T.Davis

  What?               Extension education is an entity, funded by land-grant universities nationwide, that’s purpose is to bridge opportunities of lifelong learning to local community members. These programs have deep historical roots in agriculture and home economics, but in recent years have expanded to programming areas such as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), civic engagement, and healthy living. Depending on the area, the extension agent, and the specific program being held, the target audience may vary between different ages. For instance, many agriculture extension agents will, oftentimes, have a lot of programming geared to farmers and other adults in the community. In opposition, 4-H agents may have a canning class held for children ages 9-19 or an embryology project for a kindergarten class. Non-formal education is an essential piece of extension programming and with that, a lot o...

  What?               The digital age has made very steady advances since the creation of the internet in the 1960’s and even more so since the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989. That being said, though technology has been steadily progressing through the decades, digital advancements have been in overdrive since the pandemic began in 2020. With face-to-face communication being limited in almost every facet of life, like shopping, healthcare, education, and even personal relationship, people needed to adapt; More than consumers, companies needed to adapt to stay socially and economically relevant and some even found more lucrative ways of doing business. Because the world was given no warning of this, digital advances made may not have been made so soon, or even at all . This is truer for technological advances surrounding learning. So, What?           ...

  What? A vital difference in K-12 learning and much of adult learning, specifically non-formal adult learning, is the voluntary role they play as students. Adult learners may be required to take courses or attend seminars for maybe a job or volunteer role, but they play a larger part in decision making where their lifelong learning journey leads. It is because of this overarching ideal that they tend to need to feel more involved in their learning. In a sense, it is simpler to tell a small child that their teacher has this knowledge and experience to bestow upon them, whereas an adult will have their own experiences to draw from and possibly different points of view to connect their new knowledge too. Evolving from a “traditional” teacher dynamic to a facilitator dynamic can work to foster this relationship. So, what? While teachers can be facilitators, the teaching and facilitation have many differences from one another. For starters, in teaching, the learning is controlled...

What? As I embark on the final portion of my formal education journey, I am trying to find ways to transition, as many others have, from my stage of long-term, yet ephemeral formal education to the continuous stage of lifelong learning. While informal learning can take place without even having the intention to learn, lifelong learning can take more conscious effort than I once anticipated. As the world races through and towards technological advancement, it is vital that we not only improve access to resources for those partaking in lifelong learning opportunities, but also show the value in doing so.  So What In pedagogy, learning is typically either, more-so, teacher-centered or learner-centered; The former approaches learning with the view that teachers have the knowledge and wisdom, and students are to receive the aforementioned knowledge from them, whilst the latter is more working in tandem with the teacher as more of the "facilitator" . Learner-centered approaches are...