Research priority area 2: New Technologies, Practices, and Products Adoption Decisions
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In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize Norman Borlaug (1970) stated Civilization as it is known today could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply (para. 1). Feeding a world with nine billion people in approximately 35 years will require several key problems to be resolved (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organziation, 2009). One of the key problems to be resolved is developing and diffusing new technologies that can help us use scarce resources more efficiently, increase and stabilize crop and livestock yields (FAO, 2009, 2). Innovation and the adoption of new technologies will be required to feed an expanding world population (Conway, 2012). Additional research on and a better understanding of new technologies, practices, and products will help agricultural educators develop and implement agricultural teaching and learning processes contributing to the development of sustainable agricultural systems needed in the future. Such work requires we focus not only inwardly on universities and colleges and their faculty and students, primary and secondary schools and their teachers and students, Extension services and outreach institutions and their professionals and clients, but also outwardly toward farmers growing food and fiber, scientists and professionals developing new innovations, people who are not food secure, and political and social systems that contribute to food insecurity. Research on adoption and diffusion of innovations has been central to the profession of Agricultural Education since the Iowa Study of Hybrid Seed Corn (Rogers, 2003). Rogers theory of diffusion of innovations is often used as a theoretical framework in the Journal of Agricultural Education and other journals in our field of study. Previous National Research Agendas have included New Technologies, Practices, and Products in the framework. Rogers (2003) defined innovation as an idea, practice, or project that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption (p. 12). The nature of innovations researched in agricultural education is very broad and includes a variety of technologies, practices, and products. Distance education technologies include video conferencing, websites, apps, learning management systems, reusable learning objects, mobile devices, and smart boards. Education programming and practices include face-to-face instruction, lecture, demonstration, experiential learning, simulations, web-based instruction, flipped classroom instruction, farmer field schools, and professional learning networks. Products include commodities, farming tools, farming implements, materials, and equipment. Patron has added Short Description : American Association for Agricultural Education Research Priority 2: New Technologies, Practices, and Products Adoption Decisions
