Purpose: Using the framework of Adult Learning Theory, this study worked to uncover the composition of rural landowners' information sources and learner characteristics that impact information-seeking behavior among maple syrup producers in Wisconsin. Design: Regression models were used to analyze data from a survey targeted at Wisconsin maple…

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of…

Planning for farm succession is vital to the longevity of the farm business. To understand the challenges with succession planning, the University of Wisconsin - Division of Extension facilitated focus group meetings across the state. These authors classified the information from the focus groups into eight codes, and each code was further…

Wisconsin Walloon is a heritage dialect of a threatened language in the langue d'oïl family that originated in southern Belgium and expanded to northeastern Wisconsin, USA in the mid-1850s. Walloon-speaking immigrants formed an isolated agricultural community, passing on and using the language for the next two generations until English became the…

The Wisconsin Art Therapy Association (WATA), formally established in 1969, was the first incorporated organization of art therapists in the United States. Under the leadership of Wayne Ramirez, WATA lobbied the national association for an inclusive definition of art therapy that aimed to foster respect for psychiatric, educational, and community…

This article presents an innovation in art therapy research and education in which art-based performance is used to generate, embody, and creatively synthesize knowledge. An art therapy graduate student's art-based process of inquiry serves to demonstrate how art and performance may be used to identify the research question, to conduct a process…

Soon after the Great Recession of 2008 hit this manufacturing stalwart of the upper Midwest, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker began proclaiming that the skills gap--the idea that plenty of well-paying jobs existed, but the educational system was failing to provide employers with skilled workers--was the primary cause of high unemployment and a…

Those following recent employment trends have heard about the nursing shortage. A combination of increased demand and impending retirements means 1 million nurses will be needed in hospitals, homes, and medical facilities by 2018. That's good news for job seekers. But it is not just shortages in nursing. Allied health careers, including…

During the twentieth-century, American engineers harnessed the atom, sent men to the moon, and literally reshaped the world. They re-routed rivers to create giant hydroelectric dams, created a massive and interconnected highway system, and designed skyscrapers, jets, computers, and the internet. As a modern profession, engineering boasted strong…

This article will briefly narrate illustrative life stories of some of the 450 men and women who taught in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, between 1919 and 1949 and identify and explain how they employed these options to build occupational pathways. Taken together, these "microbiographies" show patterns in the life trajectories of ordinary…

Background: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's (UWM) Urban Teacher World Pre-College Academy works with American high school students to explore what it means to be an educator in the urban context. High school students from underrepresented groups reside at the UWM campus to work with university faculty, staff and students to explore careers…

Many would say that while there are two ways to enter the teaching profession--traditional and alternative--there seems to be a common way to leave it: quickly. Across the board, more than half of beginning teachers leave teaching before their fifth year, and that percentage is even higher in urban public schools and for those prepared by some…

Manufacturers in the United States are struggling to recruit and hire high-skilled workers needed to maintain productivity and to compete globally. While the total number employed in the manufacturing sector is shrinking, the demand for high-skilled workers has increased. Community and technical colleges have traditionally been an important source…

Teach for America (TFA) is perceived as a major player in the education wars over the future of public schools, and a key ally of those who disparage teacher unions and schools of education, and who are enamored of entrepreneurial reforms that bolster the privatization of a once-sacred public responsibility. But what exactly is TFA's role in these…

The literature suggests that individuals, while agreeing that nontraditional occupations are appropriate for others, do not see them as appropriate for themselves. (JOW)