Browsing by Author "Sewell AM"

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    Agricultural science in the wild: a social network analysis of farmer knowledge exchange.
    (PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2014) Wood BA; Blair HT; Gray DI; Kemp PD; Kenyon PR; Morris ST; Sewell AM
    Responding to demands for transformed farming practices requires new forms of knowledge. Given their scale and complexity, agricultural problems can no longer be solved by linear transfers in which technology developed by specialists passes to farmers by way of extension intermediaries. Recent research on alternative approaches has focused on the innovation systems formed by interactions between heterogeneous actors. Rather than linear transfer, systems theory highlights network facilitation as a specialized function. This paper contributes to our understanding of such facilitation by investigating the networks in which farmers discuss science. We report findings based on the study of a pastoral farming experiment collaboratively undertaken by a group of 17 farmers and five scientists. Analysis of prior contact and alter sharing between the group's members indicates strongly tied and decentralized networks. Farmer knowledge exchanges about the experiment have been investigated using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Network surveys identified who the farmers contacted for knowledge before the study began and who they had talked to about the experiment by 18 months later. Open-ended interviews collected farmer statements about their most valuable contacts and these statements have been thematically analysed. The network analysis shows that farmers talked about the experiment with 192 people, most of whom were fellow farmers. Farmers with densely tied and occupationally homogeneous contacts grew their networks more than did farmers with contacts that are loosely tied and diverse. Thematic analysis reveals three general principles: farmers value knowledge delivered by persons rather than roles, privilege farming experience, and develop knowledge with empiricist rather than rationalist techniques. Taken together, these findings suggest that farmers deliberate about science in intensive and durable networks that have significant implications for theorizing agricultural innovation. The paper thus concludes by considering the findings' significance for current efforts to rethink agricultural extension.
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    Body condition scoring of sheep: intra- and inter-observer variability
    (New Zealand Society of Animal Production (INC), 2020) Corner-Thomas R; Sewell AM; Kemp P; Wood BA; Gray DI; Morris ST; Blair HT; Kenyon PR
    Body condition scoring (BCS) is a hands-on tool that farmers can use to make decisions about their animal feeding and management. BCS, however, is a subjective measure of the muscle and fat cover of the lumbar spine. Observers, therefore, may show variability in scores both across time and from other observers. This study aimed to determine the intra- and inter-observer variation of both farmers and research technicians as part of a learning exercise of a farmer-learning group based at Massey University between 2011 and 2015. Nineteen farmers and three research technicians condition scored 45 mixed-age ewes on two consecutive days. Data from both farmers and technicians were analysed to determine the intra- and inter-observer variability using a weighted kappa. The results indicate that the majority of farmers and technicians had ‘excellent’ agreement (21 of the 22 observers had kappa values greater than 0.75) between days. Similarly, among pairs of observers the agreement was also ‘excellent’ (212 of 231 comparisons had kappa values greater than 0.75). The distribution of scores that contributed to each median condition score, however, indicated that lower scores (1, 1.5 and 2) has less variability than did higher scores (2.5 or greater). These results suggest that BCS is a robust farm-management tool that can be used with a high degree of repeatability. Keywords: body condition scoring; intra-observer variability, inter-observer variability.
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    Strategies for co-constructing an initial teacher education curriculum: A school-university partnership
    (Ako Aotearoa, 2015-09-01) Sewell AM; Cody T; Weir K
    The intended output of this small-scale project was to develop and to document effective strategies that would facilitate the co-construction of an initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum in a school-university partnership. In so doing, this project sought to make links between theories underpinning effective pedagogies, taught at the university, with the day to day practice of teaching and learning in three Normal Schools in the Manawatū. Using qualitative methodology, consisting of field notes from meetings, focus group discussions, observations and interviews, the following findings were identified as supporting the effective co-construction of a university ITE curriculum with school partners:  Building trust  Making visible our shared values  Willingness to share power and expertise  Being responsive to the school context  Promoting dialogue  Setting and resourcing manageable goals  Communicating effectively