Effective Teaching in Agriculture and Life Sciences
Teaching is crucial to the missions of Colleges of Agriculture. Today we are seeing a renewed
emphasis on teaching in many universities. A critical question is where do faculty go for help to
improve their teaching. Some university teaching improvement centers do exist but they tend to
be generic in their approach, may not be readily accessible, and not all universities have them.
The purpose of the Effective Teaching in Agriculture and Life Sciences Web site is to provide
agriculture professors an easily accessible source of information they can use to improve their teaching.
This collaborative effort between Mississippi State University,
North Carolina State University, and New Mexico State University
was made possible by a Higher Education Challenge Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.
The Higher Education Challenge Grant program is administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). The CSREES links the research and
education programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and works
with:
- Land-grant institutions in each
state, territory and the District of Columbia;
- More than 130 colleges of
agriculture; 59 agricultural experiment stations; 57 cooperative
extension services;
- 63 schools of forestry;
- 16 1890 historically black land-grant institutions and Tuskegee University;
- >27 colleges of veterinary medicine;
- 42 schools and colleges of human sciences;
- 29 1994 Native American land-grant institutions;
- 190 Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
- Further information about the CSREES
The lesson topics included in the Effective Teaching in Agriculture and Life Sciences Web site were identified
by a board of nationally recognized faculty from various agricultural disciplines during 1996. The project directors developed the lessons during 1997. The completed lessons were placed on the Web during 1998 and pilot-tested by faculty at Mississippi State University, North Carolina State University, and New Mexico State University. Additionally, agricultural faculty from other universities have provided valuable input into the development of this Web site. In addition to being a
source of information about teaching, it is hoped that this Web site also serves as a model for faculty
wishing to develop their own websites to support their instruction. Furthermore, this Web site should
facilitate discussion among higher education faculty on how to improve teaching and provide concrete materials
and examples that professors can use to improve their own teaching. It is the intent of this project to
strengthen higher education in the food and agricultural sciences in the United States by improving
teaching.
Project Directors
Matt R. Raven, Associate Professor
email: raven@ra.msstate.edu
Michael E. Newman, Associate Professor
email: men1@ra.msstate.edu
Gary B. Jackson, Associate Professor
email: gbjack@cals.msstate.edu
Box 9731
Mississippi State, MS 39762
(601) 325-3326
Gary Moore, Professor
email: gary_moore@ncsu.edu
Jim Flowers, Professor
email: jim_flowers@ncsu.edu
Box 7606
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-1965
(919) 515-1756
Bobby Torres, Assistant Professor
email: rtorres@nmsu.edu
Box 30003, Department 3501
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003
(505) 646-4511
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