Building Faculty Capacity to Meet the Northern Mariana Island's Instructional & Community Needs in Ag & Family & Consumer Sciences

Project Director
Kock, T.

Recipient Organization
NORTHERN MARIANAS COLLEGE
P O BOX 1250
SAIPAN,MP 96950

Performing Department
CREES

Non Technical Summary
The Northern Mariana Islands needs qualified personnel to improve Agriculture and Family and Consumer Science programs and develop and teach Agriculture and Family and Consumer Science-related courses at the undergraduate level. Providing funding for 3 (+40% of current faculty) of Northern Marianas College's land-grant faculty to obtain Master's degrees online from land-grant institutions in the U.S. will increase faculty expertise, build human capital, and provide qualified personnel to create curricula and teach courses leading to Associate degrees in Agriculture and Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS). This project will take place over a 36month period.

Animal Health Component

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
903	6050	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

distance education

faculty development

Goals / Objectives
By Spring 2018, 3 faculty members will obtain graduate degrees:1 faculty member to obtain Master's degree in Aquaculture and Fisheries Sciences,1 faculty member to obtain Master's degree in Community Development,1 faculty member to complete Master's degree ( 2 or 3 semesters remaining) in Agriculture Education2 faculty obtain graduate certificates in Ag and/or FCS-related areaBy Fall 2017, Distance Education Director trains CREES faculty in the use online course development and Moodle (NMC's platform for offering online courses) to deliver course contentBy Fall 2018, develop course guides and online courses in Moodle for: Intro to Agriculture (Duponcheel), Intro to Aquaculture (Ogo), and Intro to Community Development course (Belyeu-Camacho)In Spring and Fall 2018, work with Marianas High School Agriculture class and club teacher to recruit first cohort of students to take Ag and FCS courses.By Spring 2018, identify potential land-grant institutions that offer 4-year degrees in Agriculture and/or FCS for articulation agreements.After grant ends in 2018:Spring 2019, Ogo, Duponcheel, and Belyeu-Camacho to offer courses developed in Fall 2018 online as elective courses in Associate of Science in Natural Resources Management;In Spring 2019 and by the end of Summer 2019, CREES faculty develop traditional and/or online courses in Human Nutrition, Plant Pathology, General Entomology, Agriculture Economics, Youth Development, Aquaculture of Fishes, Principles of Crop Production, Farm Management, Agriculture MarketingBy Fall 2019, offer classroom-based and/or online courses in Human Nutrition, Plant Pathology, General Entomology, Agriculture Economics, Youth Development, Aquaculture of Fishes, Principles of Crop Production, Farm Management, Agriculture Marketing

Project Methods
Graduate students will sign a Memorandum of Agreement that articulates the expectations for satisfactory degree progress and training completion. Unsatisfactory progress will result in one semester of scholarship probation. A second semester of unsatisfactory academic performance in degree program will result in termination of DEG funding. The MOA will also contain the following required meetings:For each semester of receiving funding for graduate degree:--Pre-semester meeting with program co-director to discuss degree plan and courses for semester term--Mid-semester progress report meeting with program director and co-director--End of semester evaluation by program director and co-director on degree progress & student self-evaluation--Reflective analysis at culmination of degree by Duponcheel (Summer 2016) & Belyeu-Camacho and Ogo (Spring 2018)--At the end of each semester, Co-Director will submit report to National Program Leader on progress of graduate students.Degree program developmentDegree program and course development will be under the direct supervision of the Dean of CREES. Dr. Kock's experience developing and teaching university courses as well as his years of teaching "in the field" will help to ensure that the development of courses will be done in a timely manner. Content and course-development experts from land-grant universities will be asked to peer-review--Training for CREES faculty, including DEG-funded graduate students, by Amanda Allen will include pre and post tests on online course development trainings. These results will be shared with PD, NMC Leadership Team, and DEG National Program Leader.--Spring 2018, develop at least 3 Ag and FCS-related courses

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Two primary audiences were reached this reporting period: department personnel (4) who need finacial support to build human capital throughgraduate education and undergraduate students (2) interested in obtaining higher education onHuman Nutrition. Changes/Problems:NIFA approved a DEG proposal from another department at Northern Marianas College which proposed to create Agriculture courses. Do to the similiarities between this DEG proposal and the other NMC proposal, we plan to instead create short extension courses (non-credit)in the subject areas which faculty are pursuing degrees in: Health, Community Development, and Agriculture Education. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The grant has provided much needed funding for current faculty members to obtain graduate degrees in subject areas where there is ether limited capacity in the CNMI. Additionally, undergarduate students have been able to take Human Nutrition courses through hybrid courses via University of Hawaii Manoa. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to follow-up with and support personnel working to obtain graduate education. Continue to support the Human Nutrition course work undergraduate students accepted to the Child Health Assesment in the Pacific Fellowship.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Three faculty are making satisfactor progress in ontaining their graduate degree. One faculty member completed Master of Science in Agriculture Education. Four CNMI undergraduate students received funding to cover the cost of hybrid (online and in-person)Human Nutrition courses for the Child Health Assessment in the Pacific Fellowship.

Publications