2019 ASHS Annual Conference

With today’s rapidly changing developments in agriculture and the need to help students keep abreast of new fields and technology, an instructor can have a difficult time keeping current. One possible solution is to utilize graduate students as guest speakers on their own research topics or topics on which they have expertise. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) the effectiveness of having graduate student guest speakers in a tropical crop production systems course as perceived by undergraduate students in the course, and 2) what guest speakers thought of their own guest lecturing experience. Feedback questionnaires were emailed to undergraduate students in the course (coded S1-S5) to determine the effectiveness of graduate student guest speakers. To obtain perceptions of their lecturing experience, separate feedback questionnaires were emailed to graduate student guest speakers (coded G1-G9). Undergraduates reported that they learned something new from each guest speaker. They also felt that these topics were helpful and relevant to their own future jobs. Additionally, undergraduates found it interesting to learn about what students can do beyond a BS degree, felt more comfortable learning from graduate student speakers as compared to having faculty guest speakers, and recommended that the topics and/or speakers be maintained for next year’s iteration of the course. Graduate guest speakers were mostly motivated to give a lecture for professional development purposes but also to fulfill a degree requirement. Preparing for their presentations helped them to identify their own gaps in understanding of the topic on which they presented. Graduates felt that it was fulfilling to share their knowledge with undergraduates, and most felt more comfortable giving a talk to undergraduate students as compared to faculty. However, some found it to be more challenging to talk to undergraduates because they perceived faculty as more relatable since they have an enhanced horticultural knowledge base. In conclusion, feedback from undergraduates allowed us to determine which topics to maintain for future iterations of the course. In the future, students in the class should prepare questions for the speaker ahead of time so that guest speakers can gear their presentations toward student interests. Furthermore, having graduate students as guest speakers are effective since our undergraduates feel more comfortable learning from graduate students. Finally, although mostly positive experiences were reported, feedback from graduate students highlighted a common theme shared among graduate students—learning how to communicate science to a diversity of audiences.