuous improvement of the program, the date of the program will be changed from a fall semester program to a spring semester program. The Agriculture Industry Training event will be moved from December to March. This will accommodate the challenges in scheduling and recruitment, and we anticipate this will have a positive impact to the program. In addition to the traditional student Certificate of Completion, the program will be offered as a non-degree option through a collaboration with Bismarck State College'sTrainND workforce training center. Although many print and digital materials were developed and disseminated to stakeholders, the project team will increase efforts to better market the program and recruit more participants into the program. Project staff are currently working with an Agronomy Center that has indicated interest in sending all of their first year custom applicators to BSC for training, rather than conducting their own training "in house." BSC project staff will be working with them to enroll their employees in this training in the upcoming reporting period.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Custom Applicator program was offered on Bismarck State College campus in the Fall of 2021. Four online courses (PAG 105 Precision Agriculture Operations, PLSC 105 Applied Agronomy, AGRI 102 Math Basics and ASM 102 Commercial Applicator Equipment Training and Certification) were offered in an eight-week semester starting in mid-October and ending in mid-December. Three students enrolled in the full program, including all of the four online classes and the Sprayer Clinic. Three additional students from another college enrolled in PAG 105 and PLSC 105 as collaborative students. The three full-time Certificate of Completion (COC) Custom Applicator students and an additional 24 students in the Agriculture Industry and Technology AAS program participated in the three-dayIndustry Training Event. This clinic offered training on Case IH, John Deere and Butler Machinery applicator equipment. Industry experts from each company facilitated the Sprayer Clinic. A Pre/Post Self-Assessment of thirteen technical skills taught during the sprayer clinic was given to the 27 students. Both groups of students noted in their assessments an increase in all skills. Interestingly, the COC Custom Applicator students self-assessed their beginning knowledge to be higher than the AAS students and also their end of the event knowledge was also higher. Both the Custom Applicator Students and the Agriculture Industry and Technology students assessed their knowledge to have significantly improved in all areas after the Industry Training event. Post-event evaluation discussions were held following the Sprayer Clinic with the equipment trainers. These fruitful discussions led to a number of changes being planned for next year's event to make it a more effective and successful event. The primary changes included a change in date as well as a non-degree option.
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Progress 06/01/20 to 05/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Outreach and recruitment for the Custom Applicator program is meant to target students who may not otherwise be interested in pursuing a traditional college education. They will include older than average students who aren't able to commit to a campus experience, employees of agronomy centers who may need additional education beyond "on the job" training and those who wish for a high paying job with little time spent at college. Our message to potential students will indicate this a flexible curriculum that will allow them to sustain other commitments to work and family. We will involve the ND Agriculture Association of which most Agronomy Centers in ND are members, as well as our Agronomy Incentive Partners to help spread the word to potential customers. Changes/Problems:Progress through the grant deliverables has followed the previously identified timeline with minimum delays. The slight delays occurred as the collaborators to develop the outreach and recruitment plan have taken more time to ensure that we are reaching our target audience during an appropriate time to align with enrollment openings and training events. Equipment purchases were minimally delayed, but will not impede the grant project deadlines What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The trial run Industry Training event, which was held on November 18, 2020 provided 50 students and 2 faculty members with training on the Butler RoGator 1300C Self Propelled Sprayer. Students learned the technology featured on the sprayer, including FlowLogic™ recirculation plumbing, LiquidLogic system, New ClearFlow™ recovery and the Touchscreen AccuTerminal. They also learned about more traditional technology, such as Section Control, Auto Guidance, Sprayer Boom Height Control and the Raven Viper 4 Display. Faculty have been working with the BSC Instructional Design Center to develop high quality online courses. The Instructional Design Center has provided training on media/platforms for online instruction, templates for instructional content development of the course and the purchase of media (photos) needed for the courses. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Many stakeholder groups, including local and regional Agribusinesses, as well as potential students, have been made aware of this new training opportunity through several events and communications carried out by the project team. These consisted of presentations to statewide agriculture association, two regional career fairs, agronomy incentive partners meetings, BSC Ag Department advisory board meetings, BSC polytechnic coordinator conferences, and Train ND (local workforce training group) functions. BSC College Relations and various marketing companies are collaborating on a a comprehensive outreach and recruitment plan for the Custom Applicator Degree program. This will include targeted social media, Digital campaigns are designed to reach the following groups: Students 16-18, Parents of students 16-18, Workforce and adult learners ages 20-54, Target languages of English and Spanish, Level of some college education and high school graduates Offline marketing strategies deployed to existing contacts in industry, education, associations and government organizations include print publications and networking opportunities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Custom Applicator Certificate of Completion will be fully offered in Fall of 2021. We are currently accepting students in the traditional program. Currently we are concentrated on developing classes and marketing the program to prospective students. Our goal is to have 10 students enrolled for Fall 2021. We are pursuing additional methods of outreach/education including Collaborative students from other colleges within the North Dakota University System, Non- Credit students, Non -Degree Students through our Continuing Education program, Continuing Education credits for Agriculture Instructors and Dual Credit High School Students. We have had inquiries in all the above venues and are pursuing the logistics and pros/cons of each. TrainND is contracted to develop the contracts for the Industry Training Event which will occur the week of November 29, 2021, although verbal commitments have already been made. Equipment purchases will be completed by June 30, 2021. Much of the equipment is already in use in development of the courses.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Custom Applicator Certificate of Completion Degree Program was initiated at Bismarck State College and will accept students for the Fall 2021 semester. Four classes were approved by the curriculum committee, faculty senate, academic affairs department and executive council and are listed in the Fall 2021 Catalog. The courses/products developed through the grant are: PAG105 Precision Agriculture Operations" (2) online. Provides a background in precision agriculture. Emphasis is on working with control consoles, equipment, precision digital platforms, zone management and variable rate application. PLSC105 Applied Agronomy (2) online. Provides basic concepts of crop and pest management and identification as well as fertilizer and pesticide use and proper application methods. AGRI 102 Agriculture Math Basics (2) online. Student will apply practical math skills as related to the agronomy industry. ASM 102 Commercial Applicator Equipment Training and Certification (2) hybrid (Online and industry training on campus) Students will acquire hands on training on the operation and maintenance of equipment utilized in custom application of crop protection products. A commercial pesticide certification exam is included in this course. The faculty are working with the BSC Instructional Design Center in development of these courses. Video footage, studio recordings, interactive learning tools, development of powerpoint templates and so forth are items the Center has added its creative touch. The online courses will be completed for a start date of October 2021. In Fall 2020, a trial run for the Industry Training event was held for current students in the Introduction to Precision Agriculture courses. The local Butler Machinery Store supplied a RoGator self-propelled sprayer and two sales personnel for a daylong industry training event. In addition to students receiving training on the sprayer, BSC's Ag department was able to make sure the logistics of an Industry Training would work logistically in the facility. The large self propelled sprayer was able to be transported to campus and brought into the building without complications. We determined that the Industry Training would be able to feature a self propelled sprayer and a floater from each of the three main equipment dealers, but not all simultaneously, without rental of another venue. Based on this trial run, we have determined that the Industry Training will include three separate days of instruction; one for each model of equipment. Currently contracts are being written for a weeklong industry training event which will be held on November 29-December 3, 2021 on campus. The event will include: -3 days instruction on each of the major brands of sprayers and floaters, including Case IH, John Deere and Butler Machinery. -1-day classroom instruction on equipment include a Raven Viper 4 Display, Rate Controller, Spray Table Nozzle Lesson and Mode of Herbicide Action based on Spray Chamber results. -1-day Commercial Pesticide Exam
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