The purpose of this study was to determine agricultural education undergraduates '

Experiential learning and reflective writing are important components of college instructors' repertoires. Learning is not complete without proper reflection. The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate students' perceptions of learning in a leadership course that emphasized experiential learning methods. The respondents included the students enrolled in a Professional Leadership Development course. Students were asked to keep a reflective journal and to prepare a reflective paper at course completion. Using content analysis of the students' reflections, it was determined that the students benefited from receiving instruction associated with experiential learning. They recognized each of the teaching strategies associated with the four stages of the Experiential Learning Cycle and the importance of each in maximizing learning. Incorporation of teaching strategies associated with experiential learning within the collegiate leadership classroom did enhance student learning, whereby allowing students to approach learning in a deep manner.

More than 109 million Americans volunteered for nonprofit organizations in 1998, carrying out almost one-third of the organizations' work. More than 624,000 volunteers assisted the Cooperative Extension system in carrying out its 4-H and youth development program last year. Volunteer activities are largely directed by professionals within these organizations. A nationwide Delphi study was conducted to identify the competencies that will be required by volunteer administrators (VAs) during the next decade. The study also sought to identify barriers that prevent VAs from acquiring such competencies and how those barriers may be eliminated. Thirty-three competencies were identified by a panel of 13 experts in the field of volunteer administration and categorized into the following five constructs: organizational leadership, systems leadership, organizational culture, personal skills, and management skills. Twelve barriers to acquiring the competencies were identified by the panel, as well as 21 methods for addressing those barriers and motivating volunteer administrators. It is recommended that volunteer driven organizations, especially Cooperative Extension, seek employees with the required competencies or provide resources and opportunities to acquire them. Creating an organizational culture that values the contributions of volunteers and the role of the VA is also recommended.

Within personal leadership education courses, leadership educators should include experiences which help students develop themselves as leaders. In this article, the authors discuss results from a qualitative research study involving the analysis of Personal Growth Project (PGP) assignments in a personal leadership education collegiate course. The authors analyzed PGP assignments using the lens of the Leadership Identity Development model (Komives et al., 2005). All aspects of the developing self component of the model including deepening self-awareness, building self-confidence, establishing interpersonal efficacy, applying new skills, Journal of Leadership EducationVolume 11, Issue 1 -Winter 2012 50 and expanding motivations were evident in student reflections about their PGP. The PGP assignment seems to be very effective in promoting the development of students' leadership identity, especially in the "developing self" category of the Leadership Identity Model (Komives et al., 2005).

Agricultural educators are familiar with the three domains of learning: 1) cognitive, 2) affective, and 3) psychomotor. When teaching agricultural content, the instructional and assessment strategies are typically focused on the cognitive domain of learning because of the difficulty in measuring gains in the affective domain. The purpose of this study was to measure affective learning after viewing an asynchronously delivered simulation, reflecting (metacognition), and writing about the experience. Research in agricultural education is devoid of writing as an assessment tool to measure learning in the affective domain. Content analysis of 83 reflective writing samples was used to analyze affective learning at the levels of receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and characterization. It was evident in the reflective writing that all students participated at the receiving and responding levels. It is much more difficult to assess students at the higher levels of the affective domain (valuing, organizing, and characterizing). From the analysis of reflective writing, the researchers recognized and determined that some students expressed affective learning at higher levels of the affective taxonomy and increased their level of reflective writing in the process.

In 1999, 32% of public schools at all levels had implemented an active service learning program. With the rapid growth of this model over the last 10 years, it is essential that more information be provided that evaluates the effectiveness of the program in developing youths' leadership life skills. To test this model, a randomized post-test only control group experimental design, utilizing a control group and two treatment groups, was conducted to determine the effects of service learning on the development of leadership life skills in youth. The treatment groups consisted of a group that reflected on a past service activity and a group that conducted a service activity that day, with immediate reflection on the activity. Findings showed that participants, who engaged in immediate reflection following the service activity, had a significantly higher level of development in the areas of contributor to community and personal leadership development. No significant differences were found on the remaining effective team skills, being a self-directed learner, and creative problem solving subscales.

Leadership educators teach Transformational Leadership Theory in their classrooms, but could transformational theory be used as a pedagogical model to deepen students' understanding of leadership? This article presents Erin Gruwell, a first-year teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach and subject of the 2006 movie The Freedom Writers, as a case study where an educator practiced the components of transformational leadership in the classroom to transform students' lives. Gruwell used idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration to transform a classroom of gang members into a community of scholars and authors. Following the case examples, leadership educators are provided examples of how to incorporate the four components of transformational leadership in their instructional methods. The purpose is to not only demonstrate the theory in action, but to deepen students' learning of leadership theory.

Leaders must become life-long learners if they are to remain effective in an environment that is both global and changing at an exponential pace. As Day (1992) noted, personal growth is essential in the leadership development process. In a personal leadership development course, students are required to complete a personal growth project in order to add to their personal leadership development. In this assignment, students choose a project that will stretch their personal comfort zone and allow their strengths to be utilized in a new way. Reflection is a key element of the process in which they tie their experiences with the personal growth project to their values, strengths, and leadership behaviors.