Author: Torrie Sheridan, Communications and Marketing Specialist, Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business

You’ve heard it a million times by now — “Life sure does look different than it did a little over a year ago!” That’s because it does. And as we seemingly creep in to a time filled with less panic and more semi-normalcy, some things will still never return to what they once were.

But these changes we’ve experienced haven’t all been bad. Perhaps you never plan to step foot into a grocery store again and will only ever do curbside pickup. Or perhaps the thought of vacating your remote work location and heading back to the office 40+ hours a week isn’t something you’d prefer.

Here at the Center for Food and Agricultural Business, we made the switch from traditionally in-person professional development programs to offering online programs participants could experience from the comfort and safety of their remote location quickly after the pandemic took hold. Now, we plan to keep aspects of online delivery and add it to our lineup of in-person and hybrid offerings post-pandemic depending on what works best for the food and agribusinesses we serve.

When the need for online teaching at the student level arose due to the pandemic, Dr. Nicole Olynk Widmar discovered that recording her lectures and allowing students to view them as many times as they’d like was a major advantage for both her and them. As students continue to migrate back to in-person learning, Nicole still plans to continue recording lectures and allowing students unlimited access. And, as mentioned, the Center for Food and Agricultural Business has made changes it plans to carry into the post-pandemic world for the agribusiness professionals it serves. These are simply a few of the COVID-inducted lifestyle adaptions we’re planning to keep post-pandemic, and they don’t end there. But what kind of example would we be setting here at Consumer Corner if we didn’t ask the opinion of our own consumers regarding their feelings and preferences around these changes? After all, these changes do directly impact our consumers.

Gauging Consumer Perspectives

To practice what we preach and adequately gauge the views of our consumers, we went straight to the source. I sat down with Jacky Davis, a Digital Ag Solutions Marketing Lead for Syngenta, to chat about center changes and Dillon Muhlenkamp, a Purdue University freshman majoring in agricultural education, to chat about classroom changes.

Gauging Consumer Perspectives: Center Stakeholder Experiences

Jacky and I started out by talking about some of the biggest shifts she’s experienced due to the pandemic in her personal and professional life. She mentioned that as a “people person”, she struggled greatly with the lack of in-person interaction with her co-workers, extended family and friends. In the beginning, it was also difficult for her to set up boundaries and separate work and home while working remotely. However, she feels some of these changes haven’t been all bad — for example, Jacky says that from a personal standpoint, the increase in immediate family time has been an added benefit. And although she has missed in-person interaction, the world’s quick adaptation to using technology and connecting virtually has been a positive change for her professionally. As the Digital Ag Solutions Marketing Lead in her organization, this demand for technology is what she and her team have been craving.

Through her role with Syngenta, Jacky has participated in both in-person and online professional development programs from the center. Because the center has put providing the same impactful networking and learning experiences offered by its in-person programs at the forefront of online program development, I asked Jacky about her opinions and preferences of both methods of delivery. We discussed the level of faculty interaction in each delivery method, what the networking experience was like in the virtual program setting, if the channels used in the online programs such as pre-recorded videos, live sessions and groupwork were helpful, and more. Check out her responses in the video below: 

Gauging Consumer Perspectives: Purdue Ag Undergraduate Experiences

My interview with Dillon kicked off chatting about some of the biggest changes he’s faced due to the pandemic. Dillon mentioned the difficult shift in going from on-campus learning back home to his rural community where he faced spotty Wi-Fi and the challenge of learning to convey himself effectively via Zoom. However, although this was quite an adaptation, Dillon feels he has been able to greatly grow and expand his mindset. Previously, he referred to himself as a “perfectionist” that preferred everything to be planned out to a tee. Now, he says he’s learned to take a step back, breathe and go with the flow more so now than ever before.

When I asked Dillon if he felt there were any additional positives that have come as a result of COVID-induced changes, I loved his response. He said, “The virtual shift we have seen has allowed many people more family time and the ability to work or go to school remotely. There are now more opportunities for people to move back to their rural communities and help keep them alive while still working or taking courses.”

We also discussed changes that have been made due to the pandemic that he would like to carry over into the post-pandemic world. Dillon is a student of Dr. Widmar and familiar with her shift to recorded lectures and unlimited student access to them. He spoke about how online learning has resulted in easier access to material, and how virtual, recorded lectures are extremely beneficial and something he hopes will continue in the future. He said, “If I understand three-fourths of the lecture but there is still a quarter I am struggling to grasp, having the ability to re-watch the lecture, pause when needed and take my time before moving forward has been an incredibly helpful tool.”

At this point in his academic career, Dillon has had the opportunity to experience what it is like to learn inside of the classroom and remotely. As Dr. Widmar and other student-facing faculty continue to navigate virtual learning and teaching, I asked Dillon his opinion of how each of these learning methods compare, what notable changes have been made to the learning environment, what key factors have stood out to him and more. Check out his responses in the video below:

Moving Forward

Some of the changes we’ve made in the past year personally and professionally have played an instrumental part in how we have adapted in order to keep living, keep educating, keep doing business and keep moving forward. And although these shifts may be successful from where you’re sitting, it’s critical to keep asking questions with your consumers in mind — are these changes beneficial to them? Are they happy? How could they be more satisfied? Sure, we may sometimes receive feedback we don’t want to hear, but the customers’ experience and consumers’ perceptions remain important, especially as we continue to face uncertainty and find ourselves in a period of adaptation for many months to come.

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