BUILDING AN UNDERSTANDING OF BEST PRACTICES FOR EDUCATION IN FOOD PROTECTION AND DEFENSE

­Preamble: The following best practices are intended to provide guidance to educators and / or trainers in the development, implementation and evaluation of educational programs or interventions. These practices are also conceived for specific applicability to food protection and defense education for audiences operating within the farm to fork food system.

#1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

• Start with identification of the audience
• Conduct or use existing audience assessment or analysis research
• Recognize that audiences function on different levels & have different needs – from line worker to CEO

#2. IDENTIFY YOUR LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Base learning objectives upon the audience’s role within the food system
• Understand the program expectations, purpose, goal or intended outcomes
• Identify a suitable speaker for the audience with capabilities to meet the program objectives
• Recognize the audience’s desire to receive actionable information and intelligence relevant to their role(s) and responsibilities within the food system

#3. DESIGN THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

• Develop a multi-disciplinary approach to program development as it relates to food & security “when appropriate”
• Seek input & advice from appropriate personnel or disciplines to assure the quality of the program
• Assemble and utilize the necessary resources, including subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Training programs may require interviewing SMEs to recognize necessary program materials for a proactive approach
• Use disciplinary resources where needed to reinforce science & social integrity of education programs

(Note: Final product to include links to Federal guidelines or resources such as DHS Universal Target List or Target Capabilities List)

# 4. CONSIDER THE METHOD OF DELIVERY

• Consider approaches that are suitable to specific audience types

(Note: Final product to cite some examples that have been useful / successful)

#5. EVALUATE OFTEN AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK

• Conduct evaluative exercises frequently for continuous program improvement
• Practice and review the educational program
• Tie evaluation back into program objectives
• Revisit the design process to incorporate new information or lessons learned

 

Note 1:      Developers and reviewers of the best practices document:

• NCFPD Education workshop – Feb. 2006 – 37 attendees
• Paul DeVito – St. Joseph’s University
• Jim Dickson – Iowa State University
• Bob Gravani – Cornell University
• Aurora Saulo – University of Hawaii
• Trent Wakenight – Michigan State University
• Bill Krueger – MN Department of Agriculture
• National Food Safety & Toxicology Cntr – 5 members of food safety & protection staff           

Note 2:      Potential means of dissemination of the “Best Practices” document

• Develop best practices document into a Powerpoint
• St. Joseph’s can transform Powerpoint into a Flash presentation
• Via the NCFPD Web site (documents section) and FoodProtectionEducation site
• Via NCFPD newsletter and the FoodProtectionEducation learning community newsletter
• Via conference presentations such as NCFPD Annual Conference
• Via INC-Education network to REC members & DHS collaborators
• Via learning community members

 

 

 

 

 

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