Results of an assessment to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on American Indian reservations in the Western United States

Purpose: This paper reports the results of survey research conducted with tribal producers between 2011 and 2012 on 19 of the largest American Indian reservations in Idaho, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. The purpose of the research was to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on reservation lands. This article reports the results of this research in an effort to promote Extension professionals' understanding of these barriers, which may help to improve outreach programs on American Indian reservations. Understanding the obstacles to sustaining agriculture that American Indian tribes face may inform international agricultural outreach efforts to increase food security targeting indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Design/Methodology/Approach: American Indian agricultural producers comprised the study group. Study objectives included: (1) identify agricultural and natural resource issues of greatest concern to a self-selected sample of tribal agricultural producers on reservation lands; (2) evaluate access to Extension and other US Department of Agriculture outreach and assistance programs; and (3) evaluate the quality of these programs in terms of their relativity to tribal needs.

Findings: Study results indicate that tribal agricultural producers surveyed ranked 29 of 39 agricultural and natural resource issues as a concern. Similarly, they rated access to and quality of outreach programs as fair. Further, tribal producers operating on reservation trust land rated issues more severely than did tribal producers operating on fee simple lands.

Practical Implications: Results of this research will help Extension and other outreach professionals to understand the barriers indigenous and tribal peoples face in sustaining agricultural operations, particularly tribal groups living on federally reserved trust lands, such as American Indians. An increased understanding can inform agricultural policy-makers and outreach professionals in improving programs designed to increase agricultural sustainability, improve food security, enhance economic well-being and improve quality of life of indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Originality/Value: This research provides important information to agricultural policy-makers and Extension professionals striving to sustain agricultural productivity and enhance food security with indigenous and tribal peoples.     

Defining the nature of blended learning through its depiction in current research

ABSTRACT

Blended learning has been a feature of higher education practice and research for almost two decades. This article takes stock of current blended learning research, contributing to the growing number of meta-analyses of higher education and blended learning research more generally, through a review of ninety-seven articles relating to blended learning in higher education published in fifteen journals between 2012 and mid-2017. The review focused on where and when the articles were published; their provenance, scale, scope; methodological approach; the broad research themes; and definition of blended learning used. The review shows that despite its ubiquity, blended learning’s definition is all-encompassing; its spread is global but research is dominated by key players; it is of technical interest; and its research is small-scale, individually focused, seeking to evidence the benefits of blended learning. The article concludes with recommendations of how higher education research could provide institutions with evidence to ensure their ‘best of blends’.     

Enhancing nursing home care for seniors: impact of a living classroom on nursing assistant’s education

ABSTRACT

Nursing Assistants (NAs) are the largest workforce in nursing homes, but often lack adequate preparation for their role. The Living Classroom (LC) is an integrated learning approach, whereby a NA program is delivered in a nursing home (NH) in collaboration with a community college. This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of the LC. Mixed methods were used to gather data from 48 NA students, 5 faculty, and 42 NH staff over 30 weeks. Students, faculty, and nursing home staff described the LC as a positive learning experience. Students’ gerontological knowledge increased over time (p = .0012). Students reported very positive relationships with program mentors and NH residents. The LC provides a unique approach to prepare NAs to work in nursing homes. This model could expand to other educational programs with a gerontology focus.     

THE DELPHI: EDUCATION AND ASSESSMENT IN INSTITUTIONAL GOAL SETTING

This paper describes and analysies the use of a delphi research methodology to assess faculty perceptions of institutional needs and goals in an osteopathic medical education program. Use of the delphi to educate faculty in the administrative and political functioning of the institution as well as to involve all faculty in the refinement of specific needs and goals is discussed. Full‐time clinical and basic science faculty of the New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine provided an example of the varied uses of the delphi research methodology in higher education and specifically in profesiional higher education. The three rounds of the delphi procedure produced faculty consensus on the following institutional variable items: (a) the philosophical and functional orientation of the curriculum; (b) location and design of the physical campus facilities and environment; (c) faculty issues of tenure, promotion, salary and merit; (d) teaching, and the evaluation of teaching; (e) student characteristics and admissions policies; and (f) administrative structure and communication networks.     

Secondary science teachers' knowledge base when teaching science courses in and out of their area of certification

This study examined the similarities and differences in experienced secondary science teachers' planning, teaching, and reflecting on their teaching, when teaching in their science area of certification and when teaching in another science area. The study also focused on the influence of these teachers' content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge on their planning, teaching, and reflecting. Experienced teachers were observed and interviewed while teaching classes in their science area of certification, and in another science area they were teaching for the first or second time. Both similarities and differences in teaching were found in the two areas for all three teachers. For example, their planning and postlesson reflections were similar in both areas. In the interactive phase of teaching more differences were observed. Many aspects of their teaching resembled that of expert teachers in other studies. In the unfamiliar science area, the teachers sometimes acted like novice teachers. However, they were able to draw upon their pedagogical knowledge to provide a framework for their teaching in both science areas. Their wealth of pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge for general science topics, seemed to sustain them in whatever content they were teaching. Recommendations for further study and implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Collaborative Development and Evaluation of an Online Nursing Course

Institutions of higher education acknowledge that online learning represents a growing segment of the modern learning environment, and most students have mastered basic computer skills. However, reluctance to engage in online learning remains among both faculty and students. This article presents a case study of three schools of nursing that collaboratively developed and implemented an online undergraduate-nursing course. The article discusses the challenges that were encountered by faculty and students. The faculty used the distance education literature to address these challenges related to technological, institutional, and pedagogical aspects of online learning, as well as the recruitment and retention of online learners. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. The paper concludes with suggestions to overcome the challenges of online learning, such that faculty and students receive the inherent rewards.     

‘You want us to teach outdoor education where?’ Reflections on teaching outdoor education online

This article reports on the experiences of two lecturers working at the University of Tasmania required to teach outdoor and sustainability education (O&SE) courses online. Using an (auto)ethonographic case-study approach, the lecturers were interviewed with a view to exploring their perceptions, challenges, ethical dilemmas, tensions, opportunities and experiences in this space. A number of themes emerged, including commitment to quality teaching and learning, the role of experience, and experiential learning, in the online space, the challenge of fostering a connection to place, difficulties faced when trying to develop a learning community, and the role of professional learning and support in terms of pedagogy and technology in the online space. These themes, and their implications for teaching and learning in higher education both generally, and specifically in O&SE, are discussed in light of what is a mounting body of literature exploring the move to online delivery in higher education.     

The Perceptions of Administrators Concerning the One Florida Initiative

The purpose of this study was to discover the perceptions of Florida law school administrators on the impact of the OFI （one Florida initiative） and the addition of two MSI （minority serving institution） law schools on diversity in Florida＇s legal profession. This research explored the impact of Governor Bush＇s EO （executive order） on diversity within the SUS （state university system） of Florida law schools. Further, this study examined the impact of the creation of two MSI law schools after implementation of the OFI, as perceived by the administrators. The concept of CRT （critical race theory） provides modern legal debates outlining the usefulness of historical civil rights policies in opinionated climates. This study will examine the role of CRT in relation to affirmative action and desegregation case law. CRT forms the framework for examining the impact of the creation of two MSI law schools in the state of Florida. In conclusion, this study found that minority representation in law schools has improved in Florida as a result of the OFI as well as the addition of two MSI law schools. Black representation, however, continues to lag behind other races, particularly the Hispanic population. This study concluded that the OFI has helped improve minority representation in the legal profession.     

The deployment and training of teachers for remote rural schools in less-developed countries

In less-developed countries schools in remote rural areas are likely to be poor in quality. One important aspect of this in certain contexts is the comparatively low quality of teachers and the high rate of teacher turnover in rural schools in these areas.It is likely that contributory factors are the ways in which posting and transfer procedures operate, inadequate preparation and support for teachers, and their own characteristics, values and interests. For purposes of analysis, two models are suggested which illuminate the policy assumptions behind different strategies used to try to remedy the situation. The rural deficit model tends to encourage the use of compulsory posting and incentives while the rural challenge model searches for better ways of preparing teachers for service in remote rural schools.From analysis of the literature, the author suggests that there are four inter-related features of contemporary teacher-education programmes which have potential and should be developed if good teachers are to be attracted to and retained in remote rural schools. These are field-based preparation, teamwork in training, community support of training and the recruitment and preparation of local teachers. A few examples of schemes employing these principles are described briefly.

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Zusammenfassung In weniger entwickelten Ländern sind die Schulen in abgelegenen ländlichen Gebieten oft von minderwertiger Qualität. Einen wichtigen Aspekt davon bildet die Unzulänglichkeit der Lehrer und der häufige Lehrerwechsel.Zu den verantwortlichen Faktoren gehören wahrscheinlich die Einstellungs- und Versetzungsverfahren (unzureichende oder unangemessene Vorbereitung und Unterstützung der Lehrer) und deren eigene Charakteristiken, Werte und Interessen. Zu Analysezwecken werden zwei Modelle vorgeschlagen, welche die den verschiedenen Strategien zur Verbesserung dieser Situation zugrundeliegenden Annahmen beleuchten. Das ländliche Mangel-Modell soll die Anwendung von Zwangsversetzungen und Anreizen fördern, während das ländliche Herausforderungs-Modell nach besseren Vorbereitungsmethoden für Lehrer in entlegenen Landschulen sucht.Aus einer Analyse der einschlägigen Literatur folgert der Verfasser, daß es vier miteinander verknüpfte Eigenschaften von Lehrerbildungsprogrammen gibt, die Potential haben und entwickelt werden sollten, wenn Landschulen gute Lehrer anziehen und behalten sollen. Diese Eigenschaften sind feldbezogene Ausbildung, Teamwork in der Ausbildung, Unterstützung der Ausbildung durch das Gemeinwesen und Anwerbung sowie Ausbildung örtlicher Lehrer. Ein paar Beispiele von Programmen, in denen diese Prinzipien zur Anwendung kommen, werden kurz beschrieben.

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Résumé Dans les pays les moins développés, les écoles des campagnes reculées sont généralement d'une qualité inférieure. L'un des aspects importants de cette situation est, dans certains contextes, la qualité médiocre des enseignants et le taux élevé des mutations dans le personnel enseignant de ces écoles rurales éloignées et isolées.Il est probable que les facteurs contribuant à cet état de choses sont les procédés de nomination et de transfert (préparation inadéquate, soutien insuffisant des enseignants) et leurs propres caractéristiques, valeurs et intérêts. Deux modèles sont proposés à l'analyse et éclairent les assumptions gouvernementales par les diverses stratégies mises en oeuvre pour tenter de remédier à la situation. Dans le cas de la carence rurale on a tendance à encourager les nominations coercives et les mesures d'incitation, tandis que dans le cas du challenge rural on recherche de meilleurs moyens de préparation des enseignants au service dans les écoles des campagnes reculées.En s'appuyant sur l'analyse des écrits inspirés par ce sujet, l'auteur avance qu'il existe quatre caractéristiques corrélatives des programmes de formation actuelle de l'enseignant présentant un potentiel et qui doivent être développées si l'on veut attirer les bons enseignants et les retenir dans ces écoles rurales. Ce sont: la préparation sur le terrain, le travail en équipe pendant la période de formation, le soutien de la communauté apporté à cette formation, le recrutement local et la préparation locale des enseignants. Quelques exemples de systèmes mettant ces principes en pratique sont brièvement décrits.