This study identified and prioritized the agricultural in-service needs of introductory level career and technical education teachers in Utah. The Utah State Board of Education requires that all seventh grade students complete an introductory career and technical education course as their first formal career exploration experience. One component of the course is exploration of the agriculture industry. In order to effectively help students explore agricultural opportunities, teachers, most of whom have little or no formal training in agriculture, must be prepared in their knowledge of the agriculture industry and careers. To meet the needs of teachers, the state office of education has requested relevant, meaningful in-service. A survey based on the Borich needs assessment model was used to determine areas in which teachers need additional support. The "new and emerging technologies in agriculture" standard emerged as an area of weakness. Teachers generally held positive attitudes toward the importance of teaching agriculture, which should be used to promote future in-service programs.
Advances in information and communications technology have
enabled organizations to shift traditional work functions away from place or where work
is accomplished to how work is accomplished (i.e., task facilitation). With the rise in
remote work, there was a need to describe the adoption process by organizations in the
United States. Given that the practice of remote work is considered an innovation, this
quantitative study was guided by the theory of Diffusion of Innovations and followed a
nonexperimental design with a correlational analysis, collecting cross-sectional data
from a sample of organizational leaders in the United States (N = 1,259). Results
describe where organizations range in the innovation-decision process of remote work
adoption and categorize organizations based on innovativeness. This research
demonstrates the role of COVID-19 in precipitating organizations’ rapid implementation
of remote work during a pandemic. Findings hold implications for leaders deciding
whether to adopt remote work as a formal workplace practice and can assist them in
making informed operational decisions. Findings also provide Extension professionals
with insights into responding to the social and economic consequences of the widespread
adoption of remote work with relevant, research-based educational programming in their
local communities.
Compared to urban counties, Utah's rural counties experienced high levels of unemployment. Informed by a statewide needs assessment, Utah State University Extension developed a remote work leadership course to equip business leaders with knowledge and skills to create remote jobs as a solution to rural unemployment. This descriptive evaluation study collected data from course participants (N = 62). Findings showed short-term outcomes were achieved; participants experienced increases in knowledge and skills and had more positive intentions toward creating remote jobs and hiring employees from rural counties. Extension professionals can design and evaluate their programs using the framework in this study.
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