Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University were the direct beneficiaries of the course offerings. The hackathon drew participation from other universities who benefitted from the course indirectly. Two webinars were conducted in March and May of 2024, drawing audiences from within the USA and abroad who benefitted from the course content indirectly. The course content has been downloaded by individuals from universities abroad and benefitted from the developed content. Changes/Problems:two-week module and Course 1 was offered at all the participating universities. Course 2 and 3 were only offered to Purdue students due to faculty constraints at the participating universities. However, all resources are being shared through a course website for global use of tjhe content. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All the courses were offered to students to help them build career-specific computational thinking and software development skill sets and increase students' competencies for Ag Informatics careers. The evaluation results provide useful information regarding students' reception and perspectives of the module and how professors may go about improving the module to increase student understanding and learning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Hackathons, webinars, and other digital products were used by thosands of users. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Since the beginning of the Project, the following two-week module and courses were developed to meet Objective 1: Two-week Course Module "Introduction to Ag Informatics" (Leads: Jim Krogmeier and Dennis Buckmaster) completed in year 1 and taught during years 1-4 (starting spring 2021); Semester Course 1: "Introduction to Agricultural Informatics" (Lead: Ankita Raturi) - Taught during years 2-4 (starting fall 2021); Semester Course 2: "Machine Learning and Vision for IoT" (Lead: Somali Chaterji) - Taught during years 2-4 (starting spring 2022); and Semester Course 3: "Data Visualization Tools & Applications" (Lead: Dharmendra Saraswat) - Taught during years 3-4 (starting spring 2023). The COVID situation impacted the project right from the beginning. The situation forced the PD and Co-PDs to devise ways to work diligently via distance to establish a two-week course module and semester-long courses to be taught at partner universities (Purdue University/lead, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University). To accomplish the second objective, the project team hosted three Digital Ag Hackathon events in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and extended help in organizing regional events. From Spring 2021 to summer 2024 course enrollments, this Project has reached 6,963 students in classrooms/virtual classrooms and 46 students who participated in the initial Digital Ag Hackathon. The total enrollment for Year 1 (533 students) exceeded the expected enrollment figure (427 students) for the two-week module, as noted in the project proposal. However, more students were enrolled at Purdue overall, and fewer at UK and TU than expected (see Appendix 1). For Year 2, the total enrollment of students in the two-week module, as well as Course 1: Introduction to Ag Informatics, Course 2: Machine Learning and Vision for IoT, and an additional course (not a part of the project proposal) developed by Dr. Raturi together exceeded the expected enrollment in the proposal by 27.7% (total=1,638; expected=453), with again a greater population of students attending Purdue than UK and TU. The higher number of students at Purdue is a result of Dr. Mark Ward's participation in teaching the two-week module content within his online courses at Purdue as a part of The Data Mine program, which totaled 91.2% of the total enrollment. For Year 3, the total enrollment was 2,325, with 94.1% of those students enrolled in Dr. Ward's Data Mine course, where some content from the two-week module is implemented. The enrollment figures estimated for the first offering (Year 3) of 479 students were overestimated. The third new course Dr. Saraswat piloted at Purdue University, Course 1, started in the first semester of Year 2, and Course 2 started in the second semester of Year 2, which continued. Dr. Saraswat's Year 3 pilot course was anticipated to be taught at all three partner universities, but due to various reasons, it remained limited to Purdue. For the Year 4-no-cost extension year, the total enrollment was 2,477 for the two-week module plus the 2nd offering of the piloted course by Dr. Saraswat, and the continued offering of Course 1 started in the first semester of Year 2, and Course 2 started in the second semester of Year 2. The Year 4 total enrollment again had most students enrolled in Dr. Ward's Data Mine course, where some content from the two-week module is implemented. To address Objective 2, the third Digital Ag Hackathon was hosted in July 2024 at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Anaheim, California. The Hackathon was successful in bringing 14 students. The same organizational setup was observed for the second and first Hackathon later. The second Digital Ag Hackathon was hosted in July 2023 at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Omaha, Nebraska. The Hackathon successfully brought 18 students, more than in 2022, together to help them gain digital ag informatics experiential experience of a project, from Ideation to Presentation of a project involving coding and other skills. The Hackathon consisted of two virtual orientation sessions before the event and a one-day in-person session (Sunday, July 9, 2023), followed by student groups working the remainder of the first day and during the ASABE Meeting for approximately two days. On the morning of the following day (Wednesday, July 12, 2023), student groups presented their project plans and early schematics at the end of the Hackathon event. Furthermore, to address Objective 2, 23 open-source websites, 14 forums, 14 Github organizations, and 658+ videos were developed, new, and/or updated and utilized for the two-week module and new semester courses (see Appendix 2). The target audience of all the courses and Hackathon was upper- and graduate-level undergraduate students.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
1. Byrd, V.L., Saraswat, D., & Ahmad, A. (2023). Pilot Course in Data Visualization with a Multidisciplinary Approach: Technology+Agricultural Engineering. In 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) 10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343451
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
2. Dvorak, T.C.F., Buckmaster, D.R., Chaterji, S., Dvorak, J.S., &&&&& Raturi, A. (2024). A Quantitative Evaluation of the Computational Skills Development for Next Generation Agriscience Professionals for Sustaining Data Driven Agriculture Project. In 2024 ASABE AIM, Anaheim, CA, July 28-31: 2401420.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
3. Saraswat, D., Buckmaster, D.R., Dvorak, J.S., Dvorak, T.C.F., &&&..& Ward, M.D. (2024). A Model for Increasing Agricultural Computational and Career Readiness Skills in ABE and Agriscience Students Across Three States. In 2024 ASABE AIM, Anaheim, CA, July 28-31: 2401433.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
4. Raturi, A. (2024). Three Years of Agricultural Informatics; Reflections on Pedagogy and Workforce Development. In 2024 ASABE AIM, Anaheim, CA, July 28-31: 2400767.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
5. Raturi, A. (2024). An Agricultural Informatics Learning Community; Open Courseware for the Future of Work. In 2024 ASABE AIM, Anaheim, CA, July 28-31: 2400784.
- Type:
Other Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
6. Jha, S., Krogmeir, J., Buckmaster, D.R. & Balmos, A. D. (2024). Python Programming in Digital Agriculture. Case Studies and Modules for Data Science Instruction ():1-24 ASABE, https://tinyurl.com/CaseStudiesASABE
|
Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University were the direct beneficiaries of the course offerings. In contrast, the hackathon drew participation from six universities (University of Nebraska Lincoln, Purdue University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Kentucky, Oklahoma State University, and North Dakota State University). Changes/Problems:Challenges the project faced included recruiting students to participate in the full semester courses offered. In Year 1, the two-week module wasn't offered until the second semester, so enrollment was lower than predicted at universities besides Purdue. One reason the enrollment was so high for the two-week module during Year 1 and the following years at Purdue was the partnership with the Data Mine Program at Purdue. This partnership allowed reaching students outside of regular courses offered in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department. The Introduction to Ag Informatics semester course (Course 1) was not offered during Year 1, as planned in the proposal. It was offered for the first time in fall 2021 (Year 2) at Purdue and UK and only in spring 2022 (Year 2) at TU after it was piloted elsewhere first. Similarly, TU did not teach the two-week module during Year 1. Furthermore, changes to the initial project proposal included that TU utilized recorded lectures from Purdue for their offerings of the two-week module and Course 1 for all three years of the project. In Year 2, the second semester course, Machine Learning and Vision for IoT (Course 2), was offered in spring 2022 but not in the UK or TU. Recruitment for Course 1 was challenging in both the UK and TU, as it is a more novel topic at the universities' co-PI departments. Enrollment was often too low to make a class. The novelty of topic for course 2 led to no offering at TU or UK in Year 2. In Year 3, the third semester course, Data Analysis and Visualization (Course 3), was created and offered by Dr. Saraswat. This was altered as he was a co-professor of the course (along with Dr. Vetria Byrd) offered in spring 2023, which was jointly offered by the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Computer Graphics Technology Department at Purdue University. The course enrollment was 16 students. The course was piloted at Purdue that's why was not offered at TU or UK. The total enrollment was more than predicted in the project proposal with the larger enrollment at Purdue because of similar topics offered in the two-week module being taught as a part of the Data Mine Program at Purdue. The project proposal enrollment figures were unmet in Years 1, 2, or 3 at UK and TU. Additional semester courses related to the HEC project, including (1) Research & Practice in Agricultural Informatics, developed and taught by Dr. Raturi in spring 2022 (Year 2) and spring 2023 (Year 3) at Purdue, and (2) Edge Computing and IoT, developed and taught by Dr. Chaterji in fall 2022 and spring 2023 (Year 3) at Purdue. Most of the 15 students who completed these two new courses had completed prior courses offered as a part of the project. Other challenges faced by the project PI/C0-PIs were due to COVID-19, with the faculty working remotely to eventually being able to work on campus and host classes for students in person during Year 1 of the project. The Hackathon was also not hosted in Year 1 due to the COVID-19 shutdowns of in-person events and travel by faculty and students. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For Year 3, the expected enrollment was predicted to be 982 for the two-week module plus the third new course Dr. Saraswat piloted at Purdue University. Against this target, the Year 3 total enrollment was 2,325, with 94.1% of those students enrolled in Dr. Ward's Data Mine course, where some content from the two-week module is implemented. The third course was anticipated to be taught at all three partner universities, but it was only offered at Purdue University by Dr. Saraswat in collaboration with another professor. Thus, it could only benefit 16 students instead of 26 who were expected to register at three participating universities. A summary of training and professional development opportunities during Year 3 is given below: The two-week module: Introduction to Ag Informatics had an enrollment of 2,279 (including Dr. Ward's Data Mine student numbers) in Year 3, reaching 697 more students than in Year 2. Fifteen (15) total students completed Course 1: Introduction to Ag Informatics semester long course in Year 3, reaching 12 fewer students than in Year 2. Course 2: "Machine Learning and Vision for IoT," was taught to 8 students at Purdue, and Course 3: "Data Visualization Tools and Applications" was taught to 16 students at Purdue University in Year 3. There were 18 students who participated in the second annual Digital Ag Hackathon in 2023 (Year 3), an increase of four students. The event was a success, and more participants are anticipated for the Digital Ag Hackathon, which is planned for the no-cost extension year (4). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Course evaluation data continued to be collected on the outcomes via the end of the two-week module, end of course, and after the Hackathon by the evaluator using Qualtrics software. The evaluator was also on-site at the Hackathon, making observations. The evaluator shared the feedback with the project team and discussed during one of the monthly project meetings to enhance the course content. The third course on "Data Visualization and Tools" was developed and taught to 16 students at Purdue University in the spring of 2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Planning for the 2024 Digital Ag Hackathon has commenced. A proposal is being submitted to the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) to teach a workshop to other university educators at a preconference workshop to provide exposure to project resources and to help others utilize the products developed. A web framework is being developed to facilitate sharing of the course content with universities in the US and globally. Planning is underway to conduct two webinars with past beneficiaries before the end of the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Since the Project began, the PI and Co-PIs have worked diligently via distance to establish a two-week module and courses to be taught at partner universities (Purdue University/lead, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University), as well as Hackathons hosted in 2022 and 2023. Since Spring 2021 to summer 2023 course enrollments, this Project has reached 4,496 students in classrooms/virtual classrooms and 32 students who participated in the initial Digital Ag Hackathon. The following module and courses were developed to meet Objective 1: Two-week Course Module "Introduction to Ag Informatics" (Leads: Jim Krogmeier and Dennis Buckmaster) completed in year 1 and taught during years 1-3 (starting spring 2021); Semester Course 1: "Introduction to Agricultural Informatics" (Lead: Ankita Raturi) - Taught during years 2-3 (starting fall 2021); Semester Course 2: "Machine Learning and Vision for IoT" (Lead: Somali Chaterji) - Taught during years 2-3 (starting spring 2022); and Semester Course 3: "Data Visualization Tools & Applications," (Lead: Dharmendra Saraswat) - Taught during year 3 (starting spring 2023). To address Objective 2, the second Digital Ag Hackathon was hosted in July 2023 at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Omaha, Nebraska.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Souleymane Fall *, Kapo Coulibaly, Joseph Quansah, Gamal El Afandi, Differential Urban Heat Vulnerability: The Tale of Three Alabama Cities Authors: Under review, Urban Science, urbansci-2699894
Conference Presentations and Proceedings
Doria Garcia, Ruben, J. Quansah*, S. Fall, and D. Mortley. Integrated modeling approach to sustainable agricultural water management within underserved communities. 81st Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, October 29th -31st, 2023. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, Montgomery, AL.
Olakanmi, Eniola E., J. Quansah*. and D. Mortley. Literature Review: Adoption of Cover Crop Practices Among Minority And Socially Disadvantaged Farmers. 81stAnnual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, October 29th -31st, 2023. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, Montgomery, AL.
Gutierrez Diaz, Sara., J. Quansah*, R. Chen, and S. Fall1. Literature Review: Status of Micro-Credentials as A Means For Professional Advancement For Minority Groups. . 81st Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, October 29th-31st, 2023. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, Montgomery, AL.
Ruben d. Doria-Garcia, Joseph E. Quansah, and Souleymane Fall (2023) Use of National Water Model Forecast Product to Enhance Agricultural Land Management within the Middle Alabama Basin. Conference on Water, Climate, and Food Security, Prairie View A&M University, 9-10 March, 2023
Julia Atayi, James Hunter, Dong Hee Kang, and Joseph E. Quansah (2023) Flood Hazard Mapping Using Geospatial and Multi-Criteria Analysis. Morgan State University, April 17, 2023
Julia Atayi, James Hunter, Dong Hee Kang, and Joseph E. Quansah (2023) Flood Hazard Mapping Using Geospatial and Multi-Criteria Analysis. CSAWWA/CWEA Spring Meeting, on Thursday, WSSC Water's Bright Dam, Brookeville, MD. May 4, 2023
Ebbuah, L., R. Zabawa, J. Quansah, S. Fall, T. Gautam (2022). Spatiotemporal Trends of Food Insecurity Within the Alabama Black Belt Region. 80th Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, November 13-15, 2022. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, Montgomery, AL.
Christian Peterson, Jasmine Boone, Joseph Quansah and Olga Bolden-Tiller. Development of an Ethogram for Computer-Based Detection of Estrus in Housed Does. 80th Annual Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, November 13-15, 2022. Renaissance Montgomery Hotel and Spa, Montgomery, AL
Fall S, Abdallah E, Quansah J, Franklin M, Whalley-Omidire, T. County-level Assessment of Vulnerability to COVID-19 in Alabama. 2022. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2022, 11, 320. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi11050320
|
Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University. Changes/Problems:A total of 3,211 undergraduate and graduate students were exposed to the "Introduction to Ag Informatics" two-week module, where they received an introduction to coding, Python, and other relevant skills to help them have increased exposure and to gain knowledge and skills in ag informatics so they may have an awareness and minor experience with it for their future coursework and/or employment experiences. The total two-week module student enrollment for year two of the evaluated courses was 89, compared to 66 in year one, for an increase of 26%. Of the 89 students participants in the two-week module taught in courses evaluated, in fall 2021, the breakdown of students were at: Purdue (N=16 ; n=16) and TU (N=8; n=8); and in spring 2022 at Purdue (N=44; n=34) and UK (N=21; n=11). Seventy-seven percent (77.5%; n=69) of the students consented to and completed the follow-up survey. Students from Purdue made up 72.4% of the entire sample of responses, followed by the UK (16%), and TU (11.6%). The respondents' classification ranged from freshman to doctoral students, thus indicating various degrees of exposure and/or experience in Ag Informatics. Some students were or may have first been exposed to Ag Informatics/Python during the Module, while others may have taken one or more full semester courses on the topics presented. Purdue has more faculty than the other two institutions who work more in agricultural informatics, with more courses to integrate the two-week Module. The respondents' general feelings about the Module, on average, hovered around a general agreement on the factors asked of them, with the mean score of 2.73 (where 2=Disagree; 3=Agree) being the lowest to respondents that "The information on Ag Informatics was easy to understand." Students found the topics interesting, the module was organized in a manner that helped them understand topics, and they agreed on average, that understanding Ag Informatics is important to them. They were satisfied with their professor's knowledge level of Ag Informatics. Therefore, the module should continue to be taught because students found the information interesting and important. Some students alternately found some information challenging to understand. On average, respondents accounted that the two-week module helped contribute to their knowledge, skills, and personal development "quite a bit" or almost quite a bit in the areas of thinking critically and/or analytically, problem-solving independently, and learning effectively on their own so they can identify, research, and complete a given task in Ag Informatics/digital science, and working effectively with other individuals. Thus, students appeared to work independently and in groups on some of the two-week module educational components. As a result of more of the respondents being classified as a freshman (26.1%), as well as other undergraduate students, it is possible they faced more challenges with the module material as it may have been more novel to them than to upperclassman students. Instructors should understand that this feedback is from students enrolled in the three universities by multiple faculty and consider the results with this knowledge. Yet, these results show a snapshot of how students have received the module across the Project. This can be expected as this module was created to introduce new topics. It is recommended that the two-week module be taught in courses during future semesters. Given the findings, it is evident that the Introduction to Ag Informatics module taught participants new, challenging material that they found useful yet challenging. The evaluation results provide useful information regarding students' reception and perspectives of the module and how professors may improve the module to increase student understanding and learning. Moving students towards full semester courses on Ag Informatics will continue to help students build career-specific computational thinking and software development skill sets and increase students' competencies for Ag Informatics careers. Some students who completed the introductory two-week module in courses participated in semester-long courses, "Introduction to Ag Informatics" at Purdue, UK, and TU during Year 2. A total of 39 students completed this course across all three universities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Since the beginning of the Project, the following module and courses were developed to meet Objective 1: Two-week Course Module "Introduction to Ag Informatics" (Leads: Jim Krogmeier and Dennis Buckmaster) completed in year 1 and taught during years 1-3 (starting spring 2021); Semester Course 1: "Introduction to Agricultural Informatics" (Lead: Ankita Raturi) - Taught during years 2-3 (starting fall 2021); and Semester Course 2: "Machine Learning and Vision for IoT" (Lead: Somali Chaterji) - Taught during years 2-3 (starting spring 2022). The two-week course module was presented in current university courses where the faculty teach. Semester course 1 was a new course developed and piloted during Year 2 at all three universities. The semester course 2 was piloted during Year 2 at Purdue University only due to a lack of enrollment at the University of Kentucky. This course will potentially be taught in UK and TU during Year 3. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a Hackathon could not be held during Year 1 of the Project. To address Objective 2, the initial Digital Ag Hackathon was hosted in July 2022 at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Houston, Texas. The Hackathon successfully brought 14 students together to help them gain digital ag informatics experiential experience of a project, from Ideation to Presentation of a project involving coding and other skills. The Hackathon consisted of a virtual orientation before the event and a one-day in-person session, with introductory information provided in person, followed by student groups working the remainder of the first day and during the ASABE Meeting for approximately two days. On the morning of the following day, at the end of the Meeting, student groups presented their project plans and early schematics. Furthermore, to address Objective 2, 15 open-source websites, 11 forums, six Github organizations, and 656 videos were developed and utilized for the two-week module and new semester courses. An additional course was developed and taught at Purdue University in spring 2022, which took the "Introduction to Ag Informatics" semester course a step further and deeper into the content. This course was titled "Research & Practice in Agricultural Informatics" and had a student enrollment of eight students. A second additional course, "Edge Computing and IoT," was developed during the summer of 2022 and is currently being piloted at Purdue with two students to allow students to delve deeper into the content beyond the content of the \ "Machine Learning and Vision for IoT" course. The third semester-long course on "Data Visualization and Edge Computing" will be taught in spring 2023 at Purdue University. The target audience of all courses and Hackathon was upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A proposal was submitted to teach a workshop to other university educators at a North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) preconference workshop to provide exposure to our project's success, resources, and to help others utilize the products developed. The PI and Co-PIs disseminated about the project outcomes by participating in professional conferences and helped students demonstrate their agricultural informatics skills by participating in the hackathon. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The Computational Skills Development for Next Generation Agriscience Professionals for Sustaining Data Driven Agriculture team members persist in striving for continued success and having a larger reach of students in courses through the two-week module and new courses as Year 3 has begun. Planning for the 2023 Digital Ag Hackathon commenced in August 2022 and a proposal was submitted to North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) to teach a workshop to other university educators at a preconference workshop to provide exposure to our Project's success, resources, and to help others utilize the products developed.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Since the Project began, the PI and Co-PIs have worked diligently via distance to establish a module and courses to be taught at partner universities (Purdue University/lead, University of Kentucky (UKY), and Tuskegee University(TU)), as well as a Hackathon hosted in 2022. From Spring 2021 to August 2022 course enrollments, this Project has reached 3,283 students in classrooms/virtual classrooms and 14 students who participated in the initial Digital Ag Hackathon. The total enrollment for Year 1 (533 students) exceeded the expected enrollment figure (427 students) noted in the project proposal. However, there were more students enrolled at Purdue overall and fewer at UK and TU than expected. For Year 2, the total enrollment exceeded the expected enrollment in the proposal by 53.7%, with a greater population of students attending Purdue than in the UK and TU. The higher number of students at Purdue is a result of the participation of Dr. Mark Ward, teaching the two-week module content within his online courses at Purdue as a part of The Data Mine program.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
6. Saraswat, D., Gao, Y., & Hancock, B.3 (2022). Teaching Geospatial Programming and Data Science to AgriScience Students: Analyzing Weather Data Network (WDN) in Jupyter Notebook. Case Studies and Modules for Data Science Instruction ():1-7 ASABE, https://tinyurl.com/235vvezr
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Quansah, J. (2022, March 9-11). Co-organizer and session chair of the Envisioning 2050 in the
Southeast: AL-Driven Innovation in Agriculture Conference, Auburn AL.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Valcin B. J., Quansah, J., & Kpomblekou, A.K. (2022, March 9-11). Applications of artificial intelligence in soil science: A review. Peer reviewed poster presentation. Envisioning 2050 in the
Southeast: AL-Driven Innovation in Agriculture Conference, Auburn AL.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Peterson, C., Boone, J., Quansah, J., & Bolden-Tiller, O. (2022, March 9-11). Development of an Ethogram for Computer-Based Detection of Estrus in Housed Does. Peer reviewed poster presentation. Envisioning 2050 in the Southeast: AL-Driven Innovation in Agriculture Conference, Auburn AL.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Dvorak, J., Raturi, A., Franke-Dvorak, T. C. (2022, July 17-20). Teaching introduction to agricultural informatics. Peer reviewed poster presentation. 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Houston, TX.
|
Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University, University of Kentucky, and Tuskegee University. Changes/Problems:Biggest challenge had been to obtain IRB approval from multiple institutions in a timely manner. It has been a great lesson to learn so far. Minor budgetary adjustments have been made as per request from PI and Co-PIs. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The 2-week module introduced in existing courses (ASM105 and ASM540, Purdue) and a new semester long course on Introduction to Agricultural Informatics (ASM591 at Purdue, AEC 500/BAE 599 at UK) has taught participants new, challenging material. The courses are designed to help students build career-specific computational thinking and software development skill sets and increase students' competencies for Ag Informatics careers. The evaluation results provide useful information regarding students' reception and perspectives of the module and how professors may go about improving the module to increase student understanding and learning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There were 43 students enrolled in ASM 10500 at Purdue and 23 students enrolled in BAE 305 at UK, for a total of 66 students (N=66) for the 2-week module. A total of 15 students at Tuskegee were provided with the recorded lectures for the 2-week module at the end of the spring 2021 semester in virtual mode but only eight students completed it. ASM591/AEC500/BAE499 is being offered in fall 2021 at Purdue University to 13 for-credit students (10 graduates and 2 undergraduates) and 2 auditing (1 graduate and 1 undergraduate). The number of students at UK for the course stands at 8 for-credit students (5 graduates and 3 undergraduates). A follow-up survey was conducted of the participating students. Though, forty students consented to complete the follow-up survey for 2-week module, only 37 (n=37; 56%) of them completed it. No Tuskegee students completed the follow-up survey. The outcomes of participants' feedback on the 2-week module, what they liked the most and least about the module, their interest in learning more about Ag Informatics, how they work best on project work, and their personal skills in learning and education resulted in feedback from 56% of the students participating in the two-week module, cumulatively from Purdue and UK. The biggest extent to which the 2-week module contributed to participants' knowledge, skills and personal development indicated as "very much" was in "thinking critically and/or analytically," followed by "problem solving independently," which lends true to the module as the topics require data analysis and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Most of the respondents indicated the module helped them to some extent "acquire job or career related knowledge and skills in Ag Informatics/ Digital Science." What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The evaluation results provide useful information regarding students' reception and perspectives of the 2-week module and how professors may go about improving the module to increase student understanding and learning. The evaluation outcome of full semester long "Introduction to Agricultural Informatics" course is expected to provide further scope of improving understanding of new areas. By the next reporting period, the second new semester long course would have also been taught and the teaching for the third new course begins.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During fall 2020 the PI and co-PIs met to discuss about institutional requirements for organizing two-weeks teaching modules and development of new courses to be offered. Utilizing the project proposal plan and discussions through monthly (or some times more frequent) meetings were helpful in finalizing the new two-weeks module content and the structure of a semester long Introduction to Ag Informatics course. Throughout fall 2020, lesson plans and exercises for the 2-week module, were discussed and implemented into semester courses already planned to be offered at Purdue University (Purdue), University of Kentucky (UK) and Tuskegee University (TU) during the spring 2021 semester. As a result of challenges with getting an IRB approved at three institutions, no IRB was approved for the pilot semester of the 2-week module in spring 2021 as well at the beginning of fall 2021. The findings of year one of the project (fall 2020 to early fall 2021) for objective 1 is given below: Objective 1: Progress on 2-week module: A total of four lectures and two lab exercises were offered during the 2-week module. Students were not expected to have any programming experience. Each lecture was designed such that students could implement the content to solve a problem in their area of study. For example, Week 1, lecture 1 included use of Python code to compute field capacity (acres/hour) of a tractor-implement combination as a function of speed, implement width, and swath efficiency. Similarly, Week 1, lecture 2 included an example for data wrangling and visualization on county average wheat yields using data from USDA NASS. The two lectures were followed by a lab exercise where students were first provided a demonstration on chutes and ladders game using Excel. Subsequently, they were assigned a home work problem to a) write a program which plays a game between two people until one wins and produces a record of the game play, b) time permitting, convert single game code into a function and then write a program to play a large number of games one after another keeping a record of who won and how long the game lasted, c) compute statistics and/or histograms, and d) explore how changes to the positions of chutes and ladders might change the game. Week 2, lecture 3 was designed to teach skills for visualization of wheat yield data sourced from USDA-NASS. Week 2, lecture 4 taught elementary mapping skills using API calls with examples from thedogapi and USDA NASS. The lab 2 was designed to allow students to perform step by step examination of county average corn yields over time for a state of the student's choice. Solution skeleton was given with blanks to fill in based on examining the code in the wheat yields example. The course content was offered using mybinder.org that allowed git repository to be converted into interactive notebook. Progress on new semester long courses: A new semester long course on "Introduction to Agricultural Informatics (3 credits, 2-50 minutes lecture and a two-hour lab every week for 15 weeks)" has been developed and is being offered to both undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University and UK during fall 2021 semester. A total of seven major topics in the form of 2-week module on themes such as, web design, data exploration, web applications, data management, user interfaces, geometric processing, and the future of ag tech, are introduced during lectures. The students are offered seven hands-on lab exercises on the same themes. (please expand on novel pedagogy used). The students are engaged in one cross-cutting project, split into three parts (motivation, ideation, and proposed solution) culminating in a final presentation, and a final exam that evaluates cumulative learning. In addition, each module includes at least one invited guest speaker showcasing real world agricultural data and technology work, for a total of 10 guest lectures. The guest lectures were hosted and recorded at Purdue University, and subsequently viewed by students at UK. The participating students also undertook field trip to Agricultural Research Centers at the respective universities.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Saraswat, D. and S. Gang.2021. Teaching Geospatial Programming and Data Science to AgriScience Students: Analyzing Weather Data Network (WDN) in Jupyter Notebook. Trans. ASABE.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Saraswat, D. and S. Gang.2021. Teaching Geospatial Programming and Data Science to AgriScience Students: Analyzing Weather Data Network (WDN) in Jupyter Notebook. In 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting Invited Session on Instructional Case Studies with Data Sets for YOUR Instruction.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Krogmeier, J.2021. Two-week Introductory Python Module. In 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting Invited Session on Instructional Case Studies with Data Sets for YOUR Instruction.
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