Make Learning a Community Affair
I believe that all people enjoy learning new things. Also that everyone has topics they are passionate about and will therefore work to find new information. They will look for new knowledge and read, watch or listen to glean relevant information whether that information is clear and easy to pick up or muddled and requires digging to find the new nuggets that add to their knowledge.
The other side of that coin is that if you are not seeking new knowledge on a given topic, you need an incentive to even notice it.
For instance, human behaviour fascinates me. I take note of any headline or title that implies I might learn something about people and the way minds work. I will even read books and papers written by people that know more about human behaviour than writing a clear sentence. I will work to learn what they know.
However, if you want me to understand something about football, you’re going to have to spell that out in chocolate.
I mention this because at Farming Smarter we have two equal reasons to exist. One is to do solid, unbiased agricultural research for southern Alberta crop producers. The second is to make sure they hear and understand what we learn.
Helping people get new information and adopt new ways of doing things means making it thorough for passionate learners AND inviting for mildly interested people who may benefit from what we discover through research.
This is why we refer to them as Learning Adventures; we want people to know that we plan events with all interest levels and learning styles in mind.
As we develop this method of planning and preparing our events, people will notice (and we hope welcome) that we want learning with us to be fun and easy.
We really appreciate that some of our biggest supporters also like this style of extension as illustrated by WheatStalk this year in partnership with Alberta Wheat Commission.
It’s also why Ken Coles is always asking questions of the audience when he talks. He knows that will help you remember the discussion. We go out into the field where we challenge participants to find out what we’ve done, look at the effects on the plants, dig up a root or taste a corn cob. It’s an effort to bump memory retention from 20% to 70% or even 90%.
Every time someone leaves a field day with a distinct memory of a fact or 10 because we made them laugh, got dirt under their nails or left a taste; we’ve done our job. And we know that if they take it that step further and do it at home, the next time the topic comes up between us, they may have something to teach us! That’s extension at its best and our ultimate goal.
While Farming Smarter will always focus on solid, unbiased research, we will also offer Learning Adventures because it is the adoption of new knowledge that will keep Alberta strong on the world stage.
Farming Smarter is a community of passionate learners. Come on the adventure with us.