Should Smartphones be Used to Facilitate a New Approach to Agronomy Education?.

Throughout the agronomy curriculum, students are introduced to many concepts that will have application in their future consulting and research careers. In the past, a thorough understanding of topics was dependent upon the time-consuming and challenging endeavor of hand referencing materials.  With the advent of electronic media, limitless information is now close at hand with the help of an internet connection or smartphone application.  The objective of this study was to evaluate how access to electronic media influences students’ approach to learning and their expectations for using electronic devices in their education and careers. Agronomy enrollment at K-State has increased 80% in the past five years in response to industry demand for agronomy graduates. In a survey, K-State agronomy juniors and seniors strongly indicated that increased demand for graduates has encouraged them to invest additional time into their studies to gain a true understanding of concepts rather than relying on short-term memory for exam purposes.  However, about a third of respondents suggested that ease of access to information through electronic media was more likely to encourage short-term memory versus deeper understanding.  Nearly half indicated that if working as a consultant in the future and a client posed a question, they would be more likely to source the answer from a handheld device than from their prior understanding of the topic. Over 70% also indicated that the application of handheld devices should be incorporated into daily classroom experiences and assessment.  A separate survey in the fall of 2015 revealed that 100% of entering agronomy freshmen and 98.5% of students enrolled in the introductory crop science class have smartphones.  Thus, curriculum has been developed to incorporate use of smartphones for taking photos and using agronomic applications in the crop science lab, and to facilitate access to agricultural news through social media.