Developing an Urban Food System Study Tour to Enhance Student's Experiential Learning

In Fall 2011, the Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Recourses launched a new specialization in Urban Food Systems (UFS) within our M.S. in Horticulture program . The core classes for the program include: HORT 791 Urban Agriculture, HORT 794 Urban Food Systems, and HORT 792 Urban Food Production Practicum. In these classes we use local examples of urban food systems, including in Manhattan, Kansas City, and other near-by communities. However, it is important to expose our students to other urban areas outside the Kansas City metro region. Therefore we developed HORT 795 Urban Agriculture Study Tour. This course not only gives the students new knowledge, but also helps them to develop contacts for job placement, and helps to advertise this emerging graduate program that is only available at Kansas State University. The intended learning outcomes of our study tours are 1) students will discover the actual context of UFS in a carefully designed faculty-led excursion and 2) students will apply their current UFS knowledge acquired in‐class and in-practicum to the tour’s specific locations. From these intended learning outcomes, students will be provided opportunities to perfect their critical thinking and communication skills. We believe that one of the best ways for students to see what they have learned in the classroom is to apply that knowledge in  non-familiar settings, like those encountered in a study tour. We expect that the conversations that our students have throughout  the trip will  build confidence, which is one of the most important outcomes of graduate education. During fall 2015 we led our first study tour to Chicago, one of the top five cities in the United States leading the way in urban agriculture. Seven students and two faculty members visited 19 different sites including: urban farms and local food-related businesses, community development and social service groups, and not-for-profit organizations. The students had the opportunity to gain awareness about the complexity of issues surrounding urban agriculture and food systems work in Chicago. Additionally, we are conducting a study to document the value addition of study tours. The study began fall 2015 with pilot-testing of the pre- and post-surveys of students in the study-tour course. This presentation will discus how this course was developed as well as the challenges and the success we faced during that process, using both the faculty and the students perspective.