Department of Agricultural Education & Studies

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Graduate Programs: Greg Miller 515-294-2583 / Undergraduate Programs: Mike Retallick 515-294-4810

Nancy Grudens-Schuck, Associate Professor

217D Curtiss Hall Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 50011 Office: 515-294-0894 FAX: 515-294-0530 ngs@iastate.edu

 

Ph.D. (1998) Cornell University; Responsibilities: 60% teaching and advising; 40% research and extension.

Courses

Research and Extension

My focus area is evaluation systems for teaching and learning within the context of agricultural education-construed broadly. My specialty areas for methodology are qualitative program evaluation, participatory evaluation, and participatory action research. I work within the contexts of sustainable agriculture and democratic, community-based approaches to natural resource management.

Extension Education Evaluation Topic Interest Group

Dr. Grudens-Schuck serves as the 2005 Chair of the Extension Evaluation Topic Interest Group (at http://danr.ucop.edu/eee-aea/) of the American Evaluation Association (at eval.org).

Current Extension Projects

Dr. Nancy Grudens-Schuck and doctoral student Jean Eells developed an outcomes evaluation framework for the Iowa Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Conservation Education Program administered through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The framework was funded by a special grant from REAP-CEP. The framework provides guidelines and resources for writing the evaluation section of REAP-CEP project proposals--starting with the May 15, 2005 round of proposals. The framework was developed and tested over 18 months and is expected to develop the capacity of environmental educators to improve evaluation of environmental education programs throughout the state of Iowa. Training in use of the model will occur over the next two years.

Selected Publications

Knoot, T. A., Grudens-Schuck, N., & Schulte, L. A. (2006, June). Watershed learning activity: Coming to terms with geographic scale. Journal of Extension, 44(3). Online at http://www.joe.org/joe/2006june/index.shtml

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2005, February). The secret prairie: Reflections on restoration and education. Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination, February 20-22, 2005, Ames, IA. Award, Wild Iowa Essay Contest.

Allen, B. L., Grudens-Schuck, N., & Larson, K. (2004). Good intentions, muddled methods: Focus groups and quality. Journal of Extension, 42(4). Retrieved August 31, 2004 from http://www.joe.org.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2004, November-December). The magic of unobtrusive measures. Agricultural Education Magazine, 77(3)11-12.

Grudens-Schuck, N., Allen, B. L., & Larson, K. (2004, May). Focus group fundamentals. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Extension. Available at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1969B.pdf.

Larson, K., Grudens-Schuck, N., & Allen, B. L. (2004, May). Can you call it a ‘focus group’? Ames, IA: Iowa State University Extension. Available at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1969A.pdf.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2004, May). Teacher action research as a worldwide movement. Agricultural Education Magazine, 76(6), 5-7.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003, December). No beginners: Teaching participation at the graduate level. Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Notes, 48, 11-14.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003). The rigidity and comfort of habits: A cultural and philosophical analysis of the ups and downs of mainstreaming evaluation. The Mainstreaming of Evaluation [Special Issue]. New Directions for Evaluation, 99, 23-32.

Grudens-Schuck, N., Cramer, J., Exner, D., & Shour, M. (2003). The new adult education: Bringing peer educators up to speed. Journal of Extension, 41(4). Retrieved September 7, 2003 from http://www.joe.org.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003, April). “We already do participation”: Teaching and learning participation in a graduate course in agricultural education and sustainable agriculture. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Teaching and Learning Participation in Higher Education, April 2-4, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003). Facilitation as the main form of instruction: The case of the odd duck. Agricultural Education Magazine, 76(2), 10-11.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003, September). How have extension evaluators contributed to evaluation in general? A conversation with Richard Krueger. Hear it from the Board. Extension Education Evaluation Topical Interest Group, American Association of Evaluation. Retrieved October 16, 2003 from http://danr.ucop.edu//eee-aea/conversationwithrichardKrueger.pdf

McIntyre, J., & Grudens-Schuck, N. (in press). Research in adult education and training. In G. Foley (ed.), Understanding adult education and training (3rd edition), Sydney, AU: Allen and Unwin.

Grudens-Schuck, N., & Kramer, B.A. (2003). [Book review: Land-grant universities and extension into the 21st century: Renegotiating or abandoning a social contract. by George McDowell.] Journal of Agriculture and Human Values, 20(2), 205-208. http://faculty.agecon.vt.edu/mcdowell/book/fulltext.pdf

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2003). Public Issues Education projects: Meeting the evaluation challenges. Journal of Extension, 41(1). Available at http://www.joe.org.

Grudens-Schuck, N. Allen, W., Hargrove, T. A., & Kilvington, M. (2003). Renovation of dependency and self-reliance for participatory sustainable development. Journal of Agriculture and Human Values, 20(1), 53-64. Abstract available at http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/0889-048X

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2001). Stakeholder effect: A qualitative study of the influence of farm leaders' ideas on a sustainable agriculture education program. Journal of Agricultural Education, 42(4), 1-11.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2001, August). Service learning: A custom fit. Agricultural Education Magazine, 784(1), 22-23.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2001, Winter-Spring). Farmer participation changes program planning. Inquiry in Action, 29-30, 27-30.

Hargrove, T. A. & Grudens-Schuck, N. (2001, March). Success and failure indicators in coaching relationships: Qualitative interviews for evaluation of the Environmental Leadership Enhancement & Advancement Project (E-LEAP). Educational Research Exchange, College of Education, ISU. Best Paper Award.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2000). Farmers' control of program planning for a sustainable agriculture program in Ontario, Canada. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 7(3), 39-46.

Grudens-Schuck, N. & Hargrove, T. (2000). Indicators of dependency in participatory extension education. Paper presented at American Evaluation Association Annual Meeting, Waikiki, Hawaii.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2000). Conflict and engagement: An empirical study of a farmer-extension partnership in a sustainable agriculture program. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 13 (1), 79-100.

Deshler, D. & Grudens-Schuck, N. (2000). The politics of knowledge construction. In A.L. Wilson & E.R. Hayes (Eds.). Handbook of adult and continuing education (pp. 592-611). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2000). A qualitative study of the influence of farm leaders' ideas on a sustainable agriculture education program. Paper presented at 27th National Agricultural Education Research Conference, San Diego, CA.

Grudens-Schuck, N. (2000). Extension and grassroots educators’ approaches to participatory education: Interrelationships among training, world view, and institutional support. Paper presented at the Adult Education Research Conference, June 1 to 4, 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Grudens-Schuck, N. and Hill, D. (1997). Democratic action and participatory research in an environmental education program for farmers in Canada: Farmers' local knowledge. Paper presented at the World Congresses 4/8 Convergence (4th on Action Research, Action Learning, and Process Management and 8th on Participatory Action Research), June 1-5, 1997, Cartagena, Colombia (S.A.).