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Lifelong Learning for Agency Fisheries Professionals: What are the Continuing Education Needs?
Author(s) -
Murphy William F.,
Cross Gerald H.,
Helfrich Louis A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446(1995)020<0010:llfafp>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - lifelong learning , agency (philosophy) , continuing education , fishery , continuing professional development , business , medical education , sociology , pedagogy , professional development , biology , medicine , social science
Continuing education priorities of 696 fisheries biologists and 185 natural resource agency administrators in 48 state agencies were requested by mail questionnaire and assessed in November 1993. The survey indicated that fisheries biologists were remarkably homogeneous in their continuing education needs regardless of job title, years of professional experience, level of education, or geographic location. Fisheries biologists identified high demands for continuing education in computer science, data collection and analysis, experimental design, and database management. The great demand for these particular skills indicates the popularity of computer technology and the growing recognition of the importance of and costs associated with collecting and managing fisheries data. Other areas of high educational demand were population biology (limiting factors, demographics) and habitat management (restoration, enhancement, protection). Agency administrators placed a higher priority on nontechnical skills used in communication, interpersonal relations, management, and leadership as subjects for continuing education than their fisheries biologists. Agency administrators value their employees and recognize the importance of professional development but allocate few resources to continuing education.