Performing Department
PLANT SOIL MICROBIAL
Non Technical Summary
Global food production needs to double by 2050 to feed an expected 10 billion people using fewer resources. This calls for training plant breeders who work to improve climate-resilient crops for growers. Over the last two decades, the plant breeding field has evolved to bring in new and emerging biotechnology tools to improve efficiency like never before. However, along with these tools used to improve one or more critical traits, the next generation of plant breeders must learn how to integrate these technologies into the traditional plant breeding process which includes delivering varieties to the growers, so that they can hit the ground running.With the development and launching of a new fast-track, flexible, accessible, and affordable online master's program in plant breeding, our goal is to train and improve the skills of a diverse pool of students to utilize new tools and technologies to increase the efficiency of crop improvement and production systems. By developing new courses, and offering them to current students as well as plant breeding professionals who wish to update their knowledge of new technologies used in plant breeding, we wish to address the challenge that the 2016 White House blog on Food and Agriculture for the 21st century pointed out - that the current workforce is insufficient to meet the needs of the US food and agricultural sector and that this "deficit is particularly troubling in the field of plant breeding." This challenge is not unique to the US, and an online master's program allows us to educate a global audience of plant breeders and professionals. This proposed work also further enhances the existing plant breeding curriculum at Michigan State University and expands the degree programs to include an online training option in the portfolio. The program will also provide opportunities for faculty members and graduate students to be involved in developing and offering online educational programs for the first time, helping them grow professionally, as they learn to develop courses with a backward design process incorporating assessments to learning outcomes to test students' ability to apply the knowledge gathered with a crop/traits/location focus.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
1. Develop 9 new courses for the online masters program.2. Develop material and organize events to advertise and market the online masters program to global audiences.3. Develop material to launch the online masters program including the graduate handbook and D2L site.4. Select students for the first cohort for launching the online masters program.5. Offer courses to the first cohort of students and obtain regular feeedback on courses with pre and post course surveys.6. Update courses offered based on feedback received from surveys.7. Collect testimonials from the first cohort of students to promote and recruit the second cohort of students.8. Evaluate the program based on feedback obtained from masters students as well as participating faculty members (instructors), students, admin staff, and partners on how to further improve on the program.
Project Methods
1. Provide training to faculty members and graduate students to develop/assist with developing and offering online courses in the program (including training on how to use templates in D2L and develop courses with consistent course design).2. Develop a marketing plan to advertise the program to various networks within the US and internationally.3. Organize recruiting events to attract students to the new Global Plant Breeding online masters program.4. Launch the Global Plant Breeding online masters program.5. Arrange opportunities for students in the program for their Independent Study if they have not already selected a placement.6. Invite professional plant breeders, and current and former MSU plant breeders to serve on the graduate committees of the students in the program.7. Work closely with evaluators of the program as they develop surveys to obtain feedback through surveys.8. Improve courses based on the feedback obtained from the students about the various courses and the program as a whole.9. Use student experiences and feedback to promote the program to prepare for the second cohort of students.10. Work with the Global Plant Breeding online masters advisory committee to review progress and next steps.