The purpose of this study was to assess planning and delivering agricultural extension activities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for future program implementation. The study was a descriptive research and used a modified Delphi technique to identify needed improvements and highlight barriers in planning and delivering extension activities by the willingness of extension workers. The population of the study was 50 MOAWR purposely selected government employees consisted of 10 extension experts, 15 extension administrators, and 25 extension agents. The study used three rounds web-based survey questionnaires. In Round I, the panelists were responded to two open ended questions to identify needed improvements and barriers in planning and delivering extension activities. The gathered information from Round I was examined, organized, and combined to create the second questionnaire for Round II. In Round II, the panelists were indicated their levels of agreement or disagreement about each needed improvement and barrier. The study employed a six-Likert scale with 1=”Strongly Agree”, 2=”Agree”, 3=”Somewhat Agree”, 4=”Somewhat Disagree”, 5=”Disagree”, and 6=”Strongly Disagree”. The needed improvements and barriers that received two-thirds of agreement (numbers 1 and 2 in the six-point Likert scale) were used to create the third questionnaire for Round III. In Round III, panelists were developed consensus by rating the statements that received two-third agreement in Round II. Equally, the same Round II six-point Likert scale was used in Round III. The result findings of the study were revealed to the demands of extension policy implementation in the region. The results of the study were summarized in three overall implementation theme areas: community based program development, building capacity program, and institutional structuring and three distinct research areas: leadership in extension, personal traits of extension agents, and external communication. Furthermore, the results of the study provided key points and details for each implementation theme and distinct research area.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.59-65).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 599 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-408). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

A study was conducted to see if the level of use, expertise, and problem solving abilities using information technology among Mississippi State University Extension agents was positively correlated with the performance quality of the agent as measured in the Mississippi State University Extension Service agent evaluation system. A second purpose was to examine how well agents self-assess their technology skills. Lastly, the study attempted to determine if there was a set of factors (including information technology skills) that explained a substantial portion of the variation in performance evaluation scores. The results showed that the Mississippi State University Extension agent evaluation system does not consider information technology skills and usage of agents. It was also found that agents are fairly adept at self-assessment of their technology skills. Lastly, no set of factors were found that would substantially explain performance evaluation ratings.

No description available.

In Senegal, in recent years the rural sector has undergone major reforms which are partly due to macroeconomic policy reforms adopted by the Senegalese government. Therefore, all the actors of economic and social development have a common concern and share in promoting rural agriculture (Bernard et al., 2008). Changes observed in the agricultural and rural sector reflect the will of the actors to have a productive, competitive, and sustainable agriculture system in order to ensure food security (International Monetary Fund, 2011). The purpose of the study is to develop a set of recommendations to improve the educational program planning and teaching skills of educators in the extension system by focusing on extension educators' approaches to teaching farmers and cart owners animal welfare practices for proper care of working animals. The extension agents and teachers involved in the animal husbandry and animal extension system in Thies and Bambey served as participants in this study. This descriptive qualitative study connected qualitative data derived from participant interviews, qualitative document analysis, observations of an educational program planning professional development program for state agents and university faculty members in Diourbel and Thies regions, as well as a final focus group to allow participants clarification of preliminary themes found in the data. The findings revealed 11 themes: characteristics of the participants, job expectation and responsibilities, institutional and organizational factors, capacity building and professional development plans, diagnostics of the extension system, regulations and legislations, limited sources of information, limited knowledge and skills technologies, recommendations for utilizing student-centered teaching practices, standard welfare for animal husbandry, recommendation for acceptance and improvement standard animal welfare related to the four research questions which addressed the topics of challenging current teaching methods used in the extension system for other owners of animal species in the animal extension programs, the use of student-centered teaching practices in extension education and university instruction, and the level assistance given to farmers in order to ensure accepted standards of animal welfare working animal and other animal species in the animal husbandry system. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / In Senegal, in recent years the rural sector has undergone major reforms which are partly due to macroeconomic policy reforms adopted by the Senegalese government. Therefore, all the actors of economic and social development have a common concern and share in promoting rural agriculture (Bernard et al., 2008). Changes observed in the agricultural and rural sector reflect the will of the actors to have a productive, competitive, and sustainable agriculture system in order to ensure food security (International Monetary Fund, 2011). The purpose of the study is to develop a set of recommendations to improve the educational program planning and teaching skills of educators in the extension system by focusing on extension educators' approaches to teaching farmers and cart owners animal welfare practices for proper care of working animals. The extension agents and teachers involved in the animal husbandry and animal extension system in Thies and Bambey served as participants in this study. The methodology used for this descriptive qualitative study were interviews, qualitative document analysis, observations of an educational and professional development program planning for state agents and university faculty members in Diourbel and Thies regions, as well as a final focus group to allow participants clarification of preliminary themes found in the data. The data collected from participants were connected to the different used qualitative methods to gather data. The 11 themes found in this study were the characteristics of the participants, job expectation and responsibilities, institutional and organizational factors, capacity building and professional development plans, diagnostics of the extension system, regulations and legislations, limited sources of information, limited knowledge and skills technologies, recommendations for utilizing student-centered teaching practices, standard welfare for animal husbandry, recommendation for acceptance and improvement standard animal welfare related to the four research questions which addressed the topics of challenging current teaching methods used in the extension system for other owners of animal species in the animal extension programs, the use of student-centered teaching practices in extension education and university instruction, and the level assistance given to farmers in order to ensure accepted standards of animal welfare working animal and other animal species in the animal husbandry system.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:33:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 561246 bytes, checksum: fd3f61fde89eace1a338915fc38b39ab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-26 / Facing the information increasing that we observe during these days and the diversity of supports and languages which are transmitted as the new communication ways (that we call Information Society), the main propose of the present work is to identify the side of the thematic art of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the context of the Rural Extension systems, specifically in the region of Vale de São Patrício. We started characterizing the public and private institutions which works with ATER in the mentioned region (who do they assist, how do they work, which infrastructure do they have and which are the limits that they can act), to analyze how these systems have incorporated the ICTs in their practices, still identifying the benefits, the possibilities and the limits of this interaction. The methodology that we used in this research is first based on the bibliographic readings that could raise the application of theses technologies in the organizations. Within the many available tools that the social researchers can find we choose the survey method, in a context that the research started questioning directly the people. We asked some information of a significant group about the researched problem to, soon after, using the qualitative and quantitative analysis, obtain corresponding conclusions of the researched data. Through the evaluated data and the interviews it was possible to verify that the public sector for its infrastructure,its ramifications and institutional position continues fundamental to the ATER turned to the family farmers of the region and, with a better or lesser intensity, the ICTs are present in the studied organizations, being used mainly as administrative and communicative tools. However, they can still be used in a more effective way if they will be better managed. In this way, we believe that there are great possibilities for its contribution, as the existence of the uncertain limits of the use of these technologies as channels and flows of information and knowledge in the Rural Extension system. / Face ao crescimento exponencial da informação a que se assiste neste momento, à diversidade de suportes e de linguagens por meio das quais ela é veiculada e aos novos modos de comunicação (a chamada Sociedade da informação), a proposta central desse trabalho consiste em identificar o estado da arte da temática das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC s) no contexto dos sistemas de extensão rural, especificamente na Região do Vale de São Patrício. Partiu-se da caracterização das instituições públicas e privadas que trabalham com Ater nessa Região (quem atendem, como trabalham, qual a infraestrutura e quais os limites da sua atuação) para em decorrência analisar como esses sistemas têm incorporado as TIC s em suas práticas, identificando os benefícios, as possibilidades e os limites dessa interação. A metodologia utilizada para a realização da pesquisa, baseou-se, primeiramente, em leituras bibliográficas que levassem a suscitar as aplicações dessas tecnologias nas organizações. Dentre as várias ferramentas disponíveis para os pesquisadores sociais, optou-se pelo método de survey, uma vez que a pesquisa partiu da interrogação direta das pessoas. Procedeu à solicitação de informações a um grupo significativo de pessoas acerca do problema estudado para em seguida, mediante análises quantitativa e qualitativa, obter conclusões correspondentes dos dados pesquisados. Pelos dados levantados e analisados e pelas entrevistas realizadas foi possível constatar que o setor público - por sua capilaridade, infraestrutura e posição institucional - permanece como fundamental na ATER voltada para agricultores familiares na Região e, com maior ou menor intensidade, as TIC s estão presentes nas organizações estudadas, sendo usadas principalmente como ferramentas administrativas e de comunicação. Porém, ainda podem ser usadas de maneira mais efetiva se forem mais bem gerenciadas. Sendo assim, acredita-se que são grandes as possibilidades de contribuição e incertos os limites da utilização dessas tecnologias como canais e fluxos de informação e conhecimento no Sistema de Extensão Rural.