A Snapshot of the Agronomy Assessment Program

Want a quick overview of our program? Assessment of student learning is a priority for our program, and we view it as a necessary means by which to improve the opportunity to learn for our students. The items below will give you an overview of the mission, goals and measures that define the culture of our assessment efforts.

Click on the icon beside each entry to examine the Agronomy Department's. . .

mission statement that shows how we are focused on student learning
major learning goals for our students How College goals are embedded in departmental goals.
measures that indicate the department's teaching mission is being accomplished Summary of how department and College goals are measured, the results of those measurements, and how the department has responded to the results.
assessment program materials to overview how we assess our curriculum and how the information is used to enhance and make changes to student learning
examples of program changes resulting from our assessment efforts that have improved student learning

Agronomy Department Mission

The mission of the Iowa State University Department of Agronomy is to provide continued excellence in agronomic teaching, research, and outreach. The department achieves this by serving Iowa, the nation, and the world in ways that:

• Expand knowledge in crop, soil, and atmospheric sciences.
• Identify, develop, and deliver appropriate information and technologies for agronomic practice.
• Prepare students for successful careers and continued education in agronomic and related sciences.
• Improve crop production and soil management practices, while enhancing environmental quality and sustainability, through interdisciplinary cooperation.
• Anticipate and respond to societal needs relative to food, feed, fuel, and fiber production.
• Promote, through education, harmony among the diverse clientele served by Agronomy.
  

Agronomy Program Objectives

The goal of the agronomy curriculum is to provide students a unique education that is liberal in breadth, science-based, effective in personal skills development, and that will prepare them for entry-level positions in government, agri-business, farm management, graduate study, and for other positions where a problem-solving approach to issues in crops, soils and the environment is needed. This agronomy curriculum will provide graduates with the education and training necessary for them to become effective professionals and leaders in agriculture, their community, and their country.

Students will accrue knowledge, grow in wisdom, and hone their skills relative to:

1. TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE. The curriculum will provide graduates with the theoretical and practical scientific knowledge needed for continued efficient and sustainable production of food, feed and fiber, as well as the information and subject-matter mastery required for exercise of wise judgment in dealing with complex issues in resource management and conservation. Business education is essential to effectiveness of the otherwise competent professional agronomist. And, it must be instilled that education is a life-long pursuit.
2. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS. Students will develop the human and technical skills needed to function in the forefront of an increasingly complex and competitive society: oral and written communication, computer and leadership skills, and the critical, integrative thinking capacity that under girds competent problem solving and decision making. Skills development will be integrated into agronomy content courses.
3. PERSPECTIVE. The graduate should have a holistic perspective of agriculture: an appreciation of agriculture as a highly sophisticated, integrated system for food production and distribution that operates within a political environment and on a global scale. He/she must be able to visualize what makes the whole work, and understand the responsibilities of the agronomist within the system with respect to production of an abundant, safe, and nutritious food supply within the context of wise management of natural resources.
4. ETHICS/VALUES. The curriculum should lead students in development of an appreciation of ethical resource management responsibilities in regional, national and world social and economic contexts. It must instill awareness for sustainable management of energy, soil, water, wildlife and other natural resources. Agronomy courses should provide opportunities for ethical debate and value judgment that expand one's tolerance and appreciation for the complexities of societal issues. The agronomy curriculum will foster development of a personal, and a professional code of ethics.
5. DIVERSITY. For society to function effectively and justly for each person, graduates must appreciate the richness that our diverse backgrounds and philosophies bring to the whole. Understanding of and appreciation for the political, cultural, and religious opinions and practices of others is the hallmark of an educated person.

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Major Learning Goals

The Agronomy Faculty have established 42 specific learner outcomes for students in the Agronomy curriculum. These learner outcomes are an extension of the five major program areas outlined in the Program Objectives section above. Click here to view the Agronomy Learner Outcomes (requires Adobe Acrobat).

Embedding of College of Agriculture learning goals

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The learner goals for the Agronomy curriculum were created by extending the foundation established by the College of Agriculture learning goals. As such, the College of Agriculture learning goals are integral to to our deparmental learning goals. The expectations in communications and problem-solving/critical thinking for College of Agriculture graduates are embedded within the professional skills goals in Agronomy. The ethics expectations established by the College of Agriculture are included in the the ethics/values goals in Agronomy. Enivronmental and international/multi-cultural awareness expections of the College of Agriculture are covered within the perspective goals of the Agronomy curriculum. In addition, several of the technical goals within the Agronomy learner goals are directly related to the environmental expectations of the College of Agriculture. The Agronomy Department is a major contributor to the College of Agricultures expectation that students understand the physical and biological properties of the environment and how these properties are interlinked within ecological systems.

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Outcome Measures

Learner outcome coverage in agronomy courses

Interviews were conducted with instructors of undergraduate agronomy courses during fall 2002 to determine the coverage of learner outcomes within agronomy courses and the agronomy curriculum. The cumlination of this activity was a report, Agronomy Learner Outcomes: Emphasis, Assignments, Learning Assessment, and Needs.

Several important insights were gained from these interviews with agronomy faculty.

• Faculty are very comfortable with designing assignments and experiences that address technical knowledge.
• Many of the assignments and experiences are real-world examples and cross learner outcome boundaries (i.e., they address one or more leaner outcomes through one assignment or experience).
• There is a variety of embedded course assignments and experiences that are currently being used (e.g., papers, oral report, management reports, exams, and debates). Also, there are a variety of ways these assignments and experiences are being assessed (e.g., rubrics, scoring sheets, professor judgment, answer keys).
• Some of the experiential learning opportunities (e.g., leadership, internship) are not currently being assessed.
• There does not seem to be a shared understanding of what our learner outcomes mean or represent.
• Faculty were open to exploring new ways to design experiences and assignments for students to achieve the learner outcomes as well as new ways to assess student learning. However, time appears to be a large deterrent.
• There was a prevalent theme from several upper-level teachers that students written communication skills (oral communication is strong) and critical thinking skills could be improved.
• Faculty needs for outcomes assessment include personnel or faculty release time, faculty training and conversations, new tools, time, and a better understanding of the process.

 

Alumni, Employer, and Faculty Survey Data on Learner Outcomes:

A survey was conducted of alumni, employers, and departmental faculty on the importance of departmental learner outcomes and assessment of alumni performance. Data were collected from alumni (all Agronomy majors who received a bachelor of science degree from fall 2000 to spring 2002), their employer (first supervisor after graduation), and all undergraduate teaching faculty. Data were analyzed and reported through the Agronomy Teaching Panel (Report May, 2004).

Using a seven-point Likert-type scale, participants were asked to assess 1) the importance of each of the learner outcomes and 2) the strength of initial alumni performance in these areas. Gap scores were computed by subtracting the performance value from the importance value. Of special interest were those outcomes that have a high importance and high gap score indicating the knowledge, skill/ability, or perspective is regarded as highly important, yet graduate performance is lagging. The entire data set can be seen at: Survey Data.xls

The following learner outcomes had high importance and high alumni performance (low gap scores (see Table 5):

• access and use electronic mail
• communicate effectively using electronic media
• organize, manage, interpret, and communicate information using computer tools (four learner outcomes combined)
• access and use databases
• understand basic soil principles
• present an effective oral report
• perform mathematical calculations appropriate to your profession

The following learner outcomes had high importance and weak alumni performance (high gap scores (see Table 6):

• recognize a conflict of interest involving oneself and one’s client or employer
• provide and evaluate alternative solutions to a problem based on the resources of the client
• identify resources needed to solve a problem
• assess and evaluate the credibility and biases of different sources of information
• debate issues in a professional manner
• answer oral questions extemporaneously and understandably
• work effectively in a team situation as a leader
• define a problem
• demonstrate high standards of achievement
• analyze and interpret simple research data

The faculty reinforced the importance of the above listed learner outcomes and because of their high gap scores, felt that they should be addressed first. Faculty also discussed the implications of learner outcomes ranked lower in importance and their corresponding high or low performance ratings for the different categories of learner outcomes. Lower ranked outcomes may indicate that they are still important in our curriculum but were ranked lower than others on a relative scale, or that the importance of some learner outcomes may be ranked differently for entry-level jobs vs. advanced jobs, for different types of jobs, etc. The GAP score analysis data will be used in to re-evaluate all of our learner outcomes and to help us target improvement for learner outcomes within each category of learner outcomes (Technical Knowledge, Professional Skills, Perspectives, Diversity, and Ethics/Values).

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Assessment Program Materials

• Assessment Plan - Model
• Agronomy 2005 Curriculum Revision Document
• Agronomy Learner Outcomes
• Agronomy Endowment Project: Continuous Program Improvement Through Outcomes Assessment: The Undergraduate Curriculum
• Agronomy Learner Outcomes: Emphasis, Assignments, Learning Assessment, and Needs
• Abstract - Poster Presentation for Agronomy Endowment Project - March 25, 2003
• Symposium and Poster Presentations at American Society of Agronomy Meetings, Denver, Colorado, November 2-4, 2003

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Program Changes Resulting from our Assessment Program

Agronomy 2005 Curriculum Revision

An extensive curriculum revision was begun in 1996 as the result of an ad hoc committee of Agronomy Deparment faculty reviewing the Agronomy curriculum with respect to contemporary and future competencies required by professional agronomists (click here to view the committee's report). This curriculum consists of a core curriculum based on a knowledge base of fundamental science, the ability to integrate knowledge and use it to solve problems, and an attitude of professionalism. Major new initatives included adoption of instructional techniques that engage students actively in the learning process, greater practice in communications, more instruction in problem solving, and use of multimedia instruction and computers. The agronomy curriculum was enhanced with an option in environmental science, addition new courses on agronomic systems and problem solving, and a course requirement in contemporary agricultural issues. The project established a timeline for implementing a new curriculum with complete implementation occurring in September 1998. The project also called for continuous evaluation of the Agronomy curriculum and establishment of an outcomes assessment committee.

Organization of an Outcomes Assessment Subcommittee

The Agronomy department established a formal Outcomes Assessment Subcommittee and appointed Dr. Russ Mullen as chair. This ongoing program, which reports to the Agronomy Faculty through the Resident Teaching and Curriculum Committee Advisory Panel, administers and interprets assessment procedures. Formal assessment procedures have been established and approved by the department that include internal and external reviews.

Development of Learner Outcomes and their Inclusion in Courses

The original learner outcomes for the Agronomy curriculum evolved from 2005 Agronomy curriculum revision project completed in 1994. They were revised and updated at a faculty retreat in October 1999. These learner outcomes have caused us to teach in more problem-solving and communication-intensive ways.

Course Additions or Revisions

In response to our curriculum review efforts we have focused on exposing students to learner outcomes throughout their discipline courses over the four-year degree program rather than relying solely on required general educational courses usually taken during the first two years of college. We also have made efforts to optimize faculty teaching loads through the addition of new courses (a number of which are team-taught) and changes to student expectations. Our efforts have resulted in the addition of several courses and major changes several in others.

Agronomy 110. Professional Development in Agronomy: Orientation - This course was changed from non-credit to 0.5 credit beginning fall 2001. All new freshmen and transfer students in agronomy are required to take the course to orient them to college life, the profession of agronomy, and the agronomy department, its curriculum, and faculty. Before the Curriculum 2005 project, no out-of-class work was required. Now students complete 6 out-of-class professional development assignments. Teamwork, presentation skills, academic planning, resume preparation, international opportunities, leadership activities, introductory career planning, and professional ethics are included in this course.

Agronomy 230. Crop Structure and Function - This course was created in response to the Agronomy 2005 curriculum revision project. The curriculum revision committee recommended that a junior-level crop physiology course (Agron 318) be replaced with a sophomore level course that introduced students to the relationships between crop structure and function, building on basic principles of biology, plant physiology, and crop ecology. It is one of two prerequisites for Agronomy 392, Systems Analysis in Crop and Soil Management, which was added to the curriculum as a problem-solving and communications intensive course.

Agronomy 260. Soils and Environmental Quality - This course was first offered in the Fall 1996 as a Principles of Soil Conservation and Management recommended by the Agron 2005 curriculum revision committee. It is offered as an elective course within the general agronomy option. The technical core of the course is soil conservation emphasis in environmental issues, problem solving, and communications. Agronomy 260 directly addresses communications, problem solving, professionalism, and technical agronomy expectations. In addition, there are components pertaining to values, international perspective, and ethics.

Agronomy 306. Use of Weather Data in Agriculture - This course was first taught in 1985 as an elective course for agronomy majors. It was added to the agronomy curriculum requirements in 1997 in response to the 2005 curriculum recommendations. The course offers problem solving, analytical decision making, and computer application activities to agronomy students.

Agronomy 356/English 309 - These two courses were integrated in 1998 as Iowa State University's only upper-level linked-course learning community. In this learning community, Agronomy 356, Soil, Fertilizer and Water Management, is fully integrated with English 309, Report and Proposal Writing. The same students are in both Agronomy 356 and English 309 and the syllabi for the two courses are coordinated. About 75% of the assignments for both classes are designed and evaluated by the instructors of both courses. This learning community was formed in an effort to better achieve the College’s learner outcomes in communication and problem solving. It has been expanded to include two additional courses, a crop/pest management course – Agron 312 and a farm business management course – Econ 330. The addition of the two courses provides a greater interdisciplinary focus to the learning community.

Agronomy 360. Environmental Soil Science - First offered in Spring 1997, this problem-solving and communications intensive course is an analog to Agronomy 392 for environmental science option in Agronomy. This course addresses recommendations for Technical Problems in Crop and Soil Management and Soils and the Environment made by the Agronomy 2005 curriculum revision committee. It is a problem-solving course where students work in teams on topics like mine reclamation, waste management, industrial spills. Agronomy 360 addresses student expectations in communications, problem solving, professionalism, values, ethics, and technical agronomy.

Agronomy 392 - First taught in spring 1997, this course is the capstone activity for students in the Agronomy curriculum. It's goals are to further develop written and oral communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in agronomic situations. Students critically evaluate farming systems, make decisions with justification, and organize, manage, interpret, and communicate information using spreadsheets, databases, geographical information systems, word processing and presentation software. Participatory learning activities are emphasized to further develop cooperative learning and working skills. This course fulfills the College of Agriculture’s requirement for a 3.0-cr problem-solving intensive course within the major and fulfills 2 credits of the 3-credit requirement for a communications intensive course within the major.

Agronomy 446. World Agronomic Systems - This new course was introduced as an Agronomy elective in spring 1997. It responds to the Agronomy 2005 curriculum recommendation that our graduates have a holistic perspective of agriculture: an appreciation of agriculture as a highly sophisticated, integrated system for food production and distribution that operates within a political environment and on a global scale. The overall objective of the course is to integrate soils, climates, crops, and the socioeconomic resources of different regions of the world to help students analyze the agricultural productivity and sustainability of each region. The course uses teaching methods designed to encourage students to develop a holistic approach and appreciation of agricultural productivity in relation to the natural resources, climate, culture, and socioeconomic contexts of each region through cooperative and communications intensive learning, analysis, and critical thinking.

Agronomy 492. Agronomic Issues: Science, Policy, and Resource Management - This course was first taught in fall 1998 in response to Agronomy 2005 curriculum revision committee recommendations that agronomy graduates need a broader understanding of agriculture. Employers of our students told us that our graduates often fail to comprehend the totality of agriculture and the interactions among its components and, as a consequence, have difficulty in understanding the significance of their work in relation to the larger picture. Agronomy 492 was discontinued in fall 2002 after assessment efforts determined that it was not meeting curriculum or student needs. A stated goal of the course was objective analysis of current agricultural issues from multiple perspectives. The limited student diversity, which primarily consisted of agronomy majors, did not allow for multiple perspectives. The specific course requirement has been replaced by a list of courses that better meet our student learning goals of having a holistic perspective of the agroecosystem, understanding the structure and processes of governments as they influence agricultural policy, interpreting laws and regulations as they relate to agriculture and the environment, and recognizing the interdependence of economies, cultures, and politics at all scales from local to international.

Outcomes Measurement Project

A two-year project entitled "Continuous Program Improvement Through Outcomes Assessment: The Undergraduate Curriculum" was begun in June 2002 with funding from the Agronomy Endowment. The overall objective of this project, which is administered through the Agronomy outcomes assessment committee, is to make the ISU Agronomy Department a leader among Land Grant Institutions and departments at Iowa State University in the use of outcomes assessment for educational program improvement. The operative objective is development and initiation of a systematic and continuous approach for outcomes assessment of the Agronomy undergraduate degree program.

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