Abstract:

We recently developed a course using a service-learning platform to introduce undergraduate students to international engagement, agricultural extension methodologies, and dairy quality analysis. In this course, US and Romanian undergraduate students formed binational teams to work directly with smallholder dairy farmers in an effort to improve the quality of their milk. In the first iteration of the course which took place the year prior to the course described here, students conducted a quality assessment of milk produced throughout a Romanian village to better identify barriers to the farmers’ developing a milk collection program. Here, we report on the second iteration of the course where students introduced practices that could mitigate the quality challenges (high total bacteria and coliform concentrations) identified in the previous class. This authentic/experiential learning platform provided a highly motivating learning environment where students reported improved dairy analysis knowledge and also the confidence to apply their learning to new scenarios. Likewise, dairy producers involved in the project reported an increased understanding of cleaning and sanitation. Furthermore, the farmers reported that they were highly likely to employ the cleaning and sanitation protocols introduced by the students. In addition to increased dairy quality knowledge, we also report on how the authentic/experiential learning platform allowed students to utilize behavioral competencies important to successful engagement.