Institute of Applied Agriculture instructors are kicking applied learning up a notch— and students benefit by becoming real-life consultants, integrating classroom learning with real-world needs.
Two IAA lecturers, Larisa Cioaca and Geoff Rinehart, have teamed their classes with the Community PALS program (Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability). PALS matches UMD faculty and courses across the university with local governments that want help from the University of Maryland on specific sustainability challenges. The students meet with the clients, analyze the situation, and apply course material to provide solutions to the challenge.
It’s a perfect fit for the IAA, says IAA Lecturer Heather McHale, who introduced PALS to the IAA. “There were some great-looking projects that related to our courses. Harford County was looking for a class to help produce turf maintenance and management plans for the county’s athletic fields and another class to help produce agriculture-related marketing materials. These projects fall squarely into our areas of focus,” says McHale.
Cioaca and Rinehart took the action-oriented projects, customized their courses this semester, and designed student assignments to get students thinking critically about innovative solutions to help the county secure a more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable future.
Students in Cioaca’s class, INAG 132 Agricultural Leadership and Teamwork, are working with the Harford County Department of Public Works on an outreach project designed to convince Harford County residents to use native plants in their gardening projects. Native plants promote biodiversity and improve stream quality.
Rinehart’s students in INAG 214 Agronomic Principles of Golf Turf Management are working with the Parks and Recreation Department to create a turfgrass management maintenance plan for recreational fields that can be consistently used throughout the county.
At the end of the semester, each class will produce a report and present its recommendations to the county’s representatives. The final class report will be published on DRUM (Digital Repository at the University of Maryland, which collects, preserves, and provides public access to scholarly works).The students’ names will be listed as authors, documenting the real-life, hands-on learning students gain in their IAA courses.
