Dissertations

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Browsing Dissertations by Discipline "Agricultural Education"

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    Decision-Makers' Perception of Quality Indicators for the Total County Extension Program
    (2005-11-10) Shaw, F. Daniel; Dr. Robert David Mustian, Committee Chair
    The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between decision-makers' perception of quality indicators and the socio-demographic factors, organizational factors and spatial factors. Fourteen randomly selected counties participated in the study. Local Extension decision-makers (county funding partners, Extension staff, and advisory members) were targeted in each county along with Extension administrators. Five hundred thirteen (513) survey instruments were distributed with two hundred fifty nine usable instruments returned (259) for a response rate of 50%. Three focus groups were used to validate and select quality indicators for the Total County Extension Program. The independent variables were socio-demographic factors (age, gender, ethnic background, and educational level), organizational factors (relational and primary role, length of association, intensity of interaction) and spatial factors (accessibility, size of staff, resident status). The research found that decision-makers' perception of quality indicators varied by organizational, spatial and socio-demographic factors. Organizational factors such as role (relational, primary) of the decision-maker had an influence on perception of quality. Intensity of interaction and accessibility (spatial) also has an influence of the decision-makers' perception of quality. Extension administrators were most often the decision-maker group that was significantly different from the county partners, advisory members and local Extension staff. Other socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity had little influence on quality indicators. Decision-makers' educational level had significant influence on quality indicators. Spatial factors of resident status and size of Extension staff had marginal influence on some indicators of quality.
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    The Impact of International Experience on the Global Mindedness of Extension Agents Employed by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.
    (2008-08-05) Smith, Daniel Beacham; Gary Moore, Committee Chair; K.S.U. Jayaratne, Committee Member; David Smith, Committee Member; Mark Kistler, Committee Member
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    Impacts of an Audience Response System on High School Agriscience Applications Courses
    (2005-09-06) Conoley, John William; Jim Flowers, Committee Member; Gary Moore, Committee Co-Chair; George Bostick, Committee Member; Barry Croom, Committee Co-Chair
    The purpose of this research was to ascertain the impacts of an audience response system on student achievement. Audience response systems are a group of developing technologies that have been adapted for use in classrooms, as a tool for providing feedback. A group of high school students, enrolled in an agriscience applications course, were examined to discover differences in achievement. Teachers integrated the audience response system into the classroom and students' tests scores were examined comparing the technology-based feedback methods with the verbal and written response-contingent feedback methods. Both student and teacher attitudes were examined to determine perceived impacts of the audience response system. The results of the study showed a significant increase in student achievement when integrating an audience response system. Some of the impacts of the audience response system, as perceived by students were a more fun classroom environment, an increase in participation, and an enhanced ability to understand the material presented. Impacts of the audience response system, as perceived by the teachers included an improved ability to analyze feedback from students, an increased focus on student learning needs, and spending more time in preparation for each class. The conclusions drawn from the results of this study show that audience response systems are a promising, developing technology for improving student achievement and positively impacting the classroom environment.