Goals:1. Increase and diversify future plant breeder pipeline

2. Improve our collective education programs (Capacity to deliver + Problem solving experience)

3. Develop a better pipeline and better programs by understanding what works, and what does not.

TCAP Education

How do we attract more students to be Plant Breeders?How do we improve diversity?How do we improve training?

Purdue

Nebraska

Deciding?

Nebraska

PBTN: Students learn concepts and skills in an environment that emphasizes conditions of the professional environment

•Directed by Plant Breeding Challenges

•Online network (Meeting Space, Work Space, Supplemental Courses, Learning Objects, Computational Tools, Database, Professional Development and Collaboration)

•Centralized trainings (Workshops, Symposia, Experiential Trips)

•Training at home institutions (Coursework, Research)

Education Team:•Brakke (PBL, Undergrad, Student mentor, MSIs)

• Lee (Learning Objects, Student mentor, MSI)

•Namuth-Covert (Online network, network training)

•Sherman (Oversee Education, Online content, Centralized trainings, Mentor, Mentor training, MSIs, Recruitment)

Participating Universities:

PIs

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Outside:

•Advisory Panel

•NAPB

•Industry

•International Breeding Community

Recruitment:

•MSI Bridge

•Outreach

Evaluation:

•Rainbow – MSI

•1 Evaluation Graduate student Oversight by Lawrenz– effectiveness of PBL, Network

•Evaluation of created materials -UNL

Year 1:Education Deliverable 1

• What– Online environment built and tested

• Audience– Students and Participants in PBTN

• Impact– Enable us to deliver content, build

collaboration, mentor etc.

• What you can do– Help test and participate in trainings

Year 1: Education Deliverable 2

• What– Online course developed

• Audience– Graduate and Undergraduate Students

• Impact – Supplement and improve training of students

• What you can do– Complete survey about content needs– Provide content or mentor when asked

Practice of Problem Based Learning

(Amador, Miles, Peter, 2006)

• Puts students in driver seat– Deeper understanding

(greater retention, integration and application)

– Responsibility for learning

• Faculty shift to participants in a process and managers of groups

PBL Example: One of the expected results of climate change is a more volatile environment. How would you design a plant breeding program with a more variable

environment in mind?

Students• Assess the state of their knowledge—individually and collectively• Identify knowledge gaps• Seek more information from a variety of sources• Revisit the problem in light of new information• Collaborate to propose solutions and design strategies• Share solutions with group• Students assess feasibility of strategiesFaculty• Craft ill-structured problems• Promote thinking by posing questions• Draw attention to the processes used

Year 1: Education Deliverable 3• What

– Education tools developed (PBL focus)

• Audience– Faculty and Undergraduate Students

• Impact– Support Faculty in using plant breeding examples in

education of students

– Introduce students to career

• What you can do– Serve on editorial board

Year 1: Education Deliverable 4• What

– MSI Bridge Building

• Audience– Faculty and Students at MSIs, T-CAP Participants

• Impact– Build long term relationships between MSIs and

T-CAP

• What you can do– Mentor and MSI faculty and/or student

MSI collaboration

• MSI faculty provide– Advice on mentoring minority students– Direction in curriculum development– Mentor students – Recruitment of students

• Wheat/Barley CAP PIs provide– PBL and learning object curriculum– PBL support– Research support– Experience for students

MSI Student Research Support1) Student research support at MSI partnering with MSI faculty

– Faculty support for mentoring students– Student support

2) Student summer internships at CAP institutions– Support will include stipend and travel– PIs at CAP institutions will mentor students

Both types of support will require• Students and faculty to participate in PBTN• Students to report and make presentation summarizing research

experience. • Student presentations at MSI will encourage more students to

participate.• Each year 10 proposals will be awarded for a total of 70,000 per

year.

Year 1: Deliverable 5

• What– Initiate training of 11 Graduate students partnered with 11

undergraduate students

• Audience– Students and PIs

• Impact – Create cohort to participate in PBTN and test new training

models– Mentoring training

• What you can do – Identify students– Mentor students– Support student full participation in PBTN

Year 1: Deliverable 6• What

– Plant breeding for climate change symposium in association with NAPB

• Audience– Students and PIs from plant breeding community

• Impact – Support exchange of ideas between professional plant

breeders/students, people working on different crops, public/private breeders to address challenges in breeding for climate change

• What you can do – Participate in NAPB – Send your students to NAPB

Breeding for Climate Change

• National Association of Plant Breeders Meeting• When: May 23-25• Where: TAMU• Who: all plant breeders and students• Breeding for climate change speakers

– Joe Bouton– Steve Bebe

• Student speaker competition

Year 1: Deliverable 7• What

– High-throughput phenotyping for climate change workshop

• Audience– Students, PIs and other TCAP participants

• Impact – Provide training in spectral phenotyping

• What you can do – Finalize equipment decision

– Attend training and send others

Year 1: Deliverable 8• What

– Development of evaluation tools and begin evaluation• Audience

– Students, PIs and other TCAP participants• Impact

– Ensure project is meeting goals– Improving project– Measure impact

• What you can do – Participate in evaluations

Questions about PBTN

• How do we set learning goals?• How do we interact with research part of

grant including database?• What is an appropriate weekly time

commitment for students?• How do we ensure full student

participation?– Credit– Grades

Questions to resolve about PBL

• Amount of PBL in PBTN• Complexity and sequencing of problems• Delivery

– all at once – phased

• How do we form groups– Students form own code of conduct for group– Or we impose

• Assessment and grading– Group– Individual– Peer evaluation

• How do we ensure PBL meets learning objectives

Questions about MSI Bridge

• How do we establish strong bridges and ensure as broad of participation as possible?

• How do we encourage MSI faculty and students to participate in PBTN?

• What research projects will provide best collaborations between MSIs and TCAP?

• Which PIs are willing to host summer MSI students?

PBTN: •Directed by Plant Breeding Challenges

•Online network (Meeting Space, Work Space, Supplemental Courses, Learning Objects, Computational Tools, Database)

•Centralized trainings (Workshops, Symposia, Experiential Trips)

•Training at home institutions (Coursework, Research)

Education Team:•Brakke (PBL, Undergrad, Student mentor, MSIs)

• Lee (Learning Objects, Student mentor, MSI)

•Namuth (Online network)

•Sherman (Oversee Education, Online content, Centralized trainings, Mentor, Mentor training, MSIs, Recruitment)

Participating Universities:

PIs

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Outside:

•Advisory Panel

•NAPB

•Industry

•International Breeding Community

Recruitment:

•MSI Bridge

•Outreach

Evaluation:

•Rainbow – MSI

•2 Evaluation Graduate students – effectiveness of PBL, Network, Yearly activities

• Oversight by Lawrenz

Action Plan Online Environment

• Computer programmer/post doc hired by Feb 1• Namuth-Covert online course

– Generate ideas for PBTN– Begin testing social networking tools

• Testing in summer• Training in summer• PBTN ready for full use by fall• Monitor function in fall• Solicit feedback as possible PBTN creation and use• Assessment/evaluation • Publication on PBTN implementation/year 1 of use

Action Plan Online Course

• Survey PIs and others for content needs Feb

• Use Delphi study

• Design problems that engages content

• Set up mentors for problem modules

• Test content in Fall 2011

Action Plan Education Materials

• Survey MSI faculty and other undergraduate faculty for ideas of needed curriculum support

• Create materials in collaboration with undergraduate faculty with support of TCAP experts

• Encourage use and test

PBTN Guiding Principles

• Enable students to develop higher level of understanding– Ability to use knowledge to solve problems– Practice through forums, blogs, journals and small groups

• Learner at Center• Faculty role as coach/mentor• Content

– Consists of core principles as well as customized and personalized– Accessed in a variety of ways to reach different learning styles

• Environment and context– Include a variety of experiences (individual and group, synchronous and

asynchronous• Transparent process with explicit expectations• Development of online environment guided e.g. by Quality Matters

Rubric (www.QualityMatters.org)

Plant Breeder Training Network Outputs

• Collaborative training environment that builds community and delivers content through on-line and face-to-face interactions

• Graduate and undergraduate curriculum created and delivered• Training in both scientific and “soft” skills• Mentoring training• Hands-on training of undergraduates and graduate students• Problem-based learning (PBL) modules• Support for educators in PBL• Workshops (e.g., MAS, GS)• Symposia (e.g. student and NAPB)• Student internships• International trip and collaboration • Bridges built with MSIs

Education Sustainability• Integrated with Research

– Support research goals with training and labor (e.g. T3)– Researchers support with expertise and training students

• Human Capital– 29 plant breeders– 100+ undergrads– Introduction of others to plant sciences

• Relationships– MSI and other faculty (long term recruitment)– Students (peer, public and private breeders)

• Resources– Learning Objects – PBL modules

• Networks– Infrastructure– Plant Breeding University without Walls

Student Development assessed by changing relationship with content

• Understand and articulate provided content• Asses and analyze provided content• Intensely explore, engage and identify more

content• Create new content• Customize content to meet personal goals and

projects

Online Best PracticesBoettcher and Conrad (2010)

• Be present daily• Create supportive community• Explicit expectations of students and mentors

– Modes of Communication– Time investment required– Assessment

• Variety – Individual and group work– Synchronous and asynchronous activities– Open student forum, problem-solving forum, discussion posts

• Get feedback as you go• Discussion posts that invite responses, questions and reflections• Provide digital content• Combine core concept learning with customized personal learning• Quality Matters Rubric (www.QualityMatters.org)

Need to develop for Online Course

• Course goals• Time commitment• Student Credit• Syllabus• Content resources• Discussion catalysts• Student projects (group and individual)• Teaching guides• Assessment plan• Online environment

http://breeze.unl.edu/pbtn/

PI Commitment

• Support to PIs – $28,000 for a PhD student – $5,000 for an undergraduate student that will work with the PhD

student– $3,000 for travel for both the PhD and undergraduate students

• PI will:– Mentor graduate student – Enable graduate student to mentor undergrad– Enable PhD and undergraduate students to participate fully in

PBTN– Participate in PBTN– Host a MSI students and/or mentor MSI faculty

Undergraduate Student Selection

• Coursework in biology, genetics or plant science.

• Strong interest in research (prior work experience or letter of recommendation from one instructor).

• Commitment to participate in the undergrad plant breeder network.

• One page essay on societal importance of plant sciences