Describes an instructional telephone network at Kirkwood Community College (Iowa) which involves a four-wire telephone system allowing two-way conversations between the instructor and an unlimited number of outlying class meeting sites. Discusses the advantages and successes of the program. (AYC)

Examines a major research university's six-year effort to implement a program of cooperative research and extension in education that involved professional intermediaries, key school partnerships, and cooperative research and development projects. Proposes revisions to the cooperative extension model that should increase its capacity for…

Four administrators of the Cooperative Extension System share their views concerning recent substantial changes in the system's focus of programing, sources of funding, and organizational structures; the need for all disciplines involved in extension to grapple with societal problems; and relationships with institutions of higher education. (LP)

Relates how the publication of a book (written in Kikongo, an African native language) designed to raise peasants' awareness in Lower Zaire about desertification and other serious environmental issues had dramatic and surprising implications not only for the environment, but also regarding peasant literacy and the power of reading. (SR)

Describes 1999 federal funding to large general-assistance programs affecting small towns and rural areas (including Housing and Urban Development, federal disaster relief, rural extension activities, and Bureau of Indian Affairs assistance programs); increased funding for Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities; reauthorization of the Economic…

Extension (industry training) and VET (the formal Vocational Education and Training system), each vital to Australia's education and training for agriculture, have developed as separate domains. Recent research suggests that the potential of closer alignment should be further explored. Extension provides usually non-certified courses to primary…

Two approaches to providing information about beef cattle preconditioning to randomly selected farmers were compared in a study involving 12 small and part-time farmers in Madison County, North Carolina. Half the farmers received the information from an extension agent via face-to-face consultations, telephone conversations, and an educational…

This project increases opportunities for beginning farmers to learn about and implement sustainable farming methods through mutual-help discussion groups and continuing education opportunities. Local groups established in six areas in northeast Nebraska in 1991 constitute the Beginning Farmer Support Network (BFSN). At workshops held throughout…

This booklet contains summaries of workshop presentations at the conference on community development. This conference brought local community officials and leaders together with interested citizens to learn about successful rural community development activities occurring in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Sessions covered four main…

The case descriptions of two adult education programs in Portual contained in this document are part of a set that reflects a cooperative effort by adult educators to increase international understanding of various educational programs for adults in their societal context. A face sheet for each program provides this information: name,…

This document is the 15th annual summary of research and development in agricultural education in the United States. Authorized by the American Vocational Association, it is intended to show the direction of research in the field; help researchers researchers of efforts; and promote collaboration among researchers on a of efforts; and promote…

This paper provides an overview of research policy considerations and conceptual analyses for the South for three economic development issues: the relationships of Southern agriculture to rural areas and communities; trends and adjustments underway and having an impact on economic development in the region; and the directions economic development…

This issue contains six articles, reports, and essays on planning and organizing nonformal education in the Asian-South Pacific area. A chapter reprinted from "Planning Nonformal Education" discusses the need for planning, past efforts, and five steps in a strategy suggested for planning locally-oriented and target-specific nonformal…

An effective teaching technique for a university extension course for rural special education teachers is the respond/read/replicate/report system. The four-step system was developed to stimulate tired, beleaguered teachers with differing experiences, knowledgeability, and teaching/learning styles who drove up to 60 miles on country roads to…