178 Academic Quadrathlon as an In-Service Training Tool

Abstract The Animal Science Extension team at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture provides a yearly joint in-service training for county agents. In previous years, in-service trainings were held on a regional basis, with one one-day training in each region of the state for a total of 3 trainings. In 2021, the Animal Science team took a difference approach by offering a centrally located, conference style in-service training that lasted for 3 days. There were separate tracks for 4-H and Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) with concurrent sessions, and a few combined sessions with general program updates. A range of topics were covered in species-specific sessions, covering beef, dairy, small ruminant, equine, and poultry. On day 3, to increase agent interaction during the in-service training, the Animal Science Extension team created a mini-academic quadrathlon (AQ) to test the agents in a friendly competition. The AQ had species-specific hands-on lab sections and a quiz bowl competition. Teams were created by Specialists to ensure that each team comprised agents with varying levels of knowledge and experience. In December 2021, fifty-two agents participated in the training. An evaluation was administered at the end of the training to gauge effectiveness of each session. Of the 28 respondents, 15 were ANR agents, 7 were 4-H agents, 5 were ANR/4-H agents, and 1 was an area specialist. When asked to give an overall rating for the quiz bowl session of AQ on scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent, 71% of respondent responded “5: excellent.” When asked the same for hands-on lab portions of AQ, 95% of agents responded “5: excellent.” Selected comments regarding the AQ during in-service training included: “Day 3 by far was the most fun I have had at an in-service. I loved it.” and “I thought the stations and quiz bowl was a great way to tie in everything that was covered in the first two days. Fun and educational!” Specialists concluded that the AQ was a highly effective way to deliver in-service training to agents in an exciting way. Due to the success of the program, the 2022 in-service training taking place in December, will follow the same format.