Purpose: Audience response system technology has been found to have modest learning and larger non-cognitive impacts on students in traditional secondary and post-secondary learning environments. The impacts of this technology are less understood for learners in informal settings, including for farmers in training provided by extension services.…

Researchers have long recognized that instructors face distinctive challenges at different career stages. While much work has been done on developing best practices around early career faculty, the literature only pays scant attention to later-career or senior faculty (Sorcinelli, 1999; Zeig and Baldwin, 2013). The most common challenges cited by…

The teaching profession is facing difficulty recruiting and retaining talent in the U.S., especially in STEM subjects. This study identifies the key experiences that shaped the academic paths and career plans of 10 pre-service teachers in STEM education who are participating in a loan forgiveness programme in North Carolina. Using life history…

The medical profession, as well as allied health careers, in the United States continues to experience a lack of diversity in terms of the number of African Americans practicing in these fields. This work highlights a postsecondary program developed to increase the population of Black physicians and health care workers throughout the nation: the…

A team of economic development, local foods, and tourism specialists from North Carolina Cooperative Extension is pursuing an initiative titled Fork2Farmer. The goal is to increase visits to local farms and diversify farm income by leveraging the high visibility of well-known farm-to-table chefs who support local small farms. To do this, those…

An understanding of foresters' perceptions of climate change is important for developing effective educational programs on adaptive forest management. We surveyed 1,398 foresters in the southern United States regarding their perceptions of climate change, observations and concerns about climatic and forest conditions, and knowledge of and interest…

Two decades ago, at a time when much of the country faced looming teacher shortages, a number of states invested in comprehensive strategies for strengthening the teaching profession. For example, and drawing upon recommendations from the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, both California and North Carolina built statewide…

Community colleges always have played an integral role in training workers for infrastructure- and transportation-related fields like truck driving, construction, welding and electrical work. If the $1 trillion infrastructure package proposed by President Donald Trump comes to pass, these fields will grow significantly, at least for a while, which…

Purpose/Objectives: Farm to school (FTS) programs have many benefits, including potential for increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by students. However, there are challenges with hourly school nutrition employees' abilities to successfully process local produce and promote it to students. The purpose of this study was to identify…

As part of a larger study designed to explore the gardening practices and educational needs of North Carolina chefs who cultivate restaurant gardens, the chefs' desired areas of knowledge and preferences for delivery of educational material were identified. As a result, a plan for North Carolina Cooperative Extension to use in developing…

Interest in local foods began in the early 2000s and has grown substantially over the past decade and a half. Although Extension is addressing local food systems in many states, training and materials in this program area are nascent. To address this circumstance, we developed a graduate course on local food systems for Extension educators.…

This report examines the status of women in North Carolina in terms of their employment, earnings, and occupations. The report includes an Employment & Earnings Composite Index comprised of four indicators--women's median annual earnings, the gender wage ratio, women's labor force participation rate, and the share of employed women in…

Pesticide exposure represents a significant occupational health hazard for farmworkers, and handwashing is one strategy to reduce exposure via the dermal route. After learning about recent research findings regarding the lack of handwashing utilized by North Carolina farmworkers in the field, the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program approached…

In this article, occupational safety interventions for agriculture-related jobs, specifically in aquaculture, are reviewed. Maintaining quality of life and avoiding economic loss are two areas in which aquaculturists can benefit by incorporating safety protocols and interventions on their farms. The information in this article is based on farm…

Retaining qualified teachers in America's schools is one of the nation's challenges in education. Current research revealed teacher turnover had risen to 16.9% nationally, which equates to 2.7 million teachers, including 2.1 million who left the profession before retirement. In order to make a positive change in teacher retention, teacher…