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June 2011
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Exchanging ideas in agriculture
For just over a week in March, the St. Augustine Campus hosted a team of agricultural experts from Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) University and the University of Florida. The visit represents a new trend from the exclusive undergraduate exchanges which commonly occur between The UWI and many overseas universities. The trip facilitated the exchange of ideas, teaching methods, research topics and methodologies among selected faculties at the respective universities. The intention is to globalise curricula with contextually-rich reusable learning objects (RLOs) and authentic case studies that address multidisciplinary issues. The team of 12 faculty and two graduate students paired with a host counterpart in a parallel expertise. The visitors were from a range of disciplines as follows: Agricultural Engineering, Wild Life, Fisheries, Horticulture, Health and Kinesiology, Ecosystem Science and Management, Agricultural Leadership, Recreation, Parks and Tourism. Overseas faculty was selected based on their passion for teaching and willingness to internationalise their undergraduate courses. Dr Corlyss Outley, Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism Sciences at TAMU has done extensive research on inner city play habits of youth with particular interest on positive youth development, racial/ethnic identity and out of school time experiences. Outley paired with lecturer Margaret Gordon of the DAEE. Gordon was able to test a new evaluation technique which Outley introduced. Gordon also introduced Outley to a familiar primary school in north Trinidad. Professor Gary Briers is a livestock producer of Simmental cattle and also teaches courses in research methods and data analysis and interpretation. He noted the tremendous opportunities which exist in Trinidad and Tobago to improve livestock production. Staff of the departments of Food Production and Life Sciences also hosted visitors in their areas of expertise and with similar positive outcomes. There was much student involvement in the exchange. The agribusiness society of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture hosted their graduate counterparts from TAMU. They assisted in the conduct of a study to determine consumer perceptions of healthy foods in Trinidad and Tobago. In addition Society members were responsible for field trips around Trinidad and the entire visit to Tobago. The visitors toured the operations of the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Company (NAMDEVCO). Included in other tours were visits to the Cocoa Research Unit’s prized germplasm collection, research laboratories on the Campus, the Caroni Swamp, the Pitch Lake, Asa Wright Nature Centre, Buccoo Reef, Little Tobago and several small farm operations. Society executive member, Stephan Moonsammy relished the experience and felt it was a useful opportunity for UWI students to interact with Faculty from another university. Dr David Dolly of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension (DAEE) St. Augustine, led the initiative, which was supported by department head Dr Selby Nichols and staff of the DAEE. By Dr David Dolly |
