Agricultural Education at a Distance: Attitudes and Perceptions of Secondary Teachers

As the variety and sophistication of educational technologies continues to grow, the need to know more about the incentives and obstacles to technology adoption becomes more important. The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of an interactive communications network (ICN) for agricultural education at the secondary level. The ICN is a state-wide two-way full-motion fiber optics telecommunications system that connects students and teachers who are separated by distance and allows them to share in real-time video, data, and voice instruction. The primary objectives of the study were to: (1) describe obstacles that may inhibit use of the ICN as perceived by secondary agriculture teachers; (2) describe secondary agriculture teachers ’ attitude toward using the ICN for delivering agricultural instruction; and (3) describe relationships between teachers ’ attitude, perceived obstacles, and selected variables. Results indicate that teachers were most concerned about obstacles related to scheduling problems and difficulties associated with managing laboratory and SAE experiences. Data related to teacher attitudes indicate that teachers were undecided about using the ICN to teach agriculture. Recommendations included the development ofplanned experiences with ICN technology, the development of demonstrations for using the system, andfollow-up research to assess changes in attitude over time