Incubators in the Classroom is an extension program designed to teach fourth-graders about egg hatching. More than 15,000 Indiana students have used the learning materials, which include incubators, lesson guides, and CD-ROM learning guides. The Purdue extension service is in the process of conducting critical evaluation of the program. (SK)

Using exploratory factor analysis, data from 132 agriculture faculty showed that they rated the academic rigor of off-campus courses (in terms of active learning, effort, and high cognitive levels) lower than on-campus courses. Their opinions were not related to their experience with distance teaching. (SK)

In a Canadian adult education program on sustainable agriculture, stakeholder participation in planning reconfigured power relationships. Farmers successfully influenced program design, even when their assumptions differed from educators. The project showed the importance of social and political dimensions of learning and of educators' recognition…

Pennsylvania's 4-H youth program faculty and staff (n=16) participated in electronic brainstorming to determine priority needs for curriculum revision. The 46 areas needing revision were refined by 33 county Extension educators using interactive software on the World Wide Web. A curriculum priority list emerged that is being used for resource…

Quite a few papers in the two journals, The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension and The Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, deal with ideas for future education towards sustainability and extension and advisory service as facilitation. Both subjects include participatory learning and/or farming systems approaches based on systems…

This article examines the nuances of conducting evaluation of and in nonformal education programs and settings. The author examines a set of universal evaluation issues--evaluator role, stakeholder involvement, program theory, capacity building, strategy selection, and evaluation use--as they occur and interact within nonformal education…

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is the formally designated Sea Grant College for the State of Connecticut, serving as the "flagship" university for the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program (CTSG). While a small marine extension program began in 1974 in conjunction with the Cooperative Extension System, the program did not receive…

Both direct and indirect measures of learning outcomes provide data that can be used to improve learning. The research reports a study of an indirect measure of learning outcomes in an MBA program. The measure was a Post-Then format using a five point Likert scale. Thirteen courses were analyzed generating 107,440 responses over a 5-year period.…

Educators who work in community settings often encounter participants with a wide array of individual leadership beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. Given this situation, one of the challenges we face is to identify effective methods and tools to teach leadership in community and organizational settings. As an educator, it is important to…

Job satisfaction factors related to motivation of a random sample of 325 agents in Kenya's extension service in the Rift Valley Province were identified. Data were collected using a group-administered, closed-ended, forced-choice questionnaire with 105 job satisfaction, 10 motivational, and 10 personal characteristics items between January and…

Four major changes have occurred in public policy education during the past 5-0 years. First, public policy educators have richer and more complicated discussions about the relative benefits of advocacy and objectivity in policy education. Second, public policy educators and community developers are moving toward a genuine merger of content and…

Evaluation is critical to demonstrating program value and impact and to better communicating outcomes to stakeholders. Purdue Extension Health and Human Sciences (HHS Extension) created an evaluation tool based on the need to collect statewide metrics on a standardized set of questions addressing the topics of food, family, money, and health. This…

Article described the efforts of the Kamehameha Schools to teach a program of Hawaiian subjects to help the young citizens of Hawaii in their quest for knowledge and skills in this culture. (Author/RK)

A study was conducted to (1) determine the level of burnout, job satisfaction, personal strain, occupational stress, and personal coping resources of associate directors, assistant directors, and district supervisors of the Cooperative Extension Service in the North Central Region; (2) determine the extent of association between burnout and…