Strategic Vision
The vision of the Agricultural Education Program at the University of Illinois is to become the innovative leader in experiential and outreach education for traditional and non-traditional youth and adults in the Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. We envision the following action steps be taken to become globally preeminent and locally relevant.
Educate and train future practitioners, scholars and leaders for success in institutions, organizations and communities.
Revise the curriculum to reflect the progression of Agricultural Education.
Create an undergraduate fellowship program that will mitigate financial barriers for promising students.
Strengthen relationships that help foster a smooth transition for transfer students.
Develop a strategic plan to recruit quality students who are diverse in their interestsdevoted to life-long learning, and dedicated to educating others.
Reestablish an advisory committee to assess the progression and relevance of the program.
Establish professional development opportunities for undergraduates that include real-life teaching/training experiences, educational research internships, program development experiences, and collaborations with educational and organizational stakeholders.
Deliver high quality academic programs for graduate students interested in experiential and outreach education.
Provide continuing education opportunities for practitioners that include professional development in content areas, certifying provisional agriculture teachers, new teacher development and mentoring, and National Board Certification in Agricultural Education.
Promote diversity and international programs and develop new partnerships with underserved populations.
Identify and implement administrative, structural, and programmatic changes that will position it as a viable, credible, and relevant program in the College of ACES.
Recruit and retain exemplary faculty that demonstrate excellence in teaching, scholarship and service.
Utilize highly qualified academic professionals to facilitate the daily operations of the undergraduate program and continue to strengthen the presence of the program in the community.
Click here for expanded version of the action steps.
Mission and Values
The mission of the Agricultural Education Program is to prepare agricultural educators and enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning through experiential and outreach education in the agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences.
The seven values underpinning the Agricultural Education Program are:
Experiential Learning: Educators will use a learner-centered approach that focuses on applying concepts by solving real-life problems or performing authentic tasks. Agriculture, consumer and environmental sciences provide a context to make learning relevant, to solve real-life problems, to make pertinent decisions, and to connect individuals with viable career options.
Inquiry-Based Learning: Educators will use a learner-centered approach that requires learners to discover through questions and collaboration instead of direct instruction. Educators will take the role of facilitators of learning instead of the primary source of knowledge. This approach will help students develop experimental and analytical skills that will be important in any field of science.
Science-Based Content: Curriculum will be developed that teaches the application of knowledge of one or more fields of science in order to solve practical problems. Topics can range from the applied sciences (e.g. life, physical, chemical, earth, and environmental sciences) to the social sciences (e.g. communication, economics, marketing, management, and sociology).
Personal and Organizational Development: Educators will assist individuals and teams with acquiring the cognitive, social and emotional skills and abilities needed to be competent and productive. The Learner will reflect on past experiences, analyze the impact of those experiences on various aspects of one’s life, develop a plan of action for growth, and implement that plan.
Community-Based Education: Educational programs will be developed based on the values of the local community that utilize available assets to build human, social, cultural, and natural capital for that community. Learners will be taught pragmatic ways to produce food and energy from plants, animals and natural resources and create innovative uses of science and technology for the good of the community.
Outreach Education: Strategies and educational materials will be developed to increase awareness of and about the agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences. In a variety of educational settings, individuals of all ages learn and apply scientific and practical knowledge through integrated, experiential and service learning activities.
Scholarship: Educators prescribe to the belief that knowledge is power. As lifelong learners, they are devoted to the discovery, interpretation, and development of methods, systems and/or assessments that assist in the advancement of human knowledge about the agricultural, consumer and environmental sciences.
