Modernizing Agriculture Technician Education in Appalachian Northeast Georgia

该项目旨在解决乔治亚州东北部对农业技术人员日益增长的需求。农业越来越多地受到精密技术的推动，这些技术可以最大限度地提高生产率，最大限度地减少浪费和环境危害。这些过程需要先进的机械化和全球导航卫星系统来实施。为了培养从事精密技术工作的农业技术人员，该项目将根据当地农业的需求制定两个农业技术计划。这些课程的设计将使学生能够发展技术和更高层次的能力以及行业支持的证书。有了这些技能和证书，学生将能够进入中等技能水平的农业技术人员队伍。该项目旨在增加格鲁吉亚东北部熟练的技术劳动力，从而提高雇主在当地招聘熟练农业技术人员的能力。该项目计划开发两个新的学术项目，使学生为现代农业产业的技术工作做好准备：农业综合企业；现代多元化农业。将追求两个相辅相成的目标。首先是开发针对当地农业需求的体验式、多样化课程。第二是在这些农业技术人员项目中招募和留住阿巴拉契亚学生。课程将通过与农业行业和当地农业咨询委员会成员的合作来设计。课程将侧重于为学生提供在学习实验室环境中动手的机会。该项目将吸引大量学生，由于缺乏对可用职位的认识，以及缺乏获得填补这些职位所需的技术教育的机会，这些学生在很大程度上没有得到开发。项目年度评估报告中的信息将用于衡量项目成功，调整策略，并告知利益相关者项目进展情况。该项目还将调查社区如何通过其高等教育机构，使农业产业、阿巴拉契亚家庭和学生参与为当地高薪工作准备农业技术人员。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to address the growing need for agricultural technicians in Northeast Georgia. The agriculture industry is increasingly driven by precision technologies that maximize productivity and minimize waste and environmental hazards. These processes require advanced mechanization and global navigation satellite systems for implementation. To prepare agricultural technicians for work in precision technologies, the project will develop two agriculture technology programs that are aligned to local agricultural industry needs. These programs will be designed so that students can develop both technical and higher order competencies and industry-supported credentials. With these skills and credentials, the students will be able to enter the agricultural technician workforce at middle-skilled levels. This project aims to increase the skilled technical workforce in Northeast Georgia, thus increasing the ability of employers to recruit skilled agricultural technicians locally. The project plans to develop two new academic programs that can prepare students for technical work in modern agricultural industries: Agribusiness; and Modern Diversified Agriculture. Two complementary goals will be pursued. The first is to develop experiential, diversified curricula specific to the needs of the local agriculture industry. The second is to recruit and retain Appalachian students in these agricultural technician programs. The curricula will be designed through a partnership with the agriculture industry and local agriculture advisory committee members. The curricula will focus on providing students with hands-on opportunities in the context of learning laboratories. The project will engage a pool of student who are largely untapped due to a lack of awareness of the available positions and a lack of access to the technical education needed to fill the positions. Information in the project annual evaluation reports will be used to measure project success, to adjust strategies, and to inform stakeholders about project progress. The project will also investigate how the community, through its higher education institutions, can engage the agriculture industry and Appalachian families and students in preparing agriculture technicians for well-paying, local jobs. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.