Progress 09/01/11 to 02/28/15
Outputs
Target Audience: The mainaudience for this project was composed of: 1. Science and Agricultural Sciences high school teachers from various municipalities (Adjuntas, Aguada, Aguadilla, Peñuelas, and Utuado) 2. Faculty from the Department of Agricultural Technology (DAT) at the University of Puerto Rico- Utuado (UPRU) 3. First and second year college students from DAT students at UPRU and students from the high schools were the participant teachers work All members of the audience are Hispanic and most come from rural areas. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This project provided many training and professional development opportunities. A need assessment study was performed at the beginning of the project to better design the workshops. Through this assessment, educators demonstrated a need for basic technology workshops. Six educational workshops on incorporating DE technologies in the classroom were designed and offered. The first five focused on freely available resources and were designed for both high school teachers and DAT faculty, while the last one was designed for faculty only since it involved the use of a paid license that was not available at the participating schools. The workshops were: 1. Use of Google Drive for Developing Presentations, 2. Use of Google Drive for Developing Forms and Spreadsheets, 3. Webpage Creation using Blogs, 4. Development of Educational Videos using Windows Movie Maker, 5. Using Social Media as an Educational Tool, and 6. Developing Educational Modules using Adobe Captivate 5. Workshop materials were shared with participants and with the university's webmaster to make them openly available through the project's page. Another workshop that was directed to faculty focused on how to use the videoconference system in room C-113 (DE classroom). The DE classroom was also used to present seminars by two researchers from the mainland. "Biodiversity in the City: Gardens, Native Plants, and Insects that Provide Ecosystemic Services" by Dr. Stacy Philpott form University of California- Santa Cruz and "Integration of Hogs into Apple Systems" by Dr. Matthew Grieshop from Michigan State University. More than 50 students actively participated in the seminars. The project also provided the directors with the opportunity to present the results at different professional meetings, including the 1st Meeting of Women in Agroecology (Tapachula, Mexico), the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM Networking Conference (San Juan, PR), the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/ Conference (Washington, DC), and the Annual Meeting of the Puerto Rican Society of Agricultural Sciences (Rincon, PR). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Some of the project results were presented at the 1st Meeting of Women in Agroecology (Tapachula, Mexico) in February of 2013, the ADVANCE Hispanic Women in STEM Networking Conference (San Juan, PR) in March of 2014, the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/ Conference (Washington, DC) in August, and the Annual Meeting of the Puerto Rican Society of Agricultural Sciences (Rincon, PR) in November of 2014. The project's webpage and Facebook page helped for promoting activities.There is still email and phonecommunication with theparticipating teachers.Results have also been disseminated at departmental and faculty meetings and through administrative reports for the university. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project's goal was addressed by working on each of the target objectives as described below: a) Train UPRU faculty and science high school teachers in DE technologies: Faculty and teachers from our target audience were trained through six workshops on different DE techniques. Although participation on the workshops was not as high as expected (30-40% of the invited educators), there was representation from all the targeted schools and from schools outside our area. There was an increase in DE technologies knowledge, as evidenced by pre and post workshop test results. As a final analysis, participating teachers were contacted at the end of the project period to follow-up on what techniques they were still using in their classrooms. The survey was answered by 73% of the participating teachers, and almost all of them reported using at least one of the technologies learned at the workshops. Only three of the teachers mentioned they use the training for personal purposes and not in their classrooms. One attributed it to not having the facilities in her classroom, while the other two no longer teach and have administrative positions in the Department of Education. This demonstrates project success at training and promoting the use of DE technology. b) Designate one classroom of UPRU's Agricultural Technology building to DE activities: A classroom (C-113) was equipped and assigned for DE activities. Through this project, the internet infrastructure in the Agricultural Technology building was improved and now all students (around 400) and faculty (18) have access to a reliable connection and are able to use it for their studies. The videoconference room has been used for various activities, including videoconferences by researchers from outside the island (Dr. Stacy Philpott and Dr. Matthew Grieshop), workshops for faculty and students in the department, and the presentation of an Informational Session on USDA Careers. c) Promote the interaction of high school science teachers and UPRU faculty: This interaction was promoted during the workshops, through emails and social media. An important output is the teacher-faculty network that was developed. Teachers have contacted faculty they met at the workshops to offer talks at their schools and have brought their students to visit the university and departmental facilities. One of the teachers that now works in an administrative position at Puerto Rico's Department of Education, has expressed interest in working collaboratively for developing new proposals between his Department and the university. d) Develop a pilot seminar course that incorporates DE technologies and agricultural science topics of global interest: After the successful completion of the pilot course, the information acquired from it was used in the development of a course syllabus and materials. The new course name is "Current Issues in Sustainable Agriculture Seminar" and it is set to be a one credit course. The forms and materials required for creating a course at the University of Puerto Rico were prepared and submitted to the Head of the Department of Agricultural Technology for the completion of the procedures. It is expected that the course will be approved and that students will be able to register for the Spring Semester of 2016. The designated DE classroom (C-113) will be used to teach the course. e) Evaluate the effect of incorporating DE technologies in agricultural science classes in student performance and motivation: Although there were no significant differences in performance between students participating in courses incorporating DE technologies and courses that did not use them, there was a high degree of satisfaction with the technology use. Students in two of the courses incorporating DE technologies were also handed a satisfaction survey. The survey was answered by 72 students and 93% of them reported that the use of online teaching modules helped them through their learning process, with 88% that consider their grades improved because of their use. Also, 85% of students reported that educational videos helped them to better understand course concepts. The use of a Facebook page for the course was not considered as helpful, with only 38% of students reporting it as very important.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ramos-Rodr�guez, O., M. Ramos and Y. Hernandez. 2014. Promoting the Use of Technology as a Teaching Tool for Science and Agriculture Courses. Poster Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Puerto Rican Society of Agricultural Sciences, Rincon, Puerto Rico.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ramos-Rodr�guez, O. 2014. Improving Connections at the University of Puerto Rico-Utuado. Oral presentation at the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/Conference, NIFA-USDA. Washington, DC.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Ramos-Rodr�guez, O. and M. Ramos. 2013. Experiences in Teaching Agriculture. Oral presentation at the 1st Meeting of Women in Agroecology. Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
http://www.uprutuado.edu/academicos/proyectos/mejorando-tecnicas-educativas-ciencias-agricolas
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: This year our project’s target audience was: 1. Faculty from the Department of Agricultural Technology at our institution, University of Puerto Rico-Utuado (UPRU). 2. First and second year college students from the Department of Agricultural Technology, UPRU. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This year's main training and professional development opportunities were: 1. The “Developing Educational Modules using Adobe Captivate 5” workshop for UPRU’s faculty given on December 12, 2013. This workshop was developed and taught by Prof. Yesenia Hernández, co-PD for this project. 2. The “Biodiversity in the city: gardens, native plants, and insects that provide ecosystemic services” videoconference for UPRU’s faculty and students given on May 7, 2014. Presented by Dr. Stacy Philpott, University of California- Santa Cruz. 3. Dr. Olgaly Ramos-Rodríguez attended the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/Conference in Washington, DC from August 4 to 6, 2014. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated at departmental and university faculty meetings and through administrative reports for the university. Also, Dr. Ramos-Rodríguez attended the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/Conference in Washington, DC from August 4 to 6, 2014. She presented part of the project’s results on August 5 and the title of her talk was “Improving connections at the University of Puerto Rico-Utuado”. Information has been submitted to our university’s web page manager so he can update the results at our project page. Also, an abstract for a poster presentation was prepared. The poster presentation wil be part of the Puerto Rican Society of Agricultural Sciences Annual Meeting this November. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? A request for a no-cost extension was submitted and granted until February 28, 2015. During the first four months (September to December) the pilot course will be taught and data will be collected. Also, workshop participants will be given questionnaires to assess how many of the new technologies learned are being used in their classrooms. We expect that the project’s webpage will be updated by the beginning of next semester. The recorded videoconferences will be posted so that the general public will have access to all the workshop and seminar contents. We expect to present results from this project at the SOPCA (Puerto Rican Society of Agricultural Sciences) Annual Meeting in November. Some researchers asked for their seminars to be set for the Spring semester, so we will include those videoconferences in another Agricultural Orientation course. We plan to record and edit those videoconferences too, in order to make them accesible to the general public. The final two months of the extension period will be used to complete the project evaluation and the final administrative procedures. We also expect to submit to the university's administration the final syllabus and additional documents requested for the creation of a new seminar course using DE technologies. In addition, some of the project’s results will also be used in the development of a manuscript to be submitted for publication.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
An additional workshop was organized to accomplish our first objective. It was given on December 12, 2013. This workshop was designed for the Department of Agricultural Technology (DAT) faculty, so they could learn how to use the Adobe Captivate software. The title of the workshop was “Developing Educational Modules using Adobe Captivate 5”. Pre and post tests showed that this was the participants’ first interaction with the program and that they learned new techniques on developing educational modules. Although 40% of DAT faculty participated in the workshop, the training module was made available to all faculty members. Recently, more licenses for the Adobe Captivate program were acquired by the university so we expect to repeat the workshop and include more of UPRU’s faculty members. The designated classroom for DE activities has been used for seminars and videoconferences throughout the year. For example, UPRU’s students had the opportunity to interact with Dr. Stacy Philpott, a recognized researcher in the field of agroecology, through a seminar organized for this project. She gave a videoconference, using the equipment acquired through this proposal, titled “Biodiversity in the city: gardens, native plants, and insects that provide ecosystemic services”. Dr. Philpott gave her seminar in Spanish, facilitating the interaction with all the students attending. Seven faculty members were also part of the audience. The videoconference was recorded and edited, so it can be accessible for interested teachers and faculty. Educators can use this seminar as part of their courses to give students a broader knowledge of research outside the island. We expect to add this video and modules from future videoconferences to our webpage. Since communications with our faculty-teacher network have continued through email and our Facebook page, we expect these educational aids to be used by our participants. A pilot seminar course is being taught this semester by incorporating the DE techniques and seminars in a basic agricultural orientation course. We expect to gather data on student satisfaction in order to submit it with a course description and syllabus for the administration approval next semester. The syllabus was designed this year, but it will be finished after we gather and analyze student’s information from this semester’s pilot course.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Ramos-Rodr�guez, O. 2014. Improving Connections at the University of Puerto Rico-Utuado. Oral presentation at the 2014 Joint ANNH/DEG/RIIA PD Meeting/Conference, NIFA-USDA. Washington, DC
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Our main target audience for this reporting period included: 1. Science and Agriculture High School teachers from various municipalities: Adjuntas, Aguada, Aguadilla, Peñuelas, and Utuado. 2. Faculty from the Department of Agricultural Technology (DAT) at the University of Puerto Rico- Utuado This project’s efforts also reached DAT students by providing them access to internet in their classrooms andby training faculty on integrating distance education techniques in their courses. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This year training opportunities included one workshop on how to use the videoconference system at the Agricultural Technology building and two workshops for high school teachers and UPRU’s faculty: 1. Development of Educational Videos using Windows Movie Maker 2. Using Social Media as an Educational Tool How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Two of the project directors (O. Ramos-Rodríguez and M. Ramos) presented part of the project’s accomplishments at the 1st Meeting of Women in Agroecology celebrated last February at Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. This meeting gave us the opportunity to broaden the list of researchers for the pilot seminar course and to develop a bigger network for the faculty and teachers participating in the project. The project’s webpage was developed and is part of UPRU’s main page, but we have also kept the Facebook page to maintain the interaction with teachers. Project activities and information have also been disseminated through the university’s email account, department and faculty meetings,and at the Academic Senate meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period UPRU students will be able to participate on the pilot seminar course and they’ll be exposed to research in topics of global interest. We’ve invited teachers to participate in this seminar and they’ve expressed interest in getting their students involved. This year we will be developing strategies that will allow us to disseminate the information presented at the seminar course to those students. We expect to maintain our teacher-faculty network and to increase the number of teachers that bring students to our campus for talks or workshops. The final year of the project will also focus on evaluating the effect of the incorporated DE technologies on students’ performance and motivation. We expect to find higher satisfaction among students that are exposed to the new techniques.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project’s main goal was addressed by working on each of the target objectives. Project accomplishments related to each objective are described below: a) Train UPRU faculty and science high school teachers in DE technologies: We continued with workshop development and trainings for UPRU’s faculty and high school teachers. Two of the workshops developed attracted high school teachers from three new schools. This was motivated by teachers that had attended workshops during the previous year and asked if they could invite other teachers. Although these new schools were out of our focus area, we welcomed the new participants, especially because they teach high school agriculture. Teachers from the target schools and UPRU’s faculty continued to participate. b) Designate one classroom of UPRU's Agricultural Technology building to DE activities: All the final steps for classroom development were accomplished. The videoconference equipment was successfully installed and tested. A workshop was offered for faculty members that will be using the classroom for DE activities. Thanks to this project, students (420 students) and faculty (19 faculty members) in the Agricultural Technology Building have access to a reliable internet connection and are able to use it for their courses. c) Promote the interaction of high school science teachers and UPRU faculty: This interaction was promoted during the workshops, through emails, and through the project’s Facebook page. The project director also visited the participating schools and contacted teachers by phone. An output of this interaction was that teachers have contacted faculty members they met at the workshops to offer talks at their schools. Also, there are plans for various groups of high school students to visit UPRU and to use the facilities of the Department of Agricultural Technology for hands-on experiences in agriculture. d) Modification of curricula to include a new seminar course: A pilot seminar course was developed and a calendar for seminar presentations was prepared. In order to develop the calendar, numerous researchers in areas of global interest for agriculture were contacted. Some of the research topics that will be presented to our students during the final year of the project include climate change, crop systems adaptation to climate change, food security, and agroecology. Presenters will include researchers from Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and USA. e) Evaluate the effect of incorporating DE technologies in agricultural science classes in student performance and motivation: Evaluation instruments and an evaluation plan for this objective were designed and will be implemented during the next reporting period.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Ramos-Rodriguez, O. and M. Ramos. 2013. Experiences in Teaching Agriculture. Oral presentation at the 1st Meeting of Women in Agroecology. Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
http://www.uprutuado.edu/content/mejorando-las-tecnicas-educativas-conocimiento-en-ciencias-agricolas
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The project proposal stated that, during the first year, efforts were going to be focused on developing distance education (DE) workshop content, evaluation tools and the DE classroom, in addition to project start-up administrative activities. Evaluation tools were developed and project accomplishments were assessed by an external evaluator. This first year focused on three of the main objectives. These are listed below with the outputs related to them: 1. Train University of Puerto Rico at Utuado (UPRU) faculty and science high school teachers in distance education technologies: All faculty members (18) in the Department of Agricultural Technology (DAT) and all Science and Agriculture teachers form high schools in the municipalities of Utuado and Adjuntas (23 in 5 schools) were visited and a description of the project was provided to them. The project director also met with DAT's director, UPRU's Chancellor, the school principals, and the regional office of the Department of Education. Approximately 86% of all the invited educators agreed to participate in the project by either attending the DE workshops or involving their students in the seminar pilot course that will be offered next semester. When meeting and interviewing educators for the need assessment, we realized that there was a need for basic technology workshops, and these were developed based on the needs of the participants. Three had been offered and included the use of Google Drive (for developing presentations, documents and forms), blogs and webpage development for educational activities. Two more workshops, on developing videoconferences and educational modules are scheduled for this December. 2. Designate one classroom of UPRU's Agricultural Technology building to distance education activities: All the administrative processes were completed in order for a classroom to be designated for the DE activities. All the equipment was acquired. This classroom is the first one to be developed in DAT building and will promote the use of DE techniques in the courses offered by the department. Due to complications when installing the optic fiber for the internet connection, the classroom has not been used yet. The project is in the final stage and it is expected that the connection will be ready by the end of this year. Future workshops and the pilot seminar course will be offered there next semester. 3. Promote the interaction of high school science teachers and UPRU faculty: Faculty and teachers have participated together in the workshops and facilitators have arranged it so that they interact during all the activities. After interacting with teachers during this year we have received their students in our campus to use our laboratories and other facilities. Many schools in the area don't have the technology or the laboratory equipment, and teachers are aware now that they can come and use ours. Participants have talked about the project to teachers in other schools and the December workshops are going to be attended by Agricultural Sciences teachers from other municipalities of the island. This type of scientific networking is essential for the continued success of the project. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: 1. Dr. Olgaly Ramos-Rodriguez (PD) was in charge of administering all aspects of the project, including school visits, meeting coordination, materials and equipment purchases, following the timetable, submission of evaluation forms and reports, and dissemination of results. 2. Prof. Yesenia Hernandez (CoPD) has developed the educational workshop modules and facilitated them. She also designed and administered the workshop evaluation forms and the pre and post tests. 3. Dr. Mariangie Ramos (CoPD) has participated in all meetings and aided in coordinating workshops. She is developing the seminar course that will be offered next semester. 4. Mrs. Maria Aponte acted as the external evaluator for the project. She met with the project directors and aided in the design of the need assessment and evaluation tools. As part of her responsibilities she prepared an annual evaluation report for the project. Training/ Professional development: 1. Science and Agricultural Sciences teachers from all high schools in the municipalities of Adjuntas and Utuado, and from a special program for school deserters. All of them are rural public schools. There is only one in Adjuntas named Jose Emilio Lugo High School. There are three in Utuado: Jose Vizcarrondo Aneses, Luis Munoz Rivera, and Antonio Reyes. The special program is called Even Start. 2. Faculty members from the Departments of Agricultural Technology and Natural Sciences. 3. A representative from the Puerto Rico's Department of Education Regional Office. TARGET AUDIENCES: Efforts, including the technology workshops and the development of a DE classroom, were focused on the following target audience: Faculty members for the Department of Agricultural Technology (DAT) at University of Puerto Rico-Utuado and Science and Agricultural Sciences teachers from all the high schools in the municipalities of Adjuntas and Utuado. Next year we expect to also include high school and DAT students. Our audience is composed of an all Hispanic population from the central rural region of Puerto Rico. This region has many socioeconomic challenges, including high poverty and unemployment rates, as well as low education levels. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Outcomes are delineated below in relation to the main objectives they relate to: 1. Train University of Puerto Rico at Utuado (UPRU) faculty and science high school teachers in distance education technologies: There was an increase in DE and information technology knowledge, as demonstrated by comparing participants' pre and post workshop test results. The workshops developed through this project, promoted the participation of representatives from all schools that were contacted. Although teacher participation was always around 30- 40%, there was always someone to represent each institution in order to communicate their experience to their colleagues. Agricultural Technology faculty has asked to get more training opportunities on the development of educational modules. 2. Designate one classroom of UPRU's Agricultural Technology building to distance education activities: A pilot seminar course focusing on climate change and global food security will be offered next semester in this classroom. Students will have contact with researchers in these areas through webinars using the technology acquired through this project. 3. Promote the interaction of high school science teachers and UPRU faculty: Increased collaboration between UPRU faculty and high school science teachers was achieved. A professional network including UPRU's faculty and high school teachers has been developed. Faculty and teachers stay in contact though emails and social media (a Facebook page was created for the project). The project director visits schools regularly to promote new workshops and discuss how teachers are applying their new knowledge. Two high school principals have suggested the development of a formal Memorandum of Understanding between their schools and UPRU so that their students and teachers can benefit more from our resources. This agreement will also benefit UPRU's recruitment, since it can attract more students to the Agricultural Technology Department.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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