While my specific Extension program “Kentucky: By The Numbers” focuses on providing access and assistance with publicly available secondary data, understanding the data requires a broader knowledge base (as was the case for my webinar about the new issue of Kentucky: By The Numbers providing data on race/ethnicity).  In other words, by themselves, numbers alone can only tell us so much.  And, as we live in an increasingly urban-focused world, this broader knowledge and expertise is particularly important for understanding rural areas, both nationally and in Kentucky.  As a rural sociologist, in addition to providing assistance with specific data, I bring that broader expertise to help build understanding not only about the numbers, but how they reflect and relate to larger issues and trends that lie beyond our own backyards.  

It is because of my work with data in Extension and as a rural sociologist that several years ago I was asked to develop a presentation examining data on rural and urban areas and trends across the nation and globally.  Refined and updated each year, I was continually asked to provide the presentation in multiple courses ranging from GEN100 to DHN605 Food Systems and Society.  As GEN100 became AFE100, in 2022, I was asked to develop a module for the AFE100 course.  The module focused on rural America and included a video presentation, an in-class exercise, and additional resources for both the students and the instructors.  Titled “Lag Behind or Left Behind,” the video built on my earlier presentations and used data on contemporary examples to explain rural challenges in an urban world for the mostly freshmen audience.  All 24 sections of AFE100 used the video in their courses reaching 497 students in their first year of study in the college.  

In addition to developing the module, with Ali Meyer-Rossi and KC Vick, we conducted research to examine the impact of the module on student learning and perceptions about rural areas.  The results indicate that before watching the video, students held a more narrow view of rural areas often reflecting common rural stereotypes.  Afterwards, students’ perceptions became broader and much more nuanced.  Having viewed the video presentation, they could now see how rural areas not only differ from urban areas but how they differ from one another as well.  They recognized and understood the impact of misconceptions and stereotypes about both rural places and rural people.  Having learned about differential access to services such as the internet, cell phone service, and health care, they could also now see how rural inequality impacts daily life for the people who live there.  Finally, after viewing the video, they were able to see how rural areas contribute in multiple ways to the nation and globally.  Not only did the video impact the students’ perceptions but, whether it’s working with Extension audiences (or in this case in a classroom), having that broader expertise in rural sociology is critical to being able to make data relatable and come alive.