A case study of Oklahoma secondary agricultural education teachers' needs in agricultural communications

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to determine the professional development and curriculum needs of Oklahoma secondary agricultural education teachers as related to teaching agricultural communications. A qualitative study was conducted through a semi-structured focus group interview. The interview took place at a teacher training and included 19 participating teachers.Findings and conclusions. A majority of the participating teachers had fewer than five year experience as secondary agricultural education teachers and in teaching agricultural communications The participants expressed a need for better teaching resources and curriculum in agricultural communications. The teachers said a database should be available to help the teachers develop their lesson plans and prepare for the agricultural communications career development event. Workshops for students were mentioned as a way to improve performance in the agricultural communications career development event. Based on these findings, the researcher concluded the universities need to assist in developing appropriate agricultural communications materials for secondary agricultural education. Prospective teachers also should be given training in agricultural communications during post-secondary education. Students at the secondary level should be given more opportunities to attend workshops in all areas of agricultural communications. More research should be conducted on the needs of secondary agricultural education students in agricultural communications as well as into the effects of improved materials for current secondary agricultural education teachers. This study should be repeated with different professional groups including agricultural communications faculty, agricultural education faculty, and pre-service students in agricultural education. The CIMC curriculum was improved in 2009 to address some of the issues presented by participating teachers.