Course Description
Graduate students will work directly with extension or service faculty to gain first hand experience on how to deliver scientific or technical knowledge to diverse audiences. Emphasis will be placed on matching students to extension personnel most appropriate to their area of scientific training.
Athena Title
POULTRY PRACTICUM
Non-Traditional Format
Students will be assigned to conduct an extension or service function with an extension or service faculty. Scheduling will be arranged to accommodate this function.
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall, spring and summer
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is to give graduate students the opportunity to gain experience in extension or service information delivery systems (as opposed to more traditional seminar or scientific meeting presentations). Many of our students seek academic or service positions where transfer of technical information is a requirement. However, for the most part, exposure to extension and service information delivery systems is not readily available in college. This practicum, variable from 1 to 3 hours, depending on the depth of experience opportunity, is designed to put graduate students in a one-to-one relationship with University extension or service faculty to allow them to participate in these functions. The course instructor, a member of the graduate faculty, will arrange projects between individual students and extension or service specialists, maintain contact, and grade the performance similar to internship classes. The expected outcome is for our M.S. and Ph.D. students to gain direct educational experience on how to effectively deliver scientific and technical data to user groups and industry personnel. This will be an excellent opportunity for those graduates with an interest in university extension, technical service and communicating science to the public.
Topical Outline
Each student will have a unique opportunity over a wide range of possible activities. Since students will be personally matched to an extension or service individual, these experiences may include working in the field on problem solving exercises, helping to organize workshops and short courses, and working closely with extension scientists to learn the concepts and techniques of information delivery. Each student will earn credit based on the depth and time allocation for a given project. Students would have the option of a 3 hour intensive experience in one area. They may also opt to take any combination of 1 and 2 hour classes, up to 3 credit hours maximum, to gain experience in more than one area or information delivery format. All students, regardless of course hours, will be required to submit a final written report of their activities approved by the extension or service faculty member at the end of the semester. The final grade will be assigned by the instructor of record based on the final report and recommendation of the specialist involved.