Perceptions of agricultural communications freshmen regarding curriculum expectations and career aspirations

Scope and Method of Study. The purpose of this study was to describe agricultural communications freshmen perceptions of agricultural communications curriculum by describing selected personal characteristics, career aspirations and curriculum expectations of agricultural communications freshmen at Oklahoma State University, Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University. In addition, this study also described agricultural communications freshmen's interests and perceived importance of agricultural communications skills at the selected institutions. The population for the study was 100 agricultural communications students enrolled in an entry-level agricultural communications course during the 2010 Fall Semester. To assess the perceptions of the population, a 54-question instrument was developed and sent to each University to be administered on site. Data was collected from each site using scantron sheets and was analyzed using descriptive statistics.;Findings and Conclusions. This study revealed the personal characteristics of agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions. The average agricultural communications freshman was female, between ages 17 to 18, attending a university within her state of residence. She is from a rural area, and decided to major in agricultural communications because of self-interest or encouragement from her FFA or college adviser. Most of her agricultural and communications experience was obtained in high school, on a family production farm, or by engaging in social media. This study also revealed agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions desired to enroll in an equal amount of agricultural and communications courses. According to agricultural communications freshmen's expectations the material taught in these courses to be broad and diverse. The results of this study also revealed students have a stronger extrinsic value for agricultural communications skills than an instrinic value. Writing and describing the agricultural community to the public were the highest ranked skills by agricultural communications freshmen at selected institutions.