DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1010415
• Grant No.: 2016-51300-25737
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $249,810.00
• Proposal No.: 2016-04469
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2016
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2019
• Grant Year: 2016
• Program Code: [113.A]- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative

Project Director
Jeliazkov, V.

Recipient Organization
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
CORVALLIS,OR 97331

Performing Department
Crop and Soil Science

Non Technical Summary
Organic food production in the United States is expanding rapidly. The sales of organic food and non-food products in the US reached $39.1 billion in 2014, an increase of 11.3 percent relative to 2013. The sale of organic food accounts for almost 5 % of the total food market in the US. There is an increasing need for graduate training of university students and professionals in Organic Agriculture (OA). Currently in the United States, there is no online master's degree program or graduate certificate in OA, whereas undergraduate programs in OA do exist. The goal of this project is to address this gap by the development and implementation of: online certificate in OA for graduate students and professionals across the nation and abroad. After the graduate certificate in OA has been implemented, the next phase will be to build on it and develop an online MSc degree in OA. The project is interdisciplinary and involves instructors, researchers and extension personnel from multiple academic units at Oregon State University (OSU). OSU is among the top 10 universities in the world in the area of Agriculture and Forestry. Also, OSU is one of the top 10 ranking Universities in the US for best online bachelor's degree programs. In addition, Oregon has a substantial organic production sector; the certified organic acreage of cropland in Oregon is second in the nation after California. The project objectives fit the 2016 OREI priorities, namely "8. Develop new undergraduate and/or graduate curriculum in organic agriculture."

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
903	6099	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

online graduate certificate

curriculum development

education

organic community

organic farming

Goals / Objectives
The project's goal is to develop and implement an online graduate certificate program in organic agriculture within the 2-year project period, and then build an online MSc in OA, perhaps in collaboration with another U.S. University, within five years.This project will develop an online Graduate Certificate in OA in several potential areas of specializations: organic whole farm system management, organic livestock management, organic soil management, pest management, perennial berries, fruit crops, vegetables and ornamentals, field crops and forages. This new online graduate certificate will be administered through Oregon State University, consistent with the mission and vision of the institution. This will be achieved through (1) Development of the requirements for the online graduate certificate, (2) Development of new courses, (3) Implementing organic curriculum into some existing courses, and (4) Launching the new online Graduate Certificate at OSU.Specific objectives that were identified to meet the goal of this project are: To evaluate the Oregon State University E-campus market research study to fully assess target audiences and their needs.To develop the Graduate Certificate in OA via planning meetings with project staff and faculty, as well as administrators of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS).To develop the Category 1 Proposal for online Graduate Certificate in OA.To develop and deliver courses for the certificate.To market the new online course offerings and Graduate Certificate to potential students.To evaluate the courses and graduate program outcomes relative to project goals and desired outcomes.To disseminate information and outcomes.The project will address an important educational gap that was identified: the lack of online graduate education in OA. Graduate students, and post-baccalaureate are uniquely positioned as our future scientists, extension agents, public and private executives, and policy makers to have significant influence on policymaking and critical aspects of food security in the next 10-15 years. Educating students in the philosophy and principles of OA would provide them with another decision-making tool when they must assess various environmental, social, and economic factors once they are in the workforce. Overall, a Graduate Certificate in OA will improve production of organic food as well as help meet the demand for educated professionals, policymakers, and general public in the near future. Oregon State University is well suited for the implementation of new Graduate certificate in OA since it has been a leader in providing quality education in agriculture and forestry (ranked in the top 10 worldwide) and in online education (ranked among top 10 in the United States).

Project Methods
Methods to Meet Project ObjectivesObj. 1: Evaluate Oregon State University Ecampus market research study to fully assess target audiences and their needsOSU Ecampus is the university's online education division. Its mission is to provide educational opportunities to people throughout Oregon and beyond. Ecampus serves as the connection between OSU's outstanding faculty and diverse learners around the world. Ecampus assists in everything from course development and program budgeting to the marketing of programs.OSU Ecampus in collaboration with Eduventures (http://www.eduventures.com/ ) conducted a market research study for MSc and Graduate Certificate in Organic Agriculture and similar fields of study. This market research study was completed in February and March, 2016, and the results are available from PD Valtcho Jeliazkov upon request. Please note this study encompasses face to face and online degrees.Obj 2: To develop the online Graduate Certificate in OA via planning meetings with project staff and faculty, as well as administrators of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences. All project staff and faculty will gather twice in Year 1 and once in year 2 for two-day workshops. In year 1, we will develop foundational materials; train faculty in online and situation-based learning; and develop the courses. The focus will be on reviewing the suite of electives needed for the certificate options, the development of Ecampus courses, including new course development, updating of current online classes to include organic curriculum, and transforming existing courses into online form. OSU Ecampus will provide basic course development and production including: instructional design with best practices covering accessibility and copyright, media development, training, marketing, and on-going support. Ecampus will provide project management, from development through design, production and delivery, to reduce instructor production time, improve the student experience and comply with OSU standards and requirements, including coordination of multimedia and interactive media production, copyright tracking, and document preparation. Training is provided to enable faculty to access and manage course content, including Canvas, supplemental website, and document accessibility solutions.Year 2 will see the delivery and evaluation of coursework. The focus will be on sharing experiences, evaluating the online courses and their implementation, and planning how to expand the graduate certificate program into a future online MSc program in OA.Obj. 3: Develop the Category 1 Proposal for the online Graduate Certificate in Organic Agriculture.PDs Jeliazkov and Diebel will lead the development and submission of the Category 1 proposal (Cat 1) for the online certificate. The proposal will consist of the following elements: a description of the proposed new graduate certificate program, the relationship to the mission/goals of the University, faculty expectations and quality, need and demand, expected outcomes, program quality assessment, integration and collaboration, impact on other programs, and financial sustainability. The guidelines for this process are outlined at the OSU website: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/aa/apaa/academic-programs/program-proposalsDiscussions in February, 2016, with the OSU Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Graduate School ensured strong support, for the Cat 1 (Letters of Support are attached). Upon approval by the University Curriculum Committee and Faculty Senate, the Cat 1 is submitted to the Provosts' Council via the Chancellor's Office for inter-institutional review. With approval from the Council, the proposal is sent to external reviewers. Barring any major issues, the proposal is then routed to other postsecondary sectors in Oregon for review. Lastly the Board of Higher Education Academic Strategies Committee considers the proposal. We anticipate no significant challenges to the proposal, since the graduate certificate should logically be housed within Oregon's Land Grant Institution (OSU) and the College of Agricultural Sciences. No other Oregon post-secondary institutions has the critical mass or expertise to offer the proposed online graduate certificate.Obj. 4: Develop and deliver courses for the certificate.The online graduate certificate will be a highly collaborative effort amongst a diverse group of OSU faculty and instructors (Animal Science, Crop and Soil Science, Food Science, Horticulture, Entomology, Botany and Plant Pathology, Nutrition, and Anthropology, from the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Public Health and Human Sciences, and Liberal Arts). We have the ability to utilize existing faculty time, university resources, and existing partnerships to ensure a successful project. In addition, we will involve faculty from other universities as appropriate, as well as members of the project advisory panel. Online students will benefit from the national scope and diverse expertise of the mentors and instruction.All students in the online graduate certificate program will complete 18 credits (consisting of 15 credits of coursework plus a 3-credit capstone project). The students will need to take three required core courses (3 credits each) and can choose 2 or more electives related to a particular option (specialization). The proposed curricular requirements for the online Graduate Certificate in Organic Agriculture are outlined in Table 1. The prerequisites will differ for various courses depending on the specific course subject.The three required courses include: an overview course on Organic Food Production, one on soils and crops, and another on animal management. In addition, several electives will be offered to cover a number of interest areas. A capstone project (3 credits) will be required.

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences include: current graduate students in various agriculture-related programs across the nation that would like to improve their knowledge of OA, professionals in various branches of agricultural entities including certifying organizations, State Departments of Agriculture employees, current extension educators, and post-baccalaureate, who are interested in OA and would like to take online graduate courses. This new online graduate certificate will be available to potential students across the nation and also throughout the world because of the method of online delivery. The courses that were developed as part of this project are available for enrollment in Fall 2019 through the Oregon State University Ecampus https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/. We organized two meetings with organic growers, professionals, and university faculty, to reach out and discuss what topics should be included in various courses. Developed and distributed 2-pager on the new program. The document was submitted to a number of land-grant universities across the nation and to organic businesses. This action was to reach out (1) graduate students across the nation and (2) organic growers and professionals. Changes/Problems:We did not change any of the goals and the objectives of the approved project. Significant amount of time was needed for the new courses to go through the Oregon State University curriculum proposal system, CATI and CATII processes. There were 15 levels of approval for the new program, the Online Graduate Certificate in Organic Agriculture. Apparently, we underestimated the time needed for the approval of the courses and the new program. Some of the course developments took more time than anticipated. The original project participants were eight (8) of us. However, we involved a number of additional faculty and instructors in the course development. That ensured high-quality of the online courses by tapping into the expertise of a broader course developers. In addition, involving other faculty and staff provided professional development opportunities for everyone involved. At the same time, including additional faculty and instructors caused some delays in new course developments. Therefore, we had to request 1-year no-cost extension. At the end of the day, we achieved the goals and the objectives of the project. In our opinion, we achieved more than promised. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All project participants and course developers (>20) had to take the online training on course development "Developing Online Courses" offered by the Oregon State University Ecampus. This is a required intensive 6-week course designed to help faculty and instructors with the development of online courses. In addition, some of the project participants had the option and have taken "Teaching Online Classes" offered by the Oregon State University Ecampus. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The marketing of the new program is an ongoing activity. We are reaching out to current graduate students in various agriculture-related programs across the nation , professionals in various branches of agricultural entities including certifying organizations, State Departments of Agriculture employees, current extension educators, and post-baccalaureate, who are interested in OA and would like to take online graduate courses. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We accomplished the goal of the project: to develop and implement an online graduate certificate program in organic agriculture. The new program is available now: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/graduate/organic-agriculture/ 12 New graduate courses in Organic agriculture were developed. These include: AGRI 520 Introduction to Organic Food Production CROP 530/SOIL 530 Organic Soil and Crop Management ANS 550 Organic Animal Production Systems AGRI 506 Organic Agriculture Capstone ANTH 586 Anthropology of Food ANS 554 Organic Dairy Farming ENT 548 IPM in Organic Systems ENT 523 Organic Beekeeping and Honey Production FCSJ 554 International Perspectives on Food Systems HORT 540 Organic Vegetable Production Systems HORT 556 Berry Physiology and Production NUTR 525 Organic Food and Health PBG 552 Plant Breeding and Seed Production in Organic Systems In addition, as part of this graduate certificate, we are developing CROP 475/575 Organic Production of Cannabaceae; Hemp and Hops. To our knowledge this will be the first course in the nation or organic production of hemp and hops, and therefore, it is expected to attract much interest. Also, we are working with other uiversity teachers and are offering additional courses as part of the new program, e.g. AGRI 511 Introduction to Food Systems. All specific objectives of the project have been met: Specific objectives that were identified to meet the goal of this project are: To evaluate the Oregon State University E-campus market research study to fully assess target audiences and their needs - Accomplished To develop the Graduate Certificate in OA via planning meetings with project staff and faculty, as well as administrators of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS). - Accomplished To develop the Category 1 Proposal for online Graduate Certificate in OA. - Accomplished To develop and deliver courses for the certificate. - Accomplished To market the new online course offerings and Graduate Certificate to potential students.- In progress, through Oregon State University Ecampus and other means To evaluate the courses and graduate program outcomes relative to project goals and desired outcomes.- Will be evaluated To disseminate information and outcomes. - Will be done once we have run the courses

Publications

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:In late 2017, we organized a meeting with local stakeholders, including organic producers, marketing teams, and county commissioners. The meeting was lead by the P.I, Dr. Jeliazkov, CO-P.I. Penny Diebel, Project Coordinator Melissa Scherr, and additional faculty developing courses for the new program. During this meeting, stakeholders were asked to (1) identify gaps in working knowledge of graduates coming into professional fields of organic production. Stakeholders were then asked to (2) determine marketability of a graduate certificate in Organic Agriculture in the workforce in comparison to a professional with only an undergraduate degree and a professional with a Master's degree. Finally, the proposed program outcomes were presented to the stakeholders, who were asked to (3) evaluate the importance of each, making any comments or changes they thought were necessary based on the group discussions in parts 1 and 2 of the meeting. In general, comments from stakeholders were supportive of this new program at OSU, with many agreeing that it is a necessary addition to the production industry. As employers, several attendees stated that a professional with a graduate certificate in organic agriculture would be a highly desirable employee. During closing discussions at the end of the meeting, several of the stakeholders present expressed interest in gaining this certificate themselves once the program is launched. The main target audience for a new Graduate Certificate in Organic Ag is the student body; however, policy at Oregon State University prevents marketing a new program before the approval of the CAT I proposal. This process is heavily administrative and time-consuming, and is in the late stages of final review processes before approval. Once the Program has been approved, we can launch the Program website and begin marketing with the assistance of OSU E-campus. Changes/Problems:We are making excellent progress with the development of Online Graduate Certificate in Organic Agriculture. The main reason for delays with course development were the requirements of OSU for administrative approvals of new courses and programs. The CAT I and CAT II proposals took much more time than anticipated. Until the CAT I and CAT II have been finalized, the OSU Ecampus would not sign MOU with the faculty developing courses. As soon as the CAT I and II are finalized, we will start the actual course development. One of the participating faculty (Valtcho Jeliazkov) took the OSU Ecampus training on Online New Course Development and additional 3 faculty will be taking is during this summer. The three required courses and the program will be offered starting January, 2019. Some of the courses will continue to be developed into Spring 2019 What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Following a stakeholder meeting at the end of 2017, the faculty had the opportunity to meet with the Oregon State Center for Teaching and Learning to make better-informed decisions in program and course development. The participants were engaged in activities that developed Program outcomes, and then were able to workshop their specific course outcomes in support of the overall program outcomes. As a part of this new program, all faculty developing new online courses or revising a course for online presentation for the first time have been given access to a 6-week Course Development Workshop provided by OSU E-campus. During this workshop, faculty can plan courses based on outcomes, develop assignments to reinforce learning materials, and are informed on the different types of assessment for measuring success with course outcomes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There has not yet been any evaluation of this program, as it is still in process of approval at the University level. There are no evaluation results to report. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?4. The program will officially launch in Winter 2019 pending program approval (anticipated Fall 2018). With program launch, we can begin accepting students into the certificate program and courses will begin scheduled delivery. 5. Program approval (anticipated Fall 2018) will allow us to begin marketing efforts: we are already working with the online marketing team at OSU E-campus to create webpages for the new program that will help potential identify and apply to our program. Simultaneously, E-campus marketing will launch marketing efforts to attract students globally. 6. Course evaluations are provided by students completing courses and will be used to refine teaching and course outcomes. Additionally, OSU uses peer-review for monitoring the quality of teaching and course content under the direction of the Department heads. Program evaluations will be conducted in the Winter of 2020, after one full year of program operation. An "advisory committee" of stakeholders, administrators, students and faculty will be asked to evaluate the program and make suggestions for improvements; many of the stakeholders present at the meeting in 2017 have expressed interest in serving on this committee. 7. Dissemination of Program evaluation will be provided to all Departments, E-campus, and the College of Ag in order to inform and improve efforts to maintain a competitive, rigorous program. Vital statistics on program success will be provided on the program websites as information to all potential students.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In the last two years, we have met the first three specific objectives listed above: 1. A market research study was conducted with the help of OSU's E-campus to assess target audience for the new program and their needs as students. In addition, working with E-campus allowed program faculty and administrators to evaluate projected program costs and the revenue produced by enrollment per course. An analysis was conducted on administrative structure for the new program that would allow the program to be self-sustaining as a permanent addition to OSU Academics. 2. Development of the Organic Ag Certificate was planned in several meetings that included area stakeholders and representatives of international programs in Organic Agriculture, Administrators in the College of Ag Science and Department Heads for all of the Departments/Colleges that will be offering the courses proposed as a part of the new program. These administrators met in group meetings and in individual meetings with the Program Coordinator and the P.I. 3. Following meetings with administrators, the business office (providing a long term budget), stakeholders and faculty, the Category I Proposal for a new program was formulated and submitted to the University. This proposal has already passed several levels of initial review, and is in the late stages of review before a final approval that will add the new program to the academic catalog. We have partially met the fourth specific objective as well: many of the courses in the new (proposed) program are already developed and have been offered. OSU E-campus requires new course development two academic terms before the first offering of the course, and as such, our delayed timeline has pushed back the course development schedule. However, all courses proposed as required "core" courses for the certificate are in developmental stages, with the anticipation of launch in January of 2019. Several of the faculty developing courses also anticipate offering their new or revised courses in the same term, and are currently enrolled in course development workshops with E-campus to meet that deadline. Currently, Dr. Jeliazkov has completed the workshop and four more faculty are enrolled in the current workshop offering, with completion at the end of August.

Publications