Karly Regan Entomologist – Sustainable Agriculture Advocate – Aspiring Educator

I recently had the opportunity to develop and host a short professional development workshop on using social media in college classes. Our goal was to present social media as a tool to enhance discussions and interaction among students in a course and between instructor and student. We highlighted options to enhancing this connectivity outside of the classroom to keep students engaged between in-class meetings, as well as using it to overcome challenges with keeping large classes (over 50 students) engaged.

My co-host serves as the social media manager for Penn State, so I was able to gain quite a bit of insight from him while we were developing our content and activities. When I first started thinking the workshop early in the semester, I was intimidated and thought I couldn’t possibly have enough professional expertise to guide other students and faculty on teaching methods. By the time my co-host and I were finalizing our lesson plan, however, I was feeling much better prepared. It definitely shows how much I have learned in AEE 530 this semester.

A strength in our workshop design was our use of social media and technology in administering the workshop. We filmed the entire workshop using Periscope, which was one of the platforms we discussed. We also used Poll Everywhere to start off our workshop, which allows participants to answer survey questions using the text message feature on a cell phone.

Without knowing the typical internet or social media usage of our attendees, we opted to keep the information presented fairly broad. We gave some general background on social media and uses for each platform. A weakness in this method was that we only had one hour to administer the workshop and did not take time to show the audience how to use a platform if they were unfamiliar. In future workshops, I would make sure to do this since we received feedback requesting it.

To close the workshop, we administered a Post-It Note survey, where participants were given two colors of Post-It Note and used one color to highlight what they had learned that they found most exciting or interesting and the other color to highlight what their biggest concerns were regarding social media usage in the classroom.

We received a wide variety of answers! Some of the most prominent concerns involved the privacy of internet material used in course discussions and the potential for social media to present distractions rather than benefits. A way to overcome the distraction potential would be to focus on using social media between class meetings rather than during in-class time. We did not have clear answers for our audience regarding the best policy for privacy.

Areas that our participants found most exciting were the potential to generate discussion from introverted students and the ability to keep class variable and new.

Through putting together this workshop, I reinforced some ideas I had and learned many new things. It was very rewarding to see discussion generated among attendees. I look forward to continuing to learn about social media and generating new ideas for using it in academic settings.

After drafting a lesson plan as an assignment for AEE 530, we then chose a ten minute segment of that fifty minute lesson and presented the ten minute section to our classmates. You can view the lesson I gave here and my reflections on the experience here.

Integrated Pest Management (ENT/AGECO 457)
Lesson 8 of 18: 10 minute Micro-teaching Segment

Lesson Title:  How can pest dynamics be modeled and how are thresholds calculated?

Lesson Time: 10 minutes

Hook: Students will learn a quantitative definition of a pest and how to decide when treatment actions are needed to suppress a pest.

Context: In order to manage pests, workers need understanding of how that pest’s abundance is changing over time, the many factors influencing their population growth, how many pests there must be for a problem to be present, and how to make decisions for management.

Lesson Objectives:

1. After lesson is complete, students should be able to determine whether an insect is below a level considered “pest”, an occasional pest, or a frequent pest (to instructor’s satisfaction )
2. After learning the definitions of economic injury level and action threshold, students should be able to use these to decide whether or not treatment is needed to avoid economic loss

Summary of Lesson/Timeline:

Using thresholds to assess pest populations

Lecture: Regan (~10 minutes)

• How to graph population dynamics
• Non-pest; Occasional pest; Frequent Pest
• Economic Injury Level
• Action Threshold
• How to use to make management decision

Stop for activity (5 minutes or less)

Given a pest abundance graph and using today’s lesson on EIL and AT, decide whether pest is abundant enough to treat in each year. Based on number of years that pest exceeds AT, determine whether pest is occasional or frequent.

This is a lesson plan for a workshop that Bill Zimmerman and I designed. You can view the video of our workshop here and the reflections I had on planning and administering a workshop here.

Professional Development Workshop: Spinning the Classroom Web

How can social media and other related tactics help maximize the interaction between the instructor and student, particularly when the class consists of 50 or more students?

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Compare and contrast the relevance of four commonly available social media methods/platforms: Blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Periscope; for use inside the classroom
2. Adapt methods to enhance instruction with social media.

WARM-UP/OPENING SURVEY

1. Using PollEverywhere, we will ask participants for their definition of social media as they enter the workshop and find seats; this beings engaging our audience immediately; answers will be projected on screen
2. Introduce ourselves and the workshop.
   Bill: “To demonstrate the use of one social media platform we plan to introduce, we will be filming our workshop using Periscope. You will be able to access this video after if you’d like to see anything again.”
3. Ask participants to participate in think-pair-share regarding their current social media usage or past experiences
   “Good afternoon, we’re going to start with an activity to gauge your current comfort level or level of experience with social media. Please arrange yourselves in a line from 1=high to 5=low. If you consider yourself fairly savvy in social media usage and/or have had positive experiences, head toward Bill (=1). If you consider yourself fairly hesitant to try social media in a classroom or have tried it and not had success, head toward Karly. If you’re somewhere in between, choose a middle location that you feel represents your experiences.”

…wait for line to form

“Okay, great. Now, we’re going to fold you in half and you will meet in pairs or small groups to discuss the experiences you’ve had (guide slide shown on PPT).”
(~15 min; 5 to introduce ourselves/activity and form pairs; 5 to pair-discuss, and 5 to group-share )

INTRO
A brief overview of:

• Social Media, in general
• Blogging
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Periscope

(10 minutes) 

APPLICATION
How can the following mediums be used to create more student engagement inside and outside of the classroom? 

• Blogging
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Periscope

(10 minutes) 

EXERCISE #2 (Flex-activity? Shorten if needed?):

• Will use Tweetdeck to demonstrate the use of Twitter hashtags by showing our #aee530 that has been used throughout our course, as well as during the workshop to generate discussion about social media usage and demonstrate how it has been applied in a classroom; will also show #soc119 as a large-class example that has been successfull
  (~15 min)

QUESTIONS/FEEDBACK

POST-IT EVALUATION: Students give anonymous feedback on sticky notes, offering assets and opportunities on the part of the instructors’ presentation

“You will find post-it notes of two colors on the desks near you. Using (color #1), share with us the social-media related idea you are most excited about implementing in your classroom or learning more about. Using (color #2), share with us the biggest concern you have about using social media in your classroom. Stick them in groups by color on the wall and feel free to glance at the wall on your way out to see what others may have shared.”
(10 minutes)

Here is an example lesson plan that I wrote for a course covering Integrated Pest Management. You can view my reflections on writing a lesson plan here.

Integrated Pest Management (ENT/AGECO 457)
Lesson 8 of 18

Lesson Title: How can pest dynamics be forecast and how are thresholds calculated?

Lesson Time: 50 minutes

Hook: The warm-up activity will be used to activate prior knowledge on pest biology, management tools (learned in prior lessons or courses), and economic considerations (not yet taught, but curious to see what they may know or come up with).

Context: In order to manage pests, workers need understanding of how that pest’s abundance is changing over time, the many factors influencing their population growth, how many pests there must be for a problem to be present, and how to make decisions for management.

Lesson Objectives:

1. After lesson is complete, students should be able to draw an example of a non-pest, an occasional pest, and a frequent pest to instructor’s satisfaction (worksheet due next class).
2. After learning the formula and with an example provided, students should be able to correctly calculate the economic injury level for a pest (in-class).
3. After lesson is complete, students will be able to apply these calculations and forecasting tools to a real-world pest example and decide on whether or not to apply a management tool, to instructor’s satisfaction (worksheet due next class).

Warm Up: Students will be called on to provide as many factors (biotic or abiotic) as they can think of that may influence a pest’s population growth and whether or not a farmer should be concerned about it. (~5 minutes)

Summary of Lesson/Timeline:

1. Patterns of Population Growth

Lecture: Regan (~10 minutes)

• Logistic vs. Exponential
• Seasonal Fluctuations
• How to graph pop. dynamics
• Non-pest; Occasional pest; Frequent Pest

2. How Thresholds are Calculated

Lecture: Regan (~10 minutes)

• Economic Injury Level
• Economic Threshold
• Factors influencing the calculations
• How to use calculation to make management decision

Stop for activity (~5 minutes): Provide an example of a pest-crop complex, a potential management option, and numerical examples for each component of the economic injury level formula. Ask them to calculate the EIL on a sheet of paper and turn in (Assessment #1).

3. Forecasting and Scouting

Lecture: Regan (~5 minutes)

• Why scouting and forecasting are useful
• How it can be done (methods/techniques)

Demonstration: Regan (~5 minutes)

• What online forecasting tools are available (will encourage them to follow along on their own computers if they happen to have them)
• How to use them (input)

Lecture/Demo: Regan (~5 minutes)
How to apply results of forecasting simulation to make a management decision

Wrap-up (~5 minutes): Provide chance for them to ask questions; hand out worksheet, review what’s expected on worksheet (Assessment #2)

Assessments:

1. EIL Calculation: will be scored for participation/attendance
2. Worksheet: Drawing of 3 pest dynamic graphs; 1 paragraph answer to an open-ended question providing a pest example and seeking a management decision; will be scored to provide feedback

For AEE 530, we revised a syllabus for a course we have taken or taught. I revised the syllabus from the IPM class I took during my Ph.D. program at Penn State. You can view my revised syllabus below and read my reflections on syllabus writing and revising here.

Principles of Integrated Pest Management
ENT 457/AGECO 457
Fall 2016

INSTRUCTOR AND TEACHING ASSISTANT CONTACT INFO WOULD GO HERE

Principles of IPM is the integrated study of pest complexes and their management, emphasizing ecological principles and drawing on examples from a range of agricultural, forestry, and urban systems. This course is designed for sixth, seventh, and eighth semester undergraduate students and graduate students.

 Class Time:              Tuesday and Thursday 4:15 – 5:30 PM
Class Location:        107 Ag Science and Industries Building
Office Hours:            E-mail to set-up an appointment.

Prerequisites:  Must have taken two or more of the following: ENT 313, PPEM 405, PPEM 318 or HORT 238. We expect students to be able to contribute some level of basic knowledge regarding plant, arthropod, or pathogen biology but anticipate that basic level will vary amongst students.

Course Goals:  There are two major goals of this course. One is to introduce students to the principles and practices of integrated pest management. The second goal is to apply IPM knowledge to real-world pest problems by interacting with pest managers in several different systems. This course addresses IPM issues concerning insects, plant pathogens and weeds in agricultural, natural, and urban environments. Rooted in ecology, IPM also human influences including social, economic, and regulatory constraints on pest management. The overarching goals of environmental protection, economic viability and social welfare are considered throughout the course. We expect the skills and knowledge acquired to be useful in many different future careers in pest management.

 Course Objectives:
After taking this course, students will be able to:

• List the tactics of IPM including biological, cultural, legal, mechanical, genetic, and chemical controls
• Explain how pest monitoring can aid decision making
• Appraise the factors influencing how IPM decisions are made
• Compare IPM implementation domestically and internationally
• Design solutions to solve pest management problems, using real-world examples

Course Description:  This course will be a mixture of lectures and presentations by outside speakers supplemented with field trips and team-based projects to provide real-world context for key concepts. The course will be handled through the ANGEL course management system. Handouts, slides and supplemental reading material will be placed on ANGEL for this course.

Course Credits:  3 credits

Course Text:  Norris, R.F., E.P. Caswell-Chen, and M. Kogan. 2003. Concepts in Integrated Pest Management. Prentice Hall.

Web Resource:   Pennsylvania IPM Program:  http://paipm.org
American Phytopathological Society: http://apsnet.org

Course Grading:
Mid-term exam                                                                      20%
Final exam                                                                              20%
Group IPM project (75% report, 25% oral presentation)       20%
Random quizzes (6-7)                                                             15%
Field trip attendance and reports                                           15%
Class attendance and participation extra credit                    10%
Total                                                                                      100%

Letter grades will be assigned based on the points that you earn. Class participation, attendance and other factors can be used to adjust your overall grade. Students will be randomly called on to answer questions during in-class discussions. If you are absent, you can’t participate. In general, A = 93‐100%; A– = 90‐92%; B+ = 87‐89%; B = 83‐86%; B– = 80‐82%; C+ = 77‐79%; C = 70‐77%; D = 60‐69%; F = <60%.

Course Assignments:

• Field trip reports and discussion: Following each of three field trips, students will be expected to complete a brief report that describes key IPM tactics observed, stakeholders, etc. Reports and observations will inform a post-field trip discussion.
  • Report should be completed ahead of discussion to enhance discussion quality. Late reports will be deducted 10% of report grade per day that they are late.
• Semester-long team project: Students will be assigned to one of approximately five teams tasked to complete a semester-long group IPM project. Project progress will be reported during the semester with a final presentation and term paper at the end of the semester.
  • Because in-class presentations will be featured on the final exam shortly after, no late presentations will be accepted. Reports will be deducted 20% of report grade per day that it is late.
• Exams: Both exams will be given in Room 107 Ag Sci and Ind Bldg. Mid-term exam will occur on 29 Oct from 4:15-5:30 pm. Final exam will be given a 2 hour block. Date to be determined by the university, but will be announced in advance of the exam.
  • Makeup exams will only be granted with a pre-approved reason for absence.

Course Schedule and Reading Assignments:
This syllabus schedule will be subject to change.

AN EXAMPLE SCHEDULE WAS INSERTED HERE

Online Reading Assignments:

1 Oct        Online Plant Health Progress article: Cucurbit Downy Mildew ipmPIPE: A Next Generation Web-based Interactive Tool for Disease Management and Extension Outreach http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/review/2011/cucurbit/.

Journal article: The Use and Role of Predictive Systems in Disease Management. Annual Review of Phytopathology 51: 267-289 http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-phyto-082712-102356

PDF files will also be available on ANGEL.

3 Nov       Mushroom Production
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/vegetable-fruit/mushrooms/publications/guides/SixSteps.pdf

 10 Nov     International IPM
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253328721_Evaluation_of_Integrated_Pest_and_Disease_Management_Module_for_Shallots_in_Tamil_Nadu_India_a_Farmer%27s_Participatory_Approach

Group IPM Projects:
The class will be split into several teams. Each team will act as a consulting ‘company’ that has been hired to develop an IPM strategy, policy, etc. for a given site. The strategy will be based on the site’s environment, pests present or likely to be encountered, site management goals and use, stakeholder analyses, economics, benchmarking, regulations, etc.

Factors to consider include:

1. Benchmarking
2. Stakeholder interviews and surveys
3. Pest history and biology; level of threat
4. Site use and future plans
5. Site management and procedures
6. Federal, state, local and institutional rules and regulations
7. Safety concerns
8. Relevant business plan(s)
9. IPM tactics
10. Stakeholder education plan(s)

The team will be graded based on collaboration/interactivity, work effort, stakeholder report, final project presentation/report and an assessment by team peers.

These projects should begin immediately since arranging stakeholder meetings can be time-and energy-consuming! Please feel free to reach out to instructors for assistance in identifying stakeholders, scheduling meetings, and approaching design of IPM plan.

Questions to consider asking during the stakeholder meeting(s) (questions may vary depending on the specific project):

1. During the participatory appraisal:
   1. What is the present state of knowledge about IPM?
   2. What are key pests? Secondary pests?
   3. What IPM practices are currently in place?
   4. What are the current goals and parameters for management? Are policies in place regarding pests and/or chemical usage?
   5. How does this fit with the new PSU ‘Green’ initiative?
   6. How are pests monitored? Who is responsible? Are records kept? What happens if an employee sees a pest problem?
   7. How are ‘six steps’ or ‘staircase’ applied?
   8. Who are the customers? What are they demanding?
   9. What laws and regulations have to be accommodated?
   10. Where are they on the IPM continuum?
   11. How do they presently learn about IPM tactics and strategies?

2. Seasonality of IPM:
   1. Make a calendar of activities

3. What tactics are currently being used?

4. Training available and needed:
   1. What kind of IPM education is available for stakeholders? What kind of publicity?
   2. Training for employees? Seen as part of core responsibilities?

5. How can you make the system better?
   1. Other tactics that should be evaluated?
   2. Other stakeholders to be included?
   3. Policy changes needed
   4. Improved monitoring
   5. Cost/benefit improvements
   6. Environmental and health benefits
   7. What needs to happen to move them along the IPM continuum?
   8. Barriers to progress

IPM 457 Project Evaluation Rubrics:

Academic Integrity Statement:
Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, students should act with personal integrity, respect other students’ dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others (see Faculty Senate Policy 49‐20 and G‐9 Procedures) http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/conduct/codeofconduct Read the Academic Integrity Guidelines for the College of Agricultural Sciences

A lack of knowledge or understanding of the University’s Academic Integrity policy and the types of actions it prohibits and/or requires does not excuse one from complying with the policy. Penn State and the College of Agricultural Sciences take violations of academic integrity very seriously. Faculty, alumni, staff and fellow students expect each student to uphold the University’s standards of academic integrity both in and outside of the classroom.

Disability Statement:
Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University’s educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. The Office for Disability Services (ODS) Web site provides contact information for every Penn State campus: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/dcl. For further information, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site: http://equity.psu.edu/ods.

In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus’s disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. You must follow this process for every semester that you request accommodations.