Effectiveness of field practical training for competence acquisition among students of Botswana College of Agriculture

Field practical training is a requirement for all students who enrol in any program in the Botswana College of Agriculture, as it has been discovered that, experiential learning complements theoretical classroom teaching. The effectiveness of Field Practical Training (FPT) for competence acquisition...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:African journal of agricultural research 2011-02, Vol.6 (4), p.923-930
Main Authors: Oladele, O I, Subair, S K, Thobega, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Africans
Agriculture
Colleges & universities
Education
Polls & surveys
Students
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Field practical training is a requirement for all students who enrol in any program in the Botswana College of Agriculture, as it has been discovered that, experiential learning complements theoretical classroom teaching. The effectiveness of Field Practical Training (FPT) for competence acquisition among students was examined through a descriptive survey. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 71 students out of those that participated in FPT in 2008 and data on their personal characteristics and their perceived competence of agricultural tasks before and after FPT were collected with a structured questionnaire and analysed using frequency counts percentages and t-test statistics. Results showed that a majority of the respondents were males, between the ages of 20 to 24 years and were pre-service students. The level of competence among students changed from not competent to competent in 31 out of the 47 tasks. Students also reported that they were competent before undergoing the FPT programme in 12 tasks and the rating was retained as well after FPT.
ISSN:1991-637X