Date of Award
1982
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Abstract
Energy conservation is a relatively new educational program for the Cooperative Extension Service (CES). The shortage of training programs available to CES in energy education makes it difficult to properly prepare agents for energy conservation work. The purpose of this study was to develop a curriculum for in-service training of agents engaged in energy education. The procedure for achieving this purpose was used to identify the following: (1) Fundamental concepts necessary for energy conservation education. (2) Agents' knowledge level of these concepts. (3) Agents' perceived need for these concepts. (4) Agents' training requirements. Through a mail questionnaire selected agents from 20 states were asked to indicate their knowledge level of 24 concepts and the need for including the concept in a training curriculum. The training requirement or gap was calculated by subtracting the mean need rating from the mean knowledge rating for groups being compared. A comparsion was made of the different groups' response in the disciplines of heating ventilating, air conditioning, and buildings; economics and management; home economics and comfort; agriculture and transportation; and thermal science. The relative importance of disciplines was determined by comparing their mean ratings. An analysis of variance using the F test as used to measure statistical significance. A comparison of knowledge, need, and gap was used to develop the curriculum based on agents' evaluations of energy related disciplines. The study revealed that training requirements varied when agents were grouped by age, sex, educational background, geographic region, work assignment, tenure, and amount of worktime in energy. Extension employees working in the field of energy conservation education can receive the proper training to improve their job competence by acquiring knowledge on the concepts in the suggested curriculum. Users could best fulfill the learning experiences proposed in the teaching plan by recognizing and compensating for individual differences in training requirements, knowledge level, and need. The curriculum is general and flexible enough to allow adjustments of training to meet the expressed training requirement of the individual or group being considered.
Recommended Citation
Fontenot, Daniel Jr, "A Curriculum for Training Extension Professionals in Energy Conservation Education." (1982). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3707.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3707
Pages
160
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3707