8-Week Lesson Plan - Wiki Wow!!

Course Title: Evaluating marketing and risk management strategies

Audience: Young and beginning farmers/rancher currently operating with a general understanding of agricultural business strategies looking to broaden their analytical skills thus improving market and mitigate risks associated with grain and livestock sales.  These learners’ prior knowledge should include a basic knowledge of marketing and risk management terminology and understand the importance of sound strategies.

Learning Objectives:

Learners will be able to…

• Compare the most prominent marketing and risk management models by discussing the primary strengths and weaknesses of each model.
• Evaluate available marketing and risk management resources (websites, radio shows, podcasts, etc.) used by farmers/ranchers identifying, in their opinion, the top most reliable and user-friendly resources available.
• Create a collaborative online resource using wiki technology to build a living reference document featuring tools used in marketing and risk management strategies associated with grain and livestock sales.
• Establish a defined marketing and risk management strategy built based on sound resources.

Materials Needed:  Each learner should have access to a personal computer and internet source.  The instructor must create a wiki framework with a page dedicated to the top three marketing and risk management strategies already on the page (titled ‘Strategies’).  The framework should include an additional, incomplete page for ‘Resources’ and ‘Case Studies’

Class Outline and Methods: This 8-week course will meet once a week for one hour, synchronously online through a Zoom Meeting.  A financial officer will facilitate a class of learners primarily from the same region due to regional marketing conditions.  The content will be focused on learners’ experiences and knowledge sharing to develop a collaborative community.

Week One:

During the first class, the primary objective is to develop rapport and ease the learners into the online format.  This includes an online icebreaker, reviewing course objectives, and establishing guidance around online netiquette. 

Learning Activity – Introduce the class to the concept of collaborative learning and explain the features of a wiki page.  Present the ‘Strategies’ page of the course wiki and discuss the three strategies already on the page.  Ensure each step of the wiki navigation is done slowly and ‘think out loud’ about the steps taken to edit the wiki.  Encourage learners to add any comments or ask questions as the strategies are discussed.  Finally, challenge the learners to think of other strategies to add to the page. 

Offline work – Ask the learners to consider the strategies presented.  Have them add additional thought, questions, or challenges to the wiki page for learners to discuss during the coming week.

Week Two:

Week two focuses on discussing the strategies presented in the previous session and any additions, challenges, or questions presented offline.  The primary goal in week two is to define the strengths and weaknesses of each model.  Review Group Summary lesson description (West & West, 2009, p. 73-74)

Learning Activity – After reviewing edits/additions made the course wiki, the learners will be broken out in to ‘break-out’ rooms in order to look more closely and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each model.  Each ‘break-out’ rooms will be open for 15 minutes where each group will have a different model to evaluate.  Learners will then come back and present their strengths and weaknesses to the full class.

Offline work – Ask the learners to consider the strengths and weaknesses presented.  Consider any additional points to add to the wiki.  As them to determine one model they feel is most relevant to their regional and provide supporting evidence.

Week Three:

The third week begins to shift to the second objective.  During this class, the learners will start to consider the resources they have available to them when making marketing and risk management decisions.  Review ‘Resource Bank’ lesson description (West & West, 2009, p. 60-61)

Learning Activity – Spend time discussing each model and having learners explain which model they preferred and why.  Explain that the next step is to understand the tools available to farmers/ranchers to make marketing and risk management decisions.  Discuss the importance of evaluate where the source of information and the possible influences (i.e.-political, financial, regional) on the data. Brainstorm a list of current tools the learners are using or have heard about.  Ask a learner to lead the documentation of the resources on the ‘Resources’ page in the course wiki.

Offline work – Ask the learners to pick one of the resources discussed in the class and dive deep into the content.  Consider the source of data, reliability, and positive/negative influences that might impact the reporting.  Ask the learners to rate the source reviewed and report their opinion on the wiki.

Week Four:

At this point, the wiki is starting to fill up with data, but the data needs more editing eyes.  This week will be used to add more resources to this page (if any were missed) and then collaborate to review and evaluate all sources provided. 

Learning Activity – After adding any additional resources not provided by the learners last week, discuss which sources the learners decided to review offline.  Challenge the learners to seek concurrence.  Discuss which ‘deep dive’ strategies were most effective.  Explain that the class will now go to ‘break-out’ rooms to discuss the evaluation of a group of resources.  Assign each group equal but different sources.  Instruct them to add and edit the review notes already made on each resource.  Upon returning from the ‘break-out’ rooms, work collaboratively to classify each resource into one of three categories; reliable, proceed with caution, or unreliable.

Offline work – Ask the learners to create a plan for integrating a regular resource review process.  This might mean subscribing to their favorite podcast and putting a reminder on their phone when the radio show they want to listen to is on.  The idea is to create a habit while the ‘scaffolding’ is still in place.  

Week Five:

During this week, the objective shift away from building a wiki in order to delve into the concepts collected and analyze how they apply to the learner’s farming/ranching operation. 

Learning Activity – During this class, the learners will have a guest speaker with an expertise in the grain or livestock focus on the region.  Learners will be asked to consider how the models and resources compliment or contradict the message from the guest.  The guest will be provided information about the resources explored prior to the meeting to be prepared to provide a professional opinion on the source.  The focus of this activity is to bridge the gap from the source to the application of the information.

Offline work – Ask the learners to consider a farmer/rancher in the area that has been successful in marketing and risk management.  Using pseudonyms, as the learners to briefly describe the operator and why they think this individual has been successful.  Add this information to the wiki.  Contact the operator inquire if they would be willing to meet or have a phone call to share some insights into marketing and risk management that they will share back with the class.

Week Six:

At this point, the learners should be comfortable with the strategies, resources, and concepts behind marketing and risk management.  These final three weeks will focus on establishing a strategy that is right for the learner’s operation.  This week specifically they will be looping in strategies from successful operation in the region.  See ‘Case Studies’ lesson description (West & West, 2009, p. 82-84)

Learning Activity – Present, using a pseudonym, the profile of the farmer/rancher selected and discuss why they pick the operator.  At this point, ask the learners to consider which strategy they believe that operators may be using and if their success is luck or strategy.

Offline work – Ask the learners to interview the operator selected focusing on unveiling insights and resources used to help them make good decisions.  Consider instances when the operator wasn’t successful in marketing and risk management.  Do they have any suggestions for building a sound strategy?  Add interview note to the wiki in on the ‘Case Study’ page.

Week Seven:

The evaluation of the case studies will help learners find commonalities between the different success stories.  This week the learners will glean those sound strategies from the case studies and work to apply them to their operation.

Learning Activity – Use ‘break-out’ rooms to divide the group into smaller subgroups of 3-4 learners.  Each learner should present their case study to the group focusing on what strategies were successful.  After each learner present to the small group, each group should identify common strategies or resources.  In the large group, each small group will present their common strategies or resources focusing on explaining why they are the best tools.  After giving each group time to debate, add notes to the resources about any additional features that may not already be documented there.

Offline work – Diagram a working marketing and risk management strategy for the next year.  Establish milestone to level check current market conditions throughout the year.  Include time to review resources and modify the plan.

Week Eight:

This final class will provide one last opportunity to set the learners up for success over the next year.  The goal is to establish an understanding that this learning community and wiki don’t end because our course is ending.  Invite the class to continue to collaborate and share their successes.

Learning Activity – Pair and Share the strategies developed offline.  Encourage peers to add more details or consider missing steps.  Wrap up the course with reminders about continuing collaboration opportunities.

Evaluation:  The course evaluation will include a survey at the end of the course with learners reporting their experience during the course as well as their intention to use the wiki as a reference and the strategies developed.  A second evaluate will be conducted 6 months and 12 months after course completion.  A sampling of the learners will be called to discuss the application of the learning and determine if the course, in fact, improved their ability to market and manage risk. 

 

References:

West, J. and West, M. (2009). Using Wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write Web.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.  ISBN: 9780470343333

 

Useful lesson plan resource:

Diamond, R. (2008). Designing and assessing courses and curricula. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.