Abstract
This study examines the university–community alliance with regard to experiential learning activities that may be used to enhance the competencies of agricultural extension postgraduate students (AEPS). Through research and alliance, university education provides agricultural extension students with ideal learning spaces to explore cause-related social, economic, and sustainability aspects of agriculture. The objectives of the study were for the AEPS to work on community farms for between six to eight weeks, to identify production challenges, and to attempt to solve problems using a participatory action research (PAR) approach. Students collected data daily, using parameters that included types of agro-enterprise, agricultural practices, observation and control of pests and diseases, identification, and control of weed infestation types, control of predators, and management of various security challenges. Social media were also used to share posts (pictures and videos) of the various project activities with the public for discussion and knowledge sharing. Findings show that there was an improved relationship between the students and their community collaborators. All participants mutually benefited from the programme; students gained indigenous farming knowledge from the farmers, while farmers benefited from the scientific approaches to solving common farming problems employed by the students—mostly improvised technologies with local content. Both the students and the farmers learned from the knowledge shared by various followers on Facebook, who gave suggestions to address some of the challenges posted on social media. The programme advocates the need to shift from a mostly rigid, conventional curriculum to a more dynamic, interactive one, which embraces active experimentation with theoretical knowledge. It underscores the significance of experiential learning for developing students’ technical competencies. The success of the programme could influence curriculum development and re-design to accommodate more experience-based modules.
Highlights
A shift from the conventional, standard education, and training of agricultural extension post-graduate students towards a more extensive learning approach is imperative to optimise the professional competencies required of them
In a bid to make the module more practical, questions were developed along the lines of “How can the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Fort Hare (UFH), contribute to fostering hope, courage, and resolve in producing a new cadre of agricultural extension personnel that could participate in a productive way in shaping their surroundings?” More precisely, the goal was to create pedagogical spaces in which committed, caring, and continuous work with nature could occur, enabling an experience of connecting and belonging, both to students’ natural surroundings and to their community
Lovedale community project had the largest number of followers (528), with the Sakhisizwe
Summary
A shift from the conventional, standard education, and training of agricultural extension post-graduate students towards a more extensive learning approach is imperative to optimise the professional competencies required of them. The rapid pace at which agricultural practices are currently evolving with respect to management practices, technology use and networking, and the general massive intensity of industrial growth is a cogent basis for motivating universities’ curricula reform and implementation One such proposed reform is for the development of university–community alliances to promote experiential learning by students. School as a project site was primarily to help improve the vegetable garden that supplies. War Memorial Community Clinic has a dedicated space for a small garden for the production of vegetables. The cultivation of the garden was discontinued in 2017 because of numerous production challenges Students in this project group made the decision to rejuvenate the garden; their collaborative effort successfully led to the re-cultivation of vegetables on the land. The garden is overgrown with weeds, there is p tation on the crops, especially
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