Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/06
Outputs
Revision of course material for the distance education course "Agroforestry for the Southeastern US" (FOR 3855) was completed and the course home page was updated. Specifically, the five introductory videos for the course modules were re-done, the narrated PowerPoint lectures for the riparian buffers, forest farming, and on-line resources units were completed, a new unit on agroforestry trees was created, and corrections were made to several of the other lectures. The same pre-test/post test assessment developed last year was attached to the course site in order to have a second data set for analysis. Thirteen students enrolled for the course in the spring 2006 semester; of these 11 successfully completed the course. The course assessment data indicate that the students were extremely positive about their learning experience, confirming the positive responses previously received from the first year students. The Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) awarded
the course with the Gold Award for an Educational Project or Credit and the Outstanding Professional Skill Award in Distance Education and Instructional Design. The awards were presented during the 2006 International ACE Conference held in Quebec City, Canada, June 2-6, 2006. This was reported to the CSREES project manager and published in the CSREES on-line newsletter in June 2006. The agroforestry demonstration site located in the UF teaching forest produced about 50 pounds of shiitake mushrooms that were donated to the Forestry Club for fund raising. The slash pine/bahiagrass/Coreopsis basalis wildflower alley crops continue to serve as a demonstration. The Liatris spp wildflower experiment was discontinued due to failed germination and lack of suitable seedlings available from the supplier. The course Forests for the Future (FOR 2662) was taught only as a traditional classroom course because it did not generate sufficient student interest as a 2000-level distance education course.
PRODUCTS: The new and revised large lecture and video files for FOR 3855 were burned to CDs (a set of 4) with professionally-developed labels; these were mailed to students not having a fast Internet connection. These contain 188 minutes of video and 17 narrated PowerPoint lectures.
OUTCOMES: The student assessment of the spring 2006 agroforestry distance course shows an extremely positive reaction and an increased understanding of the potential of agroforestry in the southeast US; this will be reported in a journal article. Due in part to the interest generated by this course the School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) is planning a MS non-thesis degree program, much of which will be done via distance education courses. In addition, the PI of this grant was hired as the SFRC distance education coordinator.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: In January 2006 the PI gave a departmental seminar about the distance course to forestry faculty and students. The PI gave an in-service training presentation to extension professionals at the UF agroforestry demonstration site in August 2005.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: The two University of Florida distance education courses will be offered in January 2007 and yearly thereafter. Course lessons will be updated and expanded as student feedback and funding allow. A journal article will be written and submitted for publication based on the results of the FOR 3855 first and second course evaluations. The PI will begin to assess the potential market for converting the FOR 3855 course material for use as in-service training to extension professionals and for use in international distance education courses. FOR 3855 will be marketed more intensively in order to increase the number of students enrolled. The Auburn University co-PI will use the assessment results of the UF agroforestry course to test the interest in giving the course at Auburn, and may invite the PI to teach it as an adjunct faculty.
Impacts
Due to the University of Georgia field course, more undergraduate students are now very much more aware of the importance of agroforestry in implementing sustainable land management practices. Several of the students in the course will go on to graduate school in environmental science or management. The UF agroforestry distance course reached students that would not normally have enrolled had the course been offered in a traditional face-to-face setting. Students were located from the Florida Keys to the Florida panhandle to California, and ranged in age from the 60s to the 20s. Before the course the students knew little or nothing of agroforestry; they are now enthusiastic about it as a possible land-use option.
Publications
- None, but one is in progress using the assessment data sets from the spring 2005 and spring 2006 semesters.
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Progress 09/01/03 to 08/31/06
Outputs
This grant funded the first distance education course, Agroforestry in the Southeastern US (FOR 3855), offered by the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC), and has been taught by the PI every spring semester since 2005, fulfilling the main objective of the grant. The course content includes 17 narrated PowerPoint lectures, and 24 video files (188 minutes) showing farmer and researcher interviews. Most of the video interviews were custom made for the course by the co-PI at Auburn University. A total of 22 students have taken the course, a low enrollment compared to the goals, and this can be attributed to: 1) Auburn University administrators did not offer the course as anticipated, 2) UF distance education policy does not yet allow out-of-state students to register at reduced rates, and 3) salary funding for the project PI ran out in late 2006 and so the spring 2007 semester was not advertised. Enrollment is expected to increase now, however, since the
course instructor found additional funding, UF distance education policy in under review, and the course has a very good reputation among past students. Course assessment data based on the 2005 and 2006 classes indicate that the students were extremely positive about their learning experience. The Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) awarded the course with the 2006 Gold Award for an Educational Project or Credit and the Outstanding Professional Skill Award in Distance Education and Instructional Design. This was reported to the CSREES project manager and published in the CSREES on-line newsletter in June 2006. In part due to this positive experience, the PI was appointed (and funded) as the distance education coordinator for the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, and this is facilitating an increasing interest in distance course in the department. There are now 21 distance courses in planning, 10 of which will have been developed and taught by spring 2008. The
agroforestry demonstration site located in the UF teaching forest was established and used as planned. It produced about 50 pounds of shiitake mushrooms that were donated to the Forestry Club for fund raising. The slash pine/bahiagrass wildflower alleys continue to serve as a demonstration. The UF course referred to as Forest Issues in the proposal is now called Forests for the Future (FOR 2662). Distance delivery was attempted, but it is now taught only as a traditional classroom course because it did not generate sufficient student interest from off-campus students. The University of Georgia 3-week summer agroforestry field course (ECOL 3700) established in 2005 with this grant continues successfully at Spring Valley Farm, Athens Georgia (www.springvalleyecofarms.org). Class size is limited to 14 students so that student-instructor and student-student interactions are kept at an optimal level. The class is very popular, and typically a dozen students are turned away each year. The
course is a prerequisite for the Certificate in Organic Agriculture Program, offered by the UGA College of Agriculture and Environmental Science.
PRODUCTS: Products include the UF FOR 3855 distance education course, sets of 4 CDs prepared for this course containing the lecture and video files; the UGA agroforestry field course (ECOL 3700), a volume of pertinent readings produced for ECOL 3700, and a copy of Jordan's book Working with Nature was produced on CD for each class member; and the UF agroforestry demonstration site.
OUTCOMES: Due to the University of Georgia field course, more undergraduate students are now very much more aware of the importance of agroforestry in implementing sustainable land management practices and ecology undergraduates at UGA now have a field course to support the theoretical knowledge gained in the traditional classroom setting. Several of the students in the course will go on to graduate school in environmental science or management. The UF agroforestry distance course reached students that would not normally have enrolled had the course been offered in a traditional face to face setting. Students were located from the Florida Keys to the Florida panhandle to California, and ranged in age from the 60s to the 20s. Before the course the students knew little or nothing of agroforestry; now their knowledge about agroforestry has increased significantly (as measured by the assessment instrument developed under the grant) and they are enthusiastic about it as a possible
land-use option.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The PI displayed a poster on the activities funded by the grant at the 2005 USDA CSREES project director's conference held in New Orleans. In January 2006 the PI gave a departmental seminar about the distance course to forestry faculty and students. The PI gave an in-service training presentation to extension professionals at the UF agroforestry demonstration site in August 2005. The PI presented a poster Student Assessment of on Online Asynchronous Agroforestry Course at the University of Florida CALS teaching symposium in August 2007. This poster shows the results of student learning assessment done as part of the course funded by the grant, and is now posted permanently in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation. Now the main dissemination activities are ongoing meetings with SFRC administration about the distance education program and one-to-one faculty meetings about DE methods and technology.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: The UF FOR 3855 course will be offered each spring. Course lessons will be updated and expanded as student feedback and funding allow. A journal article will be written and submitted for publication based on the results of the FOR 3855 first and second course evaluations. The PI will begin to assess the potential market for converting the FOR 3855 course material for use as in-service training to extension professionals, as a graduate-level course, and for use in international distance education courses. FOR 3855 will be marketed more intensively in order to increase the number of students enrolled. The University of Georgia field course will be continued at least through 2009. The PI will continue faculty consultation and training in DE methods and technologies.
Impacts
The main impact of this grant has been the increased interest in and support of distance education at the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) and increased awareness of faculty about DE methods of teaching. The FOR 3855 course was the first distance course offered by SFRC, and because of the ACE awards earned by the course the PI was hired as SFRC distanced education coordinator at a time when two other grants supporting the creation of undergraduate and certificate courses in geomatics and graduate and certificate courses in environmental restoration were received. The grant provided the PI and the School with essential experience and momentum to build on.
Publications
- Bannister M.E. 2004. A web-based agroforestry distance education course for undergraduates in the southeastern U.S. Book of Abstracts, 1st World Congress of Agroforestry, http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/wca/Abstracts2.pdf, Poster, p 295.
- A journal article is in progress using the assessment data sets from the spring 2005 and spring 2006 semesters.
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Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05
Outputs
Initial development of course material for the distance education course, Agroforestry for the Southeastern US, was completed. This new course was approved by the appropriate committees at the School and College levels and was assigned a permanent course number, FOR 3855. The course home page was established using WebCT Vista software; field video interviews, commercially-available videos prepared by the University of Missouri and the University of Kentucky, and narrated PowerPoint lectures were recorded on CDs and mailed to students. The pre-test/post test assessment was developed, attached to the course site, and completed by the students. Eight students enrolled for the course in the spring 2005 semester at the University of Florida, a small class size that was ideal for testing the first course. The students successfully completed a field exercise and the course assignments. Initial analysis of the course assessment data indicates that the students were extremely
positive about their learning experience. Feedback from students during the semester suggested several changes in course assignments and operation that will be made before the next offering. The agroforestry demonstration site located in the UF teaching forest continues to expand its activities, and now has bahiagrass alleys between slash pine to demonstrate silvopasture, a stack of 35 laurel oak logs producing shiitake mushrooms, one alley (between slash pine) of Coreopsis basalis wildflowers, small demonstrations/pre-trials of Echinacea, and Vernonia and Helianthus wildflowers in slash pine alleys. In collaboration with Wildflowers of Florida, Inc., a replicated experiment of Liatris spp wildflowers was planted on the site in March 2005. A kiosk was installed near the access road to the demonstration site in June 2005. The course Forests for the Future (FOR 2662) was converted from classroom format to distance education. The course was taught both as a traditional classroom course
and as a distance course spring semester 2005. Although only three students enrolled for the distance education section, about 40 classroom students have used the WebCT course home page that was developed using the grant. The University of Georgia agroforestry field course was continued at Spring Valley Farm, Athens Georgia, during the fall semester 2005 and summer 2005. Class size is limited to 14 students so that student-instructor and student-student interactions are kept at an optimal level. The class is very popular, and several students had to be turned away.
PRODUCTS: The following UF agroforestry course materials were developed and mailed to enrolled students on nine CDs for the spring 2005 semester: Narrated PowerPoint modules: Introduction and overview, Agroforestry definition and basics, Ecological concepts in agroforestry, Economic dimensions of agroforestry, Marketing dimensions of agroforestry, Policy dimensions of agroforestry, Introduction to silvopasture, Windbreak practices, Alley cropping practices, Riparian forest buffer practices, and Forest farming; Video interviews with landowners/researchers: silvopasture (4 interviews), alley cropping (3 interviews), riparian forest buffers (3 interviews), forest farming of ginseng, and extension (2 interviews); Commercially available agroforestry videos: silvopasture, alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffers, forest farming (University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry), and shiitake mushroom culture (University of Kentucky). The University of Georgia (UGA) field course was given
twice during the past 12 months. A reader, consisting of pertinent readings was produced for each of the class members. In addition, a copy of Jordan's book, Working with Nature, was produced on CD for each class member. The main expenditure was for stipend for the teaching assistant. In the conversion of UFs Forests for the Future course to distance education, a teaching assistant was paid to produce distance education teaching materials. Specific products include a web site using WebCT software to host lectures, on-line chats, student grading, midterm exam, and class information. The teaching assistant mastered the software and adapted it to the class being designed. Several lectures were developed and put on line. A reading packet was developed and digitally placed on-line, which all students registered for the course will have access to. Two videos and software to develop web pages were purchased using project funds.
OUTCOMES: Students were very enthusiastic and positive about the UGA field course; twelve students wanting to enroll in the summer field exercise had to be turned away. Initial examination of the student assessment of the spring 2005 agroforestry distance course shows an extremely positive reaction; this will be reported in a journal article.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: The PI displayed a poster on the activities funded by the grant at the 2005 USDA CSREES project directors conference held in New Orleans.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: The two University of Florida distance education courses will be offered in January 2006 and yearly thereafter. Course lessons will be revised, additional lessons will be added, and lectures and videos will be consolidated on a fewer number of CDs having printed labels. All CDs will be mailed to students as a complete package at the beginning of the course. Course lessons and videos will also be made available directly on the course web site for those students having broadband connections. A journal article will be written and submitted for publication based on the results of the FOR 3855 first course evaluation. The PI will present a departmental seminar to the School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) regarding the agroforestry distance education course offered in Spring 2005, which was the first Web-based course offered by SFRC. The PI will begin to assess the potential market for converting the FOR 3855 course material for use as in-service training
to extension professionals and for use in international distance education courses. FOR 3855 will be marketed more intensively in order to increase the number of students enrolled. The Auburn University co-PI will use the assessment results of the UF agroforestry course to test the interest in giving the course at Auburn. The University of Georgia field course will be given in the fall of 2005 as a regular semester course and will be repeated in May 2006 as an intensive 3-week course. The PI will give an in-service training presentation to extension professionals at the UF agroforestry demonstration site on 11 August 2005. The Liatris wildflower experiment will be expanded with on the University of Florida agroforestry demonstration site and explanatory posters will be displayed in the kiosk in summer 2005.
Impacts
It is too early to assess impacts of the distance education courses or the UF agroforestry demonstration site. Due to the University of Georgia field course, 28 more undergraduate students are now very much more aware of the importance of agroforestry in implementing sustainable land management practices. Several of the students in the course will go on to graduate school in environmental science or management. We also note that the UF agroforestry distance course reached students that would not normally have enrolled had the course been offered in a traditional face-to-face setting. Students were located from the Florida Keys to the Florida panhandle, and ranged in age from the 60s to the 20s. Before the course the students knew little or nothing of agroforestry; they are now enthusiastic about it as a possible land-use option.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 10/01/03 to 09/30/04
Outputs
Development of the distance education course, Agroforestry for the Southeastern US, is progressing well and will be offered to students in the spring 2005 semester. It was originally planned to be offered in fall 2004; the delay is due to the University of Florida upgrading its distance education software to WebCT Vista, requiring faculty training, and because developing the course modules is taking longer than planned. This new course has been approved by the appropriate committees at the School and College levels, and is awaiting the assignment of a permanent course number. It has been listed in the course catalog under a temporary number, FOR 4934. A WebCT site has been assigned. A marketing plan is being developed to attract students, and work has begun on the evaluation and assessment modules. The agroforestry demonstration site located in the UF teaching forest began in November 2003 by clearing this old silvopasture site of hardwoods and debris to expose the 40
foot alleys. To date at the site we have planted bahiagrass to demonstrate the most common form of silvopasture, inoculated a stack of 35 laurel oak logs with shiitake mushroom spoors, planted about one acre of Coreopsis basalis wildflowers, and have collaborated with Wildflowers of Florida, Inc., to plan a replicated experiment of Liatris spp wildflowers on the site. Converting the existing course Forests for the Future (FOR 2662) from classroom format to distance education is progressing as scheduled, and will be given to students in the Spring 2005 semester. The first University of Georgia agroforestry field course was held at Spring Valley Farm, Athens Georgia, from 12 May to 4 June, 2004. Classes were given Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, and consisted of lectures, discussion, field experiences, and laboratory exercises. Sixteen undergraduate students participated in the course. Dr. Carl Jordan, Univ. of Georgia, directed the course, and was assisted by two graduate
assistants, Krista Jacobsen and Jason Mann. Other faculty that participated in the course by giving one or two lectures included: Dr. Peter Hartell (UGA, microbiologist), Dr. Bryan Norton (Georgia Tech, ecological economics), Dr. Paul Hendrix (UGA, soil ecologist), Dr. Andy Kaboori, (UGA, media specialist), Dr. Don Christy (UGA, water policy), Dr. Paul Sutter (UGA, Environmental History). In addition, we had field demonstrations by specialists in entomology, weed ecology, biodynamics, and N fixation. In May 2004 the project PI visited the Auburn University co-PI to work on the course and the University of Georgia co-PI to attend the first field course.
PRODUCTS: The course UF agroforestry course syllabus has been developed, and the following course PowerPoint modules have been submitted by the Auburn University co-PI: Agroforestry concepts and principals, Forest farming (2 modules), Silvopasture (3 modules), Windbreaks, Alley cropping (3 modules), and Riparian buffers (2 modules). Video interviews have been done with 6 landowners/researchers on silvopasture, alley cropping, and ginseng culture. The UGA field course was held. A reader, consisting of pertinent readings was produced for each of the class members. In addition, a copy of Jordan's book Working with Nature was produced on CD for each class member. The main expenditure was for stipend for the teaching assistant. In the conversion of Forests for the Future to distance education, a teaching assistant was paid for her services in producing distance education teaching materials. Specific products include a web site using WEB CT software to host lectures, on-line chats, student
grading, midterm exam, and class information. The teaching assistant has had to master the software and adapt it to the class being designed. Several lectures have already been developed and put on line. Finally, a reading packet has been developed and digitally placed on-line, which all students registered for the course will have access to. Finally, two videos and software to develop web pages have been purchased using project funds.
OUTCOMES: Students were very enthusiastic and positive about the UGA field course. Three stayed on the farm for the whole summer, to carry out internships. Overall grade given by the students in their evaluation for the course was 4.7 out of 5.0 (very high relative to most other courses).
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: An-service training course for several extension professionals visited the UF agroforestry demonstration site on 11 March 2004. The project PI discussed the demonstration of shiitake mushroom culture. The PI displayed a poster on the activities funded by the grant at the 1st World Congress of Agroforestry in Orlando, Florida in June 2004.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: The two University of Florida distance education courses will be offered in January 2005, and yearly thereafter. The University of Georgia field course will be given in the fall of 2004 as a regular semester course. In 2005 and 2006, the course will be repeated in May as an intensive 3-week course, and in the fall as a regular semester course. A new wildflower experiment will be installed on the University of Florida agroforestry demonstration site in late 2004, and an explanatory kiosk and signs will be installed in late 2004 or early 2005.
Impacts
It is too early to assess impacts of the distance education courses or the UF agroforestry demonstration site. Due to the University of Georgia field course, sixteen undergraduate students are now very much more aware of the importance of agroforestry in implementing sustainable land management practices. Several of the students in the course will go on to graduate school in environmental science or management.
Publications
- Bannister M.E. 2004. A web-based agroforestry distance education course for undergraduates in the southeastern U.S. Book of Abstracts, 1st World Congress of Agroforestry, http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/wca/Abstracts2.pdf, Poster, p 295.
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