Bringing Agriculture into the ODeL Environment: Challenges and Opportunities
Kevin M. Murphy
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, USA
University-based agricultural courses are increasingly being taught via distance education. Various ODeL models function perfectly well in place of the traditional agricultural classroom learning experience and target a much more broad and diverse student body in the process. However, integration of the vital on-farm course component, typically available to students housed at a centralized location, into a distance curriculum presents unique challenges to ODeL course developers and instructors. Questions that must be addressed to ensure a complete educational experience include: How can students fully comprehend the diversity of current farming technologies? What is the best way to teach students the basic principles of soil testing or seed propagation? How can instructors encourage meaningful farmer x student interaction? Using three different agricultural courses currently taught at Washington State University as models, various approaches will be discussed that address these and other important questions. These approaches include: blended learning, in-depth farmer interviews, plant propagation techniques, hands-on soil analysis and interpretation, and experimental design of taste test evaluations. Additionally, potential solutions to the problems associated with student conduction of agroecological experiments without access to university provided laboratories, greenhouses and fields will be discussed. This lack of experimental design framework, using appropriate technologies, is currently a major barrier to expansion of ODeL in the agricultural sciences. Therefore, novel course designs and innovative assessment frameworks utilizing participatory methods of various experimental methodologies are still needed to best meet the needs of distance-based students in agricultural disciplines.