Seminar_Lee Ivy_3.15.2021.pdf

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Summary:
Lee Ivy, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Horticultural Science and educator of 20 years will present the highlights of his recent scholarly reassignment. In spite of COVID restrictions, Lee was able to survey and interview institutions offering similar curriculums to the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State and connect with green industry professionals. Learn about his findings, experiences and reflections and how they will impact him as an educator and benefit the department moving forward.

In his pursuit of a Doctoral degree in the Department of Agriculture and Extension Education, his initial research had him examine whether the delivery method of instruction impacts success of students when they join the horticultural workforce. At this time, educational institutions rely on both face-to-face instruction (FTF) and distance-education (DE) to deliver content and assess learning. While much research has been conducted on the pedagogy of both, less research has compared students enrolled in FTF versus DE and the subsequent differences once students engage in horticultural careers.

Through surveys and interviews with educators and industry professionals, he gained insight into how the Department of Horticultural Science can further examine the balance between FTF and DE offerings now and in the future. For example, educators and industry professionals agreed that horticulture is a tactile discipline where theories and concepts are best reinforced through hands-on learning. While some aspects of horticulture can be adapted to DE instruction, content areas such as plant identification and plant propagation require multiple human senses to understand and appreciate their complexities. Interestingly, many respondents predicted that online offerings by educational institutions will increase but certain topics would still best be taught FTF.

Learn how Lee’s findings will benefit students in the Department of Horticultural Science and how he will apply them to his teaching program. Other departments and teaching programs can use his research and survey methods as a guide to examine their own programs as they too strive to continue to determine the best ways to equip students for success beyond the halls of NC State.

In addition to research, he and his family traveled across the country exploring horticulture in America’s National Parks. This gave him a renewed excitement for how horticulture influences everyone everywhere.