Teaching, Learning, and Communication (TLC)
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2005 Annual Report

Overview of 2005

1. The TLC track (organized by Leah Greden Mathews) for the Providence meeting featured seven sessions: six organized symposiums and a selected paper session. The proposed organized symposiums were:

Is Good Teaching Bad for Your Career?
Teaching Tips from Top Teachers: 2004 AAEA Award Recipients
Simulations as a Pedagogical Tool: Which Characteristics Improve Learning?
Student Participation in Undergraduate Discipline-Related Organizations: How Can We Get Students (and Faculty) Involved?
Recruiting and Retaining Quality Undergraduate Students: Selling Our Programs to New Audiences
Graduate Student Recruitment: Issues and Strategies in Agricultural and Applied Economics, and Agribusiness

2. The TLC-sponsored pre-conference workshop proposal “Words Work: Using Writing and Speaking to Teach Critical Thinking Skills” was organized by Molly Espey and Chris McIntosh. This workshop proposal featured Chris Anson, Professor and Director of Campus Writing and Speaking Program, North Carolina State University and current President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. Unfortunately, the workshop was canceled due to low registration numbers (the breakeven registration level was higher than initially planned because the funding request for this workshop proposal was not approved by the AAEA Foundation).

3. The TLC leadership worked closely with the Graduate Student Section to develop the Young Professional Teaching Academy scheduled for Sunday, July 23, 2006 at the AAEA Annual Meeting in Long Beach (See the attached plan for The Academy). Our plan is to sponsor The Academy each year at the AAEA Annual Meeting.

4. The TLC Website was completed and is a link under the Sections link on the AAEA homepage.

Overview of 2006

1. The TLC track proposal (again organized by Leah Greden Mathews) for the Long Beach meetings features five organized symposiums:

Teaching Tips from Top Teachers: 2005 AAEA Award Recipients
Report of the National Food and Agribusiness Management Education Commission (Co-Sponsored with the Agribusiness Economics and Management Section)
The Cross-Over Experience: Tips from the Liberal Arts Trenches
Implementing Best Practices for Learning Outcomes in Agribusiness Management Education (Co-Sponsored with the Agribusiness Economics and Management Section)
Adapting “Best Practices” from Management Theory Courses for Graduate Courses in Agribusiness Management (Co-Sponsored with the Agribusiness Economics and Management Section)

Please note that three of these five organized symposiums are co-sponsored with the AEM Section.

2. The TLC Section, in collaboration with the Graduate Student Section, will organize and sponsor the 2nd Annual Young Professional Teaching Academy for the 2007 AAEA Annual Meeting.

3. The TLC Section will propose a TLC track for the 2007 AAEA Annual Meeting with the appropriate co-sponsorship with other Sections of the AAEA.

Young Professional Teaching Academy

Sponsors:
AAEA Professional Activities and New Products Committee
AAEA Graduate Student Section (GSS)
AAEA Teaching, Learning, and Communication (TLC) Section

Challenge:
Most graduate programs in agricultural, resource, environmental and general economics emphasize research, with minimal formal student preparation in classroom instruction. Graduate students and young faculty members learn to teach by mimicking their former instructors and by teaching (i.e. learning by doing). New faculty members often fail to anticipate both the challenges to and opportunities for professional enrichment in the classroom. Without adequate preparation, mentoring and incentives, teaching responsibilities often become more an irritating constraint to professional advancement than a rewarding calling. Both the faculty member and the student lose due to sub-optimal performance and learning.

Opportunity:
The AAEA should draw upon the significant human capital associated with teaching and learning within the Association to sponsor a Young Professional Teaching Academy each year at its annual meeting. The Academy will be designed to acquaint participants with a wide range of valuable teaching techniques and resources for the university and college instructor.

Planning:
The TLC and GSS will be responsible for planning the Academy each year.

Faculty:
Tenured faculty from within the AAEA membership will be recruited to make presentations at this workshop. Each presenter will be paid a $400 honorarium for a resource article and their presentation. New speakers will be recruited each year and any repeat speakers will be asked to update their resource article and presentation.

Content:
The curriculum will be divided into two themes: Instructional Basics and Course Specifics. Under Instructional Basics, three of the five presentations each year will cover subjects like:

• Course Design
• Syllabus Preparation
• Classroom Management
• Advising Opportunities (and Challenges)
• Learning Styles
• Grading Strategies
• Active Learning

The remaining two presentations in the Course Specifics theme will feature material on teaching specific subject matter. These presentations will be rotated each year, drawing upon the expertise of AAEA award-winning graduate and undergraduate instructors in representative fields like:

• Econometrics
• Environmental Economics
• Agribusiness Economics and Management
• International Trade
• Agricultural Development
• Agricultural Policy
• Marketing and Price Analysis
• Agricultural Finance
• Community and Regional Development

Certificate:
Each participant will receive a certificate from the AAEA recognizing their successful completion of the Academy.

Notebooks:
Participants will receive 3-ring binders containing the resource articles of the invited speakers and a valuable collection of other professional articles on teaching, learning, and communication in applied economics.

Audience:
All AAEA members are encouraged to enroll in the Academy, but its primary audience will be junior faculty, and graduate students (Ph.D.) pursuing an academic position in the near future. The Academy will be limited to 40 participants each year.

Timing:
The Young Professional Teaching Academy will be scheduled for Sunday, 12 noon to 4:30 p.m. Academy participants will be invited to participate in the TLC annual meeting scheduled from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Cost:
Participants will register and pay an Academy fee ($60) to cover their lunch, refreshments and a portion of the Academy’s overhead costs.

Promotion:
Academy advertising will utilize the conventional channels of AAEA publications, section websites, and word-of-mouth. Special emphasis will be placed on working closely with department heads and graduate committees to encourage attendance on the part of their junior faculty and graduate students.

Agenda:
The following agenda illustrates the structure of a potential program.; The names reflect the expertise in the profession and do not imply that these individuals have been asked to speak at the Academy.

12 noon – 12:30 p.m.
Buffet lunch and welcome
Moderator--Christine Wilson (Purdue University)

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. “Good Teaching as Scholarship”
Otto Doering (Purdue University)

1:15 – 2:00 p.m. “Who Are Your Students?”
Eluned Jones (Texas A&M University)

2:00 – 2:45 p.m. “Fundamentals of University Course Design”
John Foltz (University of Idaho)

2:45 – 3:00 p.m. Break

3:00 – 3:45 p.m. “Teaching Applied Econometrics”
Wade Brorsen (Oklahoma State University)

3:45 – 4:30 p.m. “Teaching Agribusiness Economics, Management, and Strategy”
Al Wysocki (University of Florida)

Budget:

Revenue:
Participant registration fees will generate $2,400. The remaining $2,640 will be raised annually via grants from the AAEA Foundation, Farm Foundation, the National Agricultural Economics Administrators Association, AAEA-affiliated departments and other donors.

We propose that individual student sponsorships be developed so an established AAEA member can sponsor a graduate student or young faculty member.

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Document located at http://www.tlc-aaea.org/annualreport2005.html
Site last updated on May 22, 2007