Session #25 Ticket Out Responses

What are you curious about?
1.Other types of innovation that dose not follow Roger's

• Bring this question to class session #26

2.Where will agriculture development go in China

• The Role of Agriculture in China Development-Article

3.Our indigenous knowledge topic and what we will find at the library?

• We will find out -Class session #27

What did you learn?

1. How many different speakers to learn about and that have came into our class

2.Sometimes even the theories/model that we think may explain certain aspect of innovation, etc have faults or certain times they don't work

3.The scale and impact of different agriculture extension programs

4.The ways in which the diversity of programs benefit others as well as ourselves

5.About how modernization effects different countries development

What do you want to learn more about?

1. What are the different type of innovation

• 10 Type of Innovation (Book) by Larry Keeley, Ryan Pikkel Brain Quinn, Halen Walter 

2. More about Dr. Melanie's thesis research

• Find out from Dr. Melanie

Barriers to Accessing Education

What are other barriers to accessing an education, or if you would like to be more specific, accessing an education in agriculture?   

Discuss with your classmates, research online, look at past readings to identify an additional barrier to accessing education or agricultural education.  Select one barrier and be prepared to share the following in class on Tuesday:

1. What is the barrier?


2. What are characteristics of the barrier?


3. Where is the barrier prevalent in the world?


4. What are suggested strategies for overcoming the barrier?


5. Cite one resource in APA style that supports your finding.

For your readings for Tuesday you will also be reading a case study of your choice from the MEAS project.  You can get a jump start on Tuesday's class by filling out the worksheet as you read (recommended!).  Use the copy you picked up in class, or find an extra copy in ANGEL.

Three Cups of Tea and Greg Mortenson

One thing that all students in this class should know is that the course syllabus has been passed out to education and development experts around the world, just to make sure that we're on target.

One thing a few syllabus-reviewers commented on was the Three Cups of Tea reading.  Wasn't the author discredited?  Why do we persist in assigning it in this class?  In fact, the entire Three Cups of Tea book was used as a course text in a previous version of AEE 400. 

I like this chapter because it shows an American going into a village in a developing country, witnessing the poverty, and jumping to the conclusion that a material good - a school building - will solve the problem of education there.  He's also an outsider, meaning that he is not from that country and does not understand the culture or context well.  The rest of the book chronicles the uphill battle he fought to get the school building built, install a teacher and to actually get kids to attend the school.

In short, this reading highlights many aspects of the diffusion of innovation model and provides fodder for discussion. 

The scandal that broke with the foundation that the author, Greg Mortenson does not diminish what we can learn from this chapter.  You can learn more about the scandal by searching for news articles or by watching this 60 Minutes segment.  It's a great example of how accountability with development projects is difficult to document, and how some projects can do more harm than good.

If you're interested in engaging with this reading more, you might consider filling out the worksheet passed out at the end of class using this situation as an example.  Also, the entire book is a great read and I encourage you all to pick it up from either Penn State Library or Schlow Public Library.

Diffusion of Innovations and AEE 400

From the wealth of "Ticket Out" responses, it seems that the Rogers' model of diffusion of innovations captured the interest of many students. 

There are many lingering questions, including:

• How the diffusion model can be used for good and seen as destructive?
• Developing nation and communities wants vs needs? Are we forcing something on the people?
• Does the diffusion of Innovation process/model ever not happen? Example?
• What are some best practices for facilitating diffusion?

These are all GREAT questions!  I'm glad that the reading and brief discussion of this model has your minds turning in all different directions.

As we'll discover throughout this class, the Rogers' model of diffusion is just one model. There are other models of diffusion, which were largely developed because researchers saw so many flaws with the Rogers model.

If you take a look at the model, there are some limitations that you can see right off the bat.  Why should 100% adoption of the innovation be the goal?  Doesn't that assume that the innovation is the right thing for everyone?  These biases are called the pro-innovation bias and the individual-blame bias, which assume that the innovation is "right" and people are "wrong" for not adopting it. 

Decades of research was conducted using this model, trying to pinpoint the best practices to rapidly diffuse new innovations among populations in developing countries.  You can find examples in the readings, as well as by searching for research articles through Penn State libraries.  In the end, many development experts found that each context is unique and that it is very hard to generalize results in across cultures and different geographic locations. 

Doesn't this idea tie right in with the development question?  How do outsiders, mainly Westerners, decide what is right for other people?  If you keep reading in Rogers or look at the literature, many development projects that utilized this model have had unintended consequences and many have tried to diffuse Western innovations in a non-Western context.  In the process, the needs and wants, as well as the indigenous knowledge, of local people are often ignored.

This is a big idea!  There are entire college courses taught JUST on Rogers' model.  In fact, there is an entire graduate class in Workforce Education taught on this topic.  There are folks that have dedicated their academic lives to thinking and researching this model.  So don't be frustrated!

Here are some things you can do: I encourage you to fill out the worksheet passed out at the end of class and reread the assigned reading to make sure you have the basics down.  Come talk to me if you have questions or if you want to learn more about this model.  Also, check out the rest of Rogers' book for more examples and detail about the issues touched on above.  It's an easy read and the examples are great illustrations of his main points.

Session # 3 Education as Innovation Ticket Out Responses

**Note: due to many "Ticket Out" responses focused on "Three Cups of Tea" and "Diffusion of Innovations" there will be separate blog entries addressing those topics.

What are you curious about?

1. The journal entries?

•  The journal entries are for you to write about your thoughts and feelings regarding the class and course readings. You will keep your journal for yourself and only turn it in when journal checks are noted in the syllabus.

2.  Official definition of diffusion  of innovation

• Refer to reading # 9

3. Who I will become pen pals with and how difficult it will be to make a podcast?

• It could be a peace corps volunteer or an agriculture student in a developing country.  We will connect you with a pen pal, if you choose one of these assignments for your "Pick One".
• This is  a video [LINK] for how to create a podcast.

4. Listening to ''This I Believe''

• You can listen to some example of this is believe podcast here [LINK] 

5. How many people go out and try still try to introduce new things? Is there a certain program

• There are a lot of great individuals or organizations who goes out helping  and making other people's lives better. During the course of the semester we will be taking a look at many different types of organizations focused on agricultural education as a vehicle for diffusing new innovations.  Many of the guest speakers in this course represent or have participated in these programs.

6. Do we need to force changes in places that we perceive to be under-developed?

•  This is a debate when considering the idea of "development".  What does "developed" mean?  Does it mean that countries will be regarded as "undeveloped" until they look like the so-called "developed" countries?  Or is there a new pathway forward?  This is a broader debate that you can explore by taking more classes on this topic.  We'll take a look at this issue regarding agricultural education in this class.

What did you learn?

1. The innovation is all about perception

2. Not all innovation are as highly valued in some cultures as we may expect

4. Education can tie into the diffusion of innovation because it id both affected by it and is a form of diffusion

5.








6. Innovation depends on perspective

7. How to present ideas in our new classroom

8. Roger's Diffusion of innovation chart

9. The diffusion model

10. Innovation and Diffusion

11.The World is a Challenging Place



What do you want to learn more about?

1. How to conduct a case study

• You can talk more about this with your instructors.

2. How the model connects with everything that we find innovative in today's world

• I encourage you to continue reading Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations available at PSU [LIBRARY].  Each element of diffusion is discussed in detail, along with many examples.

3. Interested in reading more of the story

• Three Cups of Tea book is available at PSU [LIBRARY]

4.   The solid definition of diffusion

• Refer to reading #9

5. Who the peace corp volunteers are

• Learn more about the volunteers here [LINK]

6. Factor behind accepting agriculture innovation/ ideas in developing countries

• In general- Relative advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability. Refer to reading #9

7. The DIY project oppurtunity

• Talk to the instructors

8. The Mortenson story 

• Find more story about Mortenson story here [LINK]