Hossein Bagherian Hosseini; Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani; Alireza Khajeh-Shahkooei
Abstract
Education and learning is an important pillar of sustainable development. Information literacy can help farmers to access and use the information for sustainable agriculture. The present study aimed to assess the information literacy of farmers and related factors in the Torogh region of Mashhad County. ...
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Education and learning is an important pillar of sustainable development. Information literacy can help farmers to access and use the information for sustainable agriculture. The present study aimed to assess the information literacy of farmers and related factors in the Torogh region of Mashhad County. The descriptive-correlation research method was used and 176 farmers were examined through a simple random sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which its formal validity confirmed by the face validity of faculty members of the Department of Library Science of Ferdosi University of Mashhad and Department of Agricultural Extension and Education of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated for questionnaire reliability (α=0.79). The results showed that the information literacy of farmers can be assessed at a medium level. Also, information literacy is independent of age, some pieces of agricultural land and the annual income of farmers. But there is a significant and negative correlation between total information literacy and agricultural history. Among the five dimensions of information literacy, studied farmers have a better condition in "adhere to the ethical and legal principles of the use of information". On the contrary, they are weakest in "achieving the required information efficiently and efficiently". This is suggested that necessary training courses for farmers be provided to enhance their capabilities in access and use of agricultural information.
Ahmad Abedi Sarvestani
Abstract
Regard to shortcomings of the formal education system in response to the real needs of people, the non-formal education system has become a necessity. Since the success of agricultural extension organization to receive sustainable development is associated with appropriate use of non-formal education, ...
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Regard to shortcomings of the formal education system in response to the real needs of people, the non-formal education system has become a necessity. Since the success of agricultural extension organization to receive sustainable development is associated with appropriate use of non-formal education, this study using descriptive-correlation research aimed to assess view of agricultural extension agents of Golestan province about the importance and application of characteristic of non-formal education. Using a simple random sampling method, 71 extension agents were studied. The results showed that agricultural extension agents advocate a medium importance for characteristics which are attributed to non-formal education. Although there was a significant positive correlation between the level of importance and the use of non-formal education characteristics, they were not used in accordance with the importance of non-formal education characteristics. Among the five pillars of non-formal education, “interaction orientation” has the greatest weight and “flexibility” has the minimum weight of importance. In terms of application, “skill orientation" has the highest weight and “interaction orientation” has a minimum weight. The main weaknesses of agricultural extension agents in non-formal education requirements were “writing behavioral objectives”, “knowing adult learning” and “learning to recognize the difference between formal, non-formal and informal education”. For better understanding and proper use of non-formal education, it is recommended that related learning experiences should be provided for agricultural extension agents.
