This proposal builds upon the findings from a prior teacher professional development (PD) program, the agriscience metaverse academy (AMA), to address a major barrier to impementing virtual reality…

The University of Tennessee, through its UT AG Research Division, received a $500,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) (CFDA 10.310), with performance period spanning September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2029. The award supports the development and delivery of two year-long professional development programs designed to address the implementation of virtual reality (VR) technology in secondary agricultural education. The initiative builds on prior findings from the Agriscience Metaverse Academy (AMA) program and will engage 30 agriscience teachers from Tennessee and Nebraska in advancing VR content creation and immersive educational experiences.

Under this grant, the university will develop and deliver the Advanced AMA—Content Creators program, a 4-week intensive training curriculum for experienced VR teachers focusing on 360-degree video capture and editing techniques to create problem-based learning immersive metaverse experiences (IMEs), and the AMA: Cohort II program, a comprehensive year-long initiative featuring a 5-day in-person workshop, 10 newly developed problem-based learning IME lessons, and 12 Meta Quest 3 VR headsets per participating classroom. Advanced participants will serve as peer mentors to Cohort II participants, who will also receive instruction in creating their own problem-based learning lessons from existing VR content. The project will produce a newly developed AMA website hosting all curricula, resources, and training materials to expand VR access and impact in agricultural education, with expected outcomes including increased student agricultural literacy and interest in agricultural workforce participation.

This proposal builds upon the findings from a prior teacher professional development (PD) program, the agriscience metaverse academy (AMA), to address a major barrier to impementing virtual reality (VR) in secondary agricultural education - lack of existing, accesible, and appropriate VR content. This program proposes two newly developed, year-long PD programs titled, advanced AMA - content creators and AMA: cohort II that will engage 30 agriscience teachers from tennesse and nebraska. Advanced AMA participants who have completed prior VR training will participate in a 4-week long program learn how to capture and edit 360-degree videos to create immersive metaverse experiences (imes) and will develop problem-based (PBL) IME lessons. These lessons will be shared with AMA: cohort II the following year. Advanced participants will attend the AMA: cohort II, a 5-day, in-person workshop, to serve as peer mentors. Cohort II will receive access to 10 PBL IME lessons created for this program along with a class set of 12 meta quest 3 VR headsets. They will also learn create their own PBL IME lessons from existing VR content. A newly developed AMA website will host all developed curricula, resources, and trainings to help expand the access and impact of VR in education. Expected outcomes include students with increased access to agricultural experiences, leading to increased levels of agricultural literacy and interest in entering the agricultural workforce.