Models of SUBJECT
Extension Work EDUCATOR
 m LEARNERS
 The Subject is what is being learned; and in this case it was
 information about post-harvest grain losses. It can range from the
 ideas in a person's head to something concrete, like a moisture
 testing machine.
 The Educator may be thoroughly familiar with the material-an
 expert or specialist in a particular range of subject matter. And in
 this lies one recurring problem found in all kinds of educational
 communication: does the expert try to tell the learners all he
 knows, or does he let them discover some of it for themselves?
 This question is crucial in making assessments of the relative
 effectiveness of various extension methods, and it will be explored
 in the following chapters which review the different methods in
 some detail.
 Another consideration will be whether the extension worker is
 familiar enough with a range of methods to enable him to make
 a choice-and to extend your range of choice is a key objective of
 this manual.
 A further issue will be the attitude of the workers towards the
 farmers-whether he is ready to see them as sources of knowledge
 and skill that can be drawn on in the educational process. In the
 illustration, the extension worker was happy to do this and, even
 though he could easily have listed the various reasons for grain
 losses experienced by the farmers, he preferred to draw them out
 for discussion.
 The Learners may be totally unfamiliar with the material, as
 farmers would be when seeing a modern crib for the first time, or
 they may already have some knowledge of it-as in the illustra-
 tion, where they know for themselves what was causing their
 losses of maize.
 The question then arises as to whether the same method will be
 effective whether the farmers know or do not know something
 about the material-and what can be done if some of the group
 know and some do not?
 In their different ways, each of the three factors will determine
 the "shape" of any episode of extension communication; and we
 can characterize the main kinds of episode by considering how the


Chapter 5