Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience are current CMI students; prospective students from high schools and their teachers, the general public (especially parents of K-12 school children) attending outreach events that are promoting academic/training programs in agriculture/agroforestry. We also continue to work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce (MNRC) and other Governmental, parastatals and Non-Governmental Organizations (including embassies). MNRC sponsored one (1) student in a training workshop and arranged for our students to participate in their outreach programs. The target audience reached during the reporting period included incoming students that attended new student orientation (over 1000); 242 current CMI students who attended one of the class presentations given by Dr. Ekta in CMI 101 (First Year Seminar) and other courses; over 400 public members and government officials and college and high school students who participated in the 2022 and 2023 World Food Day (October 2022 and 2023). Visits were made to local high schools (Marshall Islands High School, Life Skills Academy, Assumption School, and Marshalls Christian High School, Rongrong) to create awareness of the Agroforestry program among about 500 senior students. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PD and the Co-PD's, individually or as a team, attended USDA NIFA Zoom webinars of workshops/trainings that helped to develop our knowledge about the project and about other NIFA grants and opportunities. Four staff members of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce with agricultural/agroforestry backgrounds attended professional training on how to teach and one of them, who has since joined the College, contributed to taecxhing one of the courses as an Instructional Assistant. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Program was introduced toCMI students and staff during the Open House activities. The program pamphlet was updated and distributed to students and members of the Public (well over 1,500 by now). The program was also presented to students in the First Year Seminar (CMI 101),Mathematics, Environmental Sciences, Biology, and Climate Change classes. Nearly 150 students attended the presentations and were briefed about the relevance of Agroforestry to RMI and the need to major in AE-HSL. The program was presented during the Public School System's Education Week's Career Fair Day hosted at the College's Campus. Students from Life Skills Academy, Marshall Islands High School, and Kwajalein Atoll High School, were given pamphlets describing the program. We participated in the World Food Day celebrations in2022 and 2023. Free seedlings and seeds were displayed and later distributed to participants. To provide skills and further encourage interest in Agriculture/Agroforestry through transitional activities and to prepare potential students with the new Agroforestry AS Program, the College conducted Agriculture Summer Camps at the College's main campus and two Distance Education Centers (Ebeye and Wotje). Over 60 students attended the summer camps. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
?Major goals of the project The goal of this project is to create a more climate-resilient, self-reliant, healthy, and entrepreneurial population in the Marshall Islands through new college courses. What was accomplished under these goals? We developed a new program: an Associate's degree in Agroforest Education for Health and Sustainable Livelihoods (DLAE - HSL) with two specialty tracks in Agro-ecology, and Textiles and Plant-based Cultural Arts. The program's outlines and curricula, developed with in-house expertise complemented by Fiji National University (FNU) expertise, was approved by the College's governance structure up to the Board of Regents. In August 2022, The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) gave its approval for the College to offer the program. The grant has been successful in opening access to higher education in Agroforestry/agriculture in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As of Spring 2023, we have 21 students registered in the program (15 single major and 6 dual major registrations). The syllabi for all the 11 courses were developed and vetted internally. The digital materials for all the courses were collected and uploaded online, ready to be offered in blended learning mode through our learning management system - Moodle. This means that students in our remote, neighboring island communities that largely depend on agriculture and subsistence economy have access to the program and courses. We already have one student taking classes from our Wotje Campus. The Learning Designer facilitated this process by liaising with the external consultants (Fiji National University) and local course developers and by ensuring the quality control of the process and output. After the pilot of one of the courses in Fall 2022, three courses were taught fully in Spring 2023: AGF 106 CONCEPTS IN AGROFORESTRY AND TERRESTRIAL with 6 registered students, AGF 107 NUTRIENT DYNAMICS IN AGROFORESTRY with 5 registered students and AGF 108 FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: TRADITIONAL CROPS FOR HEALTH also with 5 registered students. One of the registered students is a Distance Education student thereby allowing us to test this mode of teaching before expanding it in the future. Rather than being a disadvantage, the low numbers of registered students in these courses allow for a more efficient piloting of the courses. Based on experiences and feedback from piloting efforts the courses will be evaluated and revised. The pilot results will also be used to strengthen all the courses including those not yet taught. Four more courses were taught during the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters bringing to eight the number of the newly developed courses that are now pilotted. The Chair of the Departmentserves as the academic adviser of all the students registered in the program. She also doubles as the mentor of the students which is possible due to their small number and her desire to practice intrusive advising to encourage students' persistence (in attendance and academic pursuit). This intrusive advising model combines traditional academic advising with academic assistance and personal/career counseling. She engages the students on a one-to-one basis and through social media platforms (especially Gmail chat). She has found the latter to be especially efficient in reaching the students timeously as they respond to messages faster on chat than on emails. Two of the College's CRE Land Grant staff served as Instructional Assistants in two of the courses in the program. Since they are both local, they brought local flavor and knowledge to the delivery of the courses, especially in the form of traditional ecological knowledge. Being Marshallese who have qualified in Agriculture and Forestry at the bachelor and master levels and are working in the agroforestry career, they also serve as mentors to the students. The one-year no-cost extension allowed for the evaluation of the project to confirm and verify that the 11 new courses are fully developed, affirm and verify that the AS-AEHSL degree is rolled out, and test the efficacy and retention of contents of the new courses taught for the Associate Degree.The review affirmed that the AS-AEHSL degree program is being rolled out with two pathways that could be acquired by enrolling and completing the newly developed 11 courses, and other pre-existing courses, that relate to the program. This confirms that the activities and tasks set out for the project were completed. The review identified printed and virtual publications (information pamphlets and promotional videos) available for advertising the program and its courses. The review can be accessed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmv7BU2SnJOKv7UHiZVNm4VuowWwlb_8/view?usp=sharing
Publications
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Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience are current CMI students; prospective students from high schools and their teachers, the general public (especially parents of K-12 school children) attending outreach events that are promoting academic/training programs in agriculture/agroforestry. We also continue to work with Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce (MNRC) and other Governmental, parastatals and Non-Governmental Organizations (including embassies). MNRC is sponsoring one (1) student in a training workshop. The target audience reached during the reporting year included incoming students that attended new student orientation (over 1000); 148 current CMI students who attended one of the 12 class presentations given by Dr. Madan in CMI 101 (First Year Seminar) and other courses; over 200 public members and government officials and college and high school students who participated in the 2022 World Food Day (October 2022); and 47 high school students who attended presentations at two local high schools (Life Skills Academy and Assumption School) in an effort to raise awareness and build interest in Agroforestry among the senior students. Changes/Problems:The original plan was to have simultaneous curriculum development and co-creation which will accelerate the completion of the draft classroom product so that they can be "market-tested" by students on the four (4) CMI campuses/centers as soon as late 2022 or early 2023. We were not able to offer all the courses simultaneously because our accreditation agency (ACCJC) requires that the entire program documents go through the sub-change process for a new program before we could launch any of the courses as part of the new program. This approval only came in Fall 2022. We have requested a one-year no-cost extension (August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024), to allow for the piloting of more courses and expand on data gathering before requesting the external evaluator's input. Moreover, we have not been able to conduct the external review of the project in the last two months of the grant performance period as indicated in our proposal. Due to a currently heavy workload and the shortness of time, our external reviewer has declined to conduct the review. We will have to look for a new reviewer or request our original reviewer to reconsider her stance if we are granted a no-cost extension for a year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PD and the Co-PD's, individually or as a Team, attended USDA NIFA Zoom webinars of workshops/trainings that helped to develop our knowledge about the project and about other NIFA grants and opportunities. Marshallese Agricultural/Forestry professionals working at the CMI Land Grant and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce completed Cert IV in training and assessment thereby equipping them to teach some of the program courses. Being Marshallese, they will not only teach in the program but will also serve as role models for the students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Program was introduced to current CMI students and staff during the College's Open House activities. The program pamphlet was updated and distributed to over 200 students and members of the Public. The program was also presented to students in First Year Seminar (CMI 101) and in Mathematics, Environmental Sciences, Biology, and Climate Change classes. Nearly 150 students attended the presentation and were briefed about the relevance of Agroforestry to RMI and the need to take a major in AE-HSL. The program was presented during the Public School System's Education Week's Career Fair Day hosted at the College's Campus. Students from Life Skills Academy, Marshall Islands High School, and Kwajalein Atoll High School, were given pamphlets describing the program. We participated in the World Food Day celebration on the 15th of October 2022. Free seedlings and seeds from the College's garden were given to participants and served as outreach and recruitment tool. To provide skills and further encourage interest in Agriculture/Agroforestry through transitional activities and to prepare potential students to the Program, the College conducted Agriculture Summer Camps in the College's main campus and two of the College's Education Centers (Ebeye and Wotje). Nearly 60 students attended the summer camps. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan for more intense awareness campaigns among High School students. Emphasis will be on developing and executing a marketing strategy that will reach out to the community, especially K-12 school children and their parents, on the importance of food security and why taking a major in Agroforestry Education will benefit them and the nation. There is a need for a person dedicated to the recruitment of students into the program. For Fall 2023, we will collect data, analyze them and report on student academic success. We will carry out an internal assessment of the courses taught to date using survey/other tools to collect data on students' perceptions of the ease, efficacy, and retention of the content taught in the courses to look for ways that the courses can be improved. We will also report on the number and type of recruitment, outreach, and student activities. To date, four courses in the program have been delivered. We hope to expand on the number of courses delivered that can be tested by the students as part of our review process. With a one-year no-cost extension, we will approach our original reviewer to reconsider her stance and agree to review the program. In the alternative, we will look for a new reviewer. Whatever the case, we will work with the reviewer to develop the review process and the tools necessary for the review as well as carry out the process to a conclusion.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We developed a new program: Associate's degree in Agroforest Education for Health and Sustainable Livelihoods (DLAE - HSL) with two specialty tracks in Agro-ecology, and Textiles and Plant-based Cultural Arts. The program's outlines and curricula, developed with in-house expertise complemented by expertise from Fiji National University (FNU), was approved by the College's governance structure up to the Board of Regents. In August 2022, The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) gave its approval for the College to offer the program. The grant has been successful in opening access to higher education in Agroforestry/agriculture in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. As of Spring 2023, we have 21 students registered in the program (15 single major and 6 dual major registrations). The syllabi for all 11 courses were developed and vetted internally. The digital materials for allcourses were collected and uploaded online, ready to be offered in blended learning mode through our learning management system - Moodle. This means that students in our remote, neighboring island communities that largely depend on agriculture and subsistence economy have access to take the program and courses. We already have one student taking classes from our Wotje Campus. The Learning Designer facilitated this process by liaising with the external consultants (Fiji National University) and local course developers and by ensuring the quality control of the process and output. After the pilot of one of the courses was taught in Fall 2022, three courses were taughtin Spring 2023: AGF 106 Concepts in Agroforestry and Terrestrial Ecosystemswith twelve (12)registered students, AGF 107 Nutrient Dynamics in Agroforestrywith five (5) registered students and AGF 108 Food Sovereignty: Traditional Crops for Healthy Lifestyleswith five (5) registered students. Another course, AGF 205 Climate, Food Security and Health was offered in Summer 2023 with nine (9) students. One of the registered students is based at a CMI Center on a neighboring Island thereby allowing us to test this mode of teaching before expanding it in the future. Rather than being a disadvantage, the low numbers of registered students in these courses allow for more efficient piloting of the courses. Based on experiences and feedback from piloting efforts the courses will be evaluated and revised. The pilot results will also be used to strengthen all the courses including those not yet taught. Dr. E Madan, as the Chair of the Department, currently serves as the academic adviser of all the students registered in the program. She also doubles as the mentor of the students which is possible due to their small number and her desire to practice intrusive advising as a way to encourage students' persistence (in attendance and academic pursuit). This intrusive advising model combines traditional academic advising with academic assistance and personal/career counseling. She engages the students on a one-to-one basis and through social media platforms (especially Gmail chat). She has found the latter to be especially efficient in reaching the students timeously as they respond to messages faster on chat than on emails. In order to complement the efforts of Dr. Madan as the sole Faculty in the program, the CMI Land Grant is expanding the teaching faculty by assigning human and financial resources to teach the courses in the program.
Publications
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Progress 08/01/21 to 07/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:A half-day sensitization workshop on the program was presented to the Natoinal leaders and other stakeholders for their information, valuable contributions and inputs. Opening remarks was given by Minister of Natural Resources & Commerce and a statement from a NIFA Representative was also delivered.The total number of participants were 50 comprising of stakeholders from Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce (Agriculture and Forestry Departments), Taiwan Technical Mission, Local farmers, Local farmers' associations, Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA), Marshall Islands Service Corporation (MISCO), Canvasback Wellness Center, CMI Land Grant, Marshall Islands Association of Handicraft Businesses, Ministry of Heallth and Human Services (MoHHS), Life skills Academy (LSA), Pacific Regional Education Learning (PREL), RMI Public School System (PSS), National Training Council (NTC), Youth Corp, Local Government, Mayor's Association, Office of Commerce, Investment & Tourism (OCIT), International Office of Migration(IOM) etc. The Associate Degree was received as being critical in responding to the food security needs of RMI with the potential to increase the human and material capacity for local food production. Changes/Problems:Change in PD. The original plan was to have simultaneous curriculum development and co-creation which will accelerate the completion of the draft classroom product so that they can be "market-tested" by students on the four (4) CMI campuses/centers as soon as late 2022 or early 2023. The requirement for the College Governing Structures and the ACCJC to approve programbefore courses can be delivered meant that co-creation could not be achieved. We may require an extension to the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PD and the Co-PD's, individually or as a Team, attended USDA NIFA Zoom webinars of workshops/trainings that helped to develop their knowledge about the project and about other NIFA grants and opportunities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Program was introduced to current CMI students and staff during the College's Open House activities on November 19 2021. A program pamphlet was developed and distributed to over 50 students and members of the Public. The program was also presented to students in First Year Seminar (CMI 101) class. Fourteen (14) students attended the presentation and were briefed about the relevance of Agroforestry to RMI and the need to take a major in AE-HSL. The program was presented during the Public-School System's Education Week's Career Fair day hosted at the College's Campus About 100 students were given the pamphlets describing the program. Later in the year, the program was presented to 32 Grade 12 students from Life Skills Academy (both at CMI and at their school), and to 54 Marshall Islands High School and Kwajalein Atoll High School students. These opportunities for program drive were used to emphasize the importance of how getting an AS degree in Agroforestry from CMI may help the students in building a brilliant future prospect for themselves and the nation and this was well received by the students. The sensitization workshop was reported in the RMI Journal Newspaper. The program's activities were featured in the College's magazine (Jilel) What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?More intense awareness campaign among current CMI students is planned for onwards.The plan is now to extend this to all the High Schools in RMI though concentrating on those in Majuro.Course material development and student recruitment are still in progress.The uploading of the courses on Moodle will be at the same time as course material development and this will be facilitated by the Learning Designer.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The curricular for all the eleven courses were developed, seven in house and four through a contractual agreement with Fiji National University. Three additional curricular dealing with internship were also developed in-house making 14 new courses in all. The course outlines and other program documents including the budget for the program were approved by all the requisite College Governing structures (Curriculum Committee, Institutional Effectiveness Committee, Faculty Senate, Executive Council, and Board of Regents). However, by the time the last approval was received, it was too late to meet the deadline for submission to ACCJC. Four (4) students from the LA has already signed for the AGF 106 course and more are expected by start of Fall 2022. To provide skills and further encourage interest in Agriculture through transitional activities and to prepare potential students with the new Agriculture AS Program, the College hadconducted Agriculture Summer Camps in 3 of the College's main campus and Distant Education Centers (Majuro, Ebeye and Wotje).
Publications
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