Source: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA submitted to NRP
ONLINE LEARNING IN APPLIED FORESTRY (OLAF) EDUCATIONAL TOOL
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1018665
Grant No.
2019-68006-29331
Cumulative Award Amt.
$428,364.00
Proposal No.
2018-08355
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 1, 2019
Project End Date
Mar 31, 2024
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[A1601]- Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities: Small and Medium-Sized Farms
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
200 D.W. BROOKS DR
ATHENS,GA 30602-5016
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In this integrated project we will develop an educational tool, Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF), that provides small and medium-sized forest landowners the ability to gain knowledge and skill of basic land and tree measurements. The relevance of the project to the program area is in developing effective tools to assist small and medium-sized forest owners in managing their timberland. Objectives are: (1) develop OLAF, a learning system to assist landowners in understanding how land and trees are measured, (2) perform a summative assessment of the effectiveness of OLAF to enhance management capacity and behavior of landowners. OLAF will consist of seven Sections (modules) whereby participants can gain knowledge and skill in land survey systems, land measurements, tree measurements, fixed area sampling, point sampling, basic statistics, and basic forest economics. Research will involve conducting physical workshops/meetings to engage forest landowners and others in the use of OLAF, and assessing the effectiveness of OLAF in meeting needs of forest landowners. The proposed activities will improve the quality of OLAF and increase end-user satisfaction of the stakeholders. This work is relevant to the goals of the AFRI program in that 55% of forest products in the U.S. come from southern forests, and 70% of this arises from non-industrial private lands. An advisory team will be involved in evaluating the goals of the project. Outcomes include the OLAF system, publications, conference presentations, and one STEM graduate. Forest landowners will benefit from interacting with OLAF through improved decision-making capacity and management efficiency.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
12306993020100%
Knowledge Area
123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to provide the public (small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, and others) with a user-friendly resource that enables acquisition of skill and knowledge in land and tree measurement practices. These customers will gain economic, environmental, and social benefits through increased skill and knowledge of forestry and land management, and this in turn should positively influence the efficiency of forest management and improve decision-making processes. The integrated project will involve a research study and an educational system, and will produce a highly trained STEM graduate. The overall goal will be met by two objectives: (1) develop an Internet-based educational system (OLAF) that bridges the gap between computer models and basic resources (land and trees), and (2) assess the effectiveness of the system to meet the needs of small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, educators, and others. These activities will be connected through the development of a system that is not currently freely available.
Project Methods
1. Development of the OLAF system. The educational aspect of the integrated project will use Internet-based technology (web pages and course management system) to facilitate the delivery of an online learning system. An online learning system has three fundamental components: curriculum, instruction, and assessment (Orlando 2011); Part 1 (this part) of this integrated project addresses curriculum and instruction, and Part 2 addresses assessment. The Online Learning in Applied Forestry system is envisioned as an asynchronous, self-paced education opportunity for anyone interested in land and tree measurements. The OLAF system will be based primarily on the Handbook of Land and Tree Measurements (Bettinger et al. 2017b) that two of the Project Directors developed as supplementary material for a forest measurements course offered at the University of Georgia. In addition, a Section on basic forest economics (net present value, internal rate of return) will be added to help bridge the gap between (a) one's view of the land and forests, and (b) outcomes of current forest planning models (e.g., Remsoft planning system), models in development (eYield), and other resources such as the Service Forester's Handbook that provide this information without (or with little) instruction. Each of the seven sections of the OLAF system will have an objective, a set of formal concepts to learn or review, one or more exercises (diversions, inspections, computations, etc.), and one or more assessments. The seven sections are:1. Land survey systems: state-level systems; U.S. Public Land Survey System.2. Land measurements: distance (horizontal for mapping, slope distance for navigation); direction (compass, declination, aspect); area; maps; GPS and GIS (overviews).3. Tree and wood-related measurements: diameter, height, age, bark thickness of individual trees; basal area of individual trees and stands of trees; canopy cover and crown classes; age classes; volume and weight of individual trees and stands of trees; stand and stock tables; common timber products; down woody debris; site quality; stand density.4. Fixed area sampling of forest resources using plots: plot size; sampling intensity; representative area of a plot; number of plots needed for a given sample intensity; sample design; calculation of trees, basal area, and volume or weight per acre.5. Point (non-fixed area) sampling of forest resources: prisms (and other tools); basal area factor; borderline trees; sample design; calculation of trees, basal area, and volume or weight per acre.6. Statistics: measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode); measures of relative standing (quartiles); measures of dispersion (standard deviation, variance, coefficient of variation); confidence intervals.7. Economics: net present value; internal rate of return; benefit-cost ratio.Each of the seven sections will contain:A. Content related to basic understanding of the system or process. Participants will be presented with explicit outcomes of each section. Different media (text, picture, audio, video) will be used to promote and improve the learning process. Real-world examples and scenarios will enhance each topic. At least two people will review the content, one who is familiar with the topic (to assess content), and another who is unfamiliar with the topic (to provide insight on issues not considered by the developers) (Doruska 2002).B. Exercises to engage people in furthering their understanding of the system or process.C. Quizzes to assess and reward skill and knowledge acquired in the subject areas.D. A moderated forum to enhance the content with examples from other geographic regions.In developing the OLAF system, we envision a general 4 step development process: (1) content development and aggregation, (2) form layout, user interface, and workflow design, (3) design implementation and model integration, and (4) tool testing and refinement.Oversight Committee meetings, extension efforts, and meetings with stakeholders will inform and ensure that the system is designed in a manner that is intuitive for the participant, and that it covers the appropriate land and tree measurement material.2. Assessment of OLAF effectiveness. The research aspect of the integrated project will use surveys and proven statistical methods to assess the effectiveness of the online learning system. The assessments will be structured to address the novel questions and methods addressed earlier this proposal, namely (1) How do people prefer to assimilate knowledge of value to the management of their land given the digital technology available today, (2) Why do people respond to one form of content delivery over another, (3) How do people effectively interact with an online system for educational purposes, and (4) How can an online system be enhanced to further engage private landowners, students, foresters, forest consultants, and others.We intend to schedule five face-to-face continuing education courses during the third year of the study in order to assess the effectiveness of OLAF. These courses will be offered free of charge, yet course participants will agree to act as survey respondents. Participants will be composed of private forest landowners, students in forestry and natural resource management fields, foresters, and others interested in forestry. We will assure participants that the information they provided would be held as confidential, and an association of names to responses would not be evident. We will also request approval of these processes through the Institutional Review Board of the University of Georgia. During each continuing education course, the process of assessing the contributions of the OLAF system will begin with a diagnostic assessment of prior knowledge of participants through a simple, basic pre-testing procedure. Skill and knowledge of basic concepts will be assessed in this process. A formative assessment will be conducted during the workshops to assess the value of content and content delivery options. Feedback to participants will occur as informal confirmations of the outcomes of exercises contained within the OLAF system, and as one or more formal graded quizzes associated with each major section within OLAF. Finally, a summative assessment will occur two to three months weeks after each course, through a system such as Survey Monkey, to determine whether the main goal of the OLAF system (assist private landowners in understanding their resource (land and forests) was met, and to gather information to address the four novel questions noted in the previous paragraph of this proposal. This assessment can help us understand whether the OLAF system met the needs of the participants (Vosbergen et al. 2014). Through these research activities, we anticipate that we will be able to determine the following:a. the activities that the OLAF participants found interesting.b. the land and tree measurement topics important to OLAF participants.c. the sections (exercises, etc.) that worked well in contributing to the value of OLAF.d. the value of the program to the participants and whether the program met their needs.

Progress 04/01/23 to 03/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Small and medium sized forest landowners, and land managers. Foresters who need continuing education opportunities. Educators and students of forestry and natural resource management programs (high school, technical colleges, colleges and universities). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Conference presentation experience for staff, undergraduate, and graduate students. Survey design and implementation for staff and graduate student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A presentation was made to an audience at an IUFRO (International Union of Forest Resaerch Organizations) forestry education conference, and at the 2023 Society of American Foresters Annual Convention. A poster presentation was further made at a meeting of forestry researchers at Purdue University. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project is ending in March 2024. But, we plan to enhance OLAF with at least 4 additional courses that are financially supported by other research projects.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overall goal of this project is to provide the public (small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, and others) with a user-friendly resource that enables acquisition of skill and knowledge in land and tree measurement practices. These customers will gain economic, environmental, and social benefits through increased skill and knowledge of forestry and land management, and this in turn should positively influence the efficiency of forest management and improve decisionmaking processes. The integrated project will involve a research study and an educational system, and will produce a highly trained STEM graduate. The overall goal will be met by two objectives: (1) develop an Internet-based educational system (OLAF) that bridges the gap between computer models and basic resources (land and trees), and (2) assess the effectiveness of the system to meet the needs of small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, educators, and others. These activities will be connected through the development of a system that is not currently freely available. We delivered three presentations at national and international conferences to illustrate the availability and utility of OLAF. We have one peer-reviewed paper regarding the effectiveness of OLAF accepted and waiting to be published.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Merry, K., P. Bettinger, T. Lee, C. Vatandaslar, and C. Merritt. OLAF: The Online Learning in Applied Forestry education tool. IUFRO Conference on Forest Knowledge Exchange: Advancing Innovation with Tradition. Padua, Italy. October 9, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, C. Vatandaslar, and T. Lee. Explaining AI and remote sensing to non-scientists using Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF). Society of American Foresters National Convention. Sacramento, CA. October 27, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Merritt, C., K. Merry, P. Bettinger, T. Lee, C. Vatandaslar, F. Maier, K. Rasheed, A. Amouhadi. New Horizons for OLAF, Online Learning in Applied Forestry. PERSEUS project annual meeting, Purdue University, West Layfayette, Indiana.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2024 Citation: Merry, K., P. Bettinger, and T. Lee. in press. OLAF: An assessment of online learning outcomes among forestry and natural resource management university students. Journal of Extension.


Progress 04/01/19 to 03/05/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Small and medium sized forest landowners, and land managers. Foresters who need continuing education opportunities. Educators and students of forestry and natural resource management programs (high school, technical colleges, colleges and universities). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Conference presentation experience for staff, undergraduate, and graduate students. Survey design and implementation for staff and graduate student. Peer-review writing experience for staff and graduate student. Grant development and administration advice for staff and graduate student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A presentation was made to an international audience at an IUFRO (International Union of Forest Resaerch Organizations) forestry education conference. A poster presentation was further made at a meeting of forestry researchers at Purdue University. We also delivered presentations or posters regarding the OLAF system at the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Society of American Foresters National Annual Conventions. We further developed a journal article that is in press at the time of this report, and an e-mail advertisement was sent to about 100 educators across North America who may be associated with teaching courses such as those offered in OLAF. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The OLAF website was developed and is hosted by the University of Georgia and was developed in WordPress using a Learning Management System (LMS) plugin called LearnDash. OLAF originally was to consist of seven modules (courses), but as of the end of the project, it now includes ten courses. Even though this is the final report, four additional courses are planned for OLAF beyond the end of the project period, so in the next 2 years there should be 14 courses in the OLAF system. The courses in OLAF have been approved for continuing education credits by the Society of American Foresters. Thus far there have been a total of 168 registrants for OLAF courses. These include people from a number of higher education organizations in the United States: University of Florida, Davis and Elkins College, Oregon State University, Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Allegany College of Maryland, Artvin Coruh University (Turkey), University of Vermont, Cornell University, University of California, Texas A&M University, and Northern Arizona University. These also include people from one high school (Crisp County, Georgia), a government agency (Florida), and several other diverse organizations: the APRIL Group (an Indonesian pulp and paper company), Landmark Spatial Solutions, Simpson Forestry, Tidelands Timber, Crosby Forestry and GIS Services, and Mossey Oak Properties. Pre- and post-exposure surveys of two separate OLAF courses (land measurements and tree measurements) were administered. The objective of the surveys was to determine whether OLAF was successful in increasing the knowledge and confidence levels of people with respect to these topics. In the pre-exposure survey people rated their level of understanding of topics and confidence in implementing them using a 9-point Likert scale. After one week of engaging with the OLAF tool, a similar post-exposure survey was administered. · After people reviewed the OLAF courses, statistically significant increases in their understanding of land and tree measurement concepts were observed. · After people reviewed the OLAF courses, statistically significant increases in their confidence for implementing these concepts in practice were observed. · People were generally satisfied with the usability, interactivity, and learning efficacy of using OLAF. The graduate student associated with the project desired to study global positioning system (GPS) performance in forested conditions. One OLAF course is devoted to GPS, thus some of this work, along with the literature review, informed this course. The student examined the positional accuracy potential of a GPS watch, a smartphone, and other devices. In one field study, the GPS watch provided a similar level of positional accuracy as a mapping-grade GPS receiver (Trimble) during the winter (leaf-off) season. · A weak but significant correlation between positional accuracy and meteorological conditions (air temperature and absolute humidity) was observed. · A significant difference in positional accuracy between the winter and summer seasons was observed when using the GPS watch (20-30 m accuracy in summer, 5-7 m accuracy in winter). · No statistically significant differences in position accuracy by forest cover-type (pine vs. hardwood) were observed when using the GPS watch. In a second field study, the student used spatial point pattern analysis to assess whether the pattern of trees in a forest, described by GPS-recorded positions of trees, could adequately represent the original pattern of trees. Using normal field data collection protocols, they used GPS to record the positions of trees in a seed orchard, where trees were regularly spaced. · A Garmin GPS receiver had 10-12 m positional error, a GPS watch had 9-13 m positional error, and a Trimble receiver (mapping-grade) had 5-8 m positional error. · While the mapping-grade receiver provided the most accurate estimates of tree bole positions with the lowest amount of variation, the pattern of tree bole positions did not reflect the original pattern of the trees in the seed orchard. Since positional error can be of the magnitude noted above in any direction around a true position, spatial patterns of the locations of trees from GPS-collected data were suggested to represent a clumped pattern rather than the original regular pattern. In a third field study, the student examined the ability of a mapping-grade GPS receiver (Trimble) and two consumer-grade GNSS receivers (iPhone and Garmin) to inform upon the relationships between horizontal position accuracy and forest condition. · Accuracy levels in this study were about 8.1 m on average for the Garmin receiver, 3.9 m on average for the iPhone, and 3.5 m on average for the Trimble receiver. · The iPhone produced a similar level of positional accuracy as the Trimble receiver. This work confirmed that smartphone GPS technology may be approaching the technological sophistication (hence accuracy levels) obtainable with much more expensive field data collection equipment. · The location, but not the size, of nearby trees may be the primary factor affecting positional accuracy of GPS recordings in forested conditions.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2024 Citation: Merry, K., P. Bettinger, and T. Lee. in press. OLAF: An assessment of online learning outcomes among forestry and natural resource management university students. Journal of Extension.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Merry, K., P. Bettinger, T. Lee, C. Vatandaslar, and C. Merritt. OLAF: The Online Learning in Applied Forestry education tool. IUFRO Conference on Forest Knowledge Exchange: Advancing Innovation with Tradition. Padua, Italy. October 9, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, C. Vatandaslar, and T. Lee. Explaining AI and remote sensing to non-scientists using Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF). Society of American Foresters National Convention. Sacramento, CA. October 27, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Merritt, C., K. Merry, P. Bettinger, T. Lee, C. Vatandaslar, F. Maier, K. Rasheed, A. Amouhadi. New Horizons for OLAF, Online Learning in Applied Forestry. PERSEUS project annual meeting, Purdue University, West Layfayette, Indiana. August 1, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, and T. Lee. 2022. Online learning in applied forestry (OLAF): Student experiences with the system. Society of American Foresters National Convention. Baltimore, MD. [September 23, 2022]
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, T. Lee, J. Siry. 2020. Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF): An education tool. Society of American Foresters National Convention. October 30, 2020.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Merry, K., P. Bettinger, T. Lee, J. Uzu, Z. Ucar, A.R. Gutierrez Garzon. 2021. Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF): A resource for students, landowners, and the practicing professional. Society of American Foresters National Convention [virtual, poster].
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lee, T. 2022. Analysis of GNSS point locations in forested areas. PhD Dissertation. University of Georgia, Athens, GA. 151 p.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Lee, T., P. Bettinger, K. Merry, and C. Cieszewski. 2023. The effects of nearby trees on the positional accuracy of GNSS receivers in a forest environment. PLoS ONE. 18(3): e0283090.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lee, T., P. Bettinger, K. Merry, V. Bekta?, and C.J. Cieszewski. 2022. Mission impossible: Positions determined by basic mapping-grade and recreation-grade GNSS receivers cannot emulate the actual spatial pattern of trees. Mathematical and Computational Forestry & Natural-Resource Sciences. 14(1): 15-31.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Lee, T., P. Bettinger, C.J. Cieszewski, and A.R. Gutierrez Garzon. 2020. The applicability of recreation-grade GNSS receiver (GPS watch, Suunto Ambit Peak 3) in a forested and an open area compared to a mapping-grade receiver (Trimble Juno T41). PLoS ONE. 15(4): e0231532.


Progress 04/01/22 to 03/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Small and medium sized forest landowners, and land managers. Foresters who need continuing education opportunities. Educators and students of forestry and natural resource management programs (high school, technical colleges, colleges and universities). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Conference presentation experience for staff and graduate student. Survey design and implementation for staff and graduate student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A presentation was made to an audience at the 2022 Society of American Foresters Annual Convention. Further, an e-mail advertisement was sent to about 100 educators across North America who may be associated with teaching courses such as those offered in OLAF. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?By the end of year 5, we will have: (a) completed and reported upon all aspects of the integrated project; (b) submitted two manuscripts for publication related to the project; and (c) contributed significantly to the long-range development and sustainability of forest resources on small and medium-sized forest landowners in the United States. We are endeavoring to meet these goals. One manuscript is in review at a journal.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project proposal narrative states that by the end of year 4, we will have: (a) completed one Masters thesis; (b) delivered a presentation at a national conference on the OLAF system (the Masters Student will do this); and (c) completed final The student working on the project completed a doctoral dissertation in an area associated with some of the content available in the OLAF system. We delivered a presentation regarding the OLAF system at the 2022 Society of American Foresters National Annual Convention. We completed final modifications and assessments of OLAF.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, and T. Lee. 2022. Online learning in applied forestry (OLAF): Student experiences with the system. Society of American Foresters National Convention. Baltimore, MD. [September 23, 2022]
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Online Learning in Applied Forestry (olaf.uga.edu)
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lee, T. 2022. Analysis of GNSS point locations in forested areas. Doctoral dissertation. University of Georgia, Athens, GA. 151 p.


Progress 04/01/21 to 03/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Small and medium sized forest landowners, and land managers. Foresters who need continuing education opportunities. Educators and students of forestry and natural resource management programs (high school, technical colleges, colleges and universities). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?WordPress basic and advanced training for staff and graduate student. Online conference presentation experience for staff and graduate student. Survey design and implementation for staff and graduate student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?It is too early to disseminate results to interested communities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue working toward the Year 4 milestones.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overall goal of this project is to provide the public (small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, and others) with a user-friendly resource that enables acquisition of skill and knowledge in land and tree measurement practices. These customers will gain economic, environmental, and social benefits through increased skill and knowledge of forestry and land management, and this in turn should positively influence the efficiency of forest management and improve decisionmaking processes. The integrated project will involve a research study and an educational system, and will produce a highly trained STEM graduate. The overall goal will be met by two objectives: (1) develop an Internet-based educational system (OLAF) that bridges the gap between computer models and basic resources (land and trees), and (2) assess the effectiveness of the system to meet the needs of small and medium-sized forest landowners, students, foresters, educators, and others. These activities will be connected through the development of a system that is not currently freely available. The project proposal narrative states that by the end of year 3, we will have: (a) completed the development of OLAF; (b) completed the development of methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of OLAF to meet the needs of small and medium-sized private forest landowners; and (c) initiated the assessment of effectiveness and use of OLAF, and collaborations with OLAF. 1. We have completed locating, compiling, formatting, and organizing the content necessary related the development of the OLAF system (olaf.uga.edu). 2. The beta version of OLAF fully available now. 3. We have had a student working on the project since the project's initiation, so we have met the student matriculation milestone. 4. We developed methods for evaluating the effectiveness of OLAF, so we have met the "initiation of development of methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of OLAF" milestone. 5. We initiated the assessment of the effectiveness and use of OLAF. For two of the section topics in OLAF, a group of 45 students with little to no experience in the topics offered through OLAF were asked to completed a pre-survey regarding knowledge on each topic. They were then asked to use OLAF for a week, after which they would complete a post-survey regarding knowledge on each topic to gauge the effectiveness of the learning experience. Further, a post-training end-user satisfaction survey was administered to gauge the capabilities of the online system (not the content). These outcomes are currently being analyzed and summarized. 6. Processes described in the data management plan (backups of DropBox content and WordPress files) are being followed as closely as possible to archive work weekly. 7. The website being developed is hosted by the University of Georgia and is being developed in WordPress using a Learning Management System (LMS) plugin called LearnDash. This system manages the registration, quizzes, certificates, content, etc. The plugin is a subscription service with an annual fee of $159.00 / year. We may run into compatibility issues in the future but those are not foreseen in the near-future, if UGA decides to stop supporting WordPress, site development will have to be revisited. 8. Held an annual meeting with Oversight Committee on May 17, 2021.

Publications


    Progress 04/01/20 to 03/31/21

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Small and medium sized forest landowners, and land managers. Foresters who need continuing education opportunities. Educators and students of forestry and natural resource management programs (high school, technical colleges, colleges and universities). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?WordPress basic and advanced training for staff and graduate student. Online conference presentation experience for staff and graduate student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?It is too early to disseminate results to interested communities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue working toward the Year 3 milestones.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? The project proposal narrative states that by the end of year 2, we will have: (a) located, compiled, formatted, and organized all of the content necessary related the development of the OLAF system; (b) completed a beta version of the OLAF system; (c) matriculated the graduate student; and (d) initiated the development of methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of OLAF. 1. We continue to work on locating, compiling, formatting, and organizing the content necessary related the development of the OLAF system. This is a milestone for Year 2 of the project, and we expect to meet it by the end of Year 2 (March 31, 2021). Our work to locate material is nearly complete, and we continue to organize and format the material, and develop the OLAF system (olaf.uga.edu). We ask that the website address not be widely distributed yet as the system us still under development. We are continuously making changes and updates to OLAF as we test recently completed code. We trust that you will keep this website address confidential until we have completed the beta version of the system. 2. We hope to have a beta version of OLAF fully available by the end of the second full year of the project (March 31, 2021). We are confident we can reach this milestone. 3. We have had a student working on the project since the project's initiation, so we have met the student matriculation milestone. 4. We are developing methods for evaluating the effectiveness of OLAF, so we have met the "initiation of development of methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of OLAF" milestone. 5. We held a stakeholder meeting on June 9, 2020. 6. Processes described in the data management plan (backups of DropBox content and WordPress files) are being followed as closely as possible to archive work weekly. 7. The website being developed is hosted by the University of Georgia and is being developed in WordPress using a Learning Management System (LMS) plugin called LearnDash. This system manages the registration, quizzes, certificates, content, etc. The plugin is a subscription service with an annual fee of $159.00 / year. We may run into compatibility issues in the future but those are not foreseen in the near-future, if UGA decides to stop supporting WordPress, site development will have to be revisited. 8. One presentation on the OLAF system was made to a national audience: Bettinger, P., K. Merry, T. Lee, J. Siry. Online Learning in Applied Forestry (OLAF): An education tool. Society of American Foresters National Convention. October 30, 2020.

    Publications


      Progress 04/01/19 to 03/31/20

      Outputs
      Target Audience: The project proposal narrative states that by the end of year 1, we will have: (a) recruited one Master of Science student; (b) located, compiled, formatted, and organized the majority of the content necessary related the development of the OLAF system; (c) formalized the content management process, workflows, and approvals necessary to complete OLAF; and (d) developed processes to acquire, develop, clean, adjust, make available, and store safely the necessary forest data. 1. We have recruited and matriculated one graduate student to work on locating, compiling, formatting, and organizing the content necessary related the development of the OLAF system. These were two of the milestones for Year 1 of the project. Our work to locate material has surpassed the "majority" stage, we are currently organizing and formatting the material, and developing the OLAF system (olaf.uga.edu). We ask that the website address not be widely distributed yet as the system us still under development. We are continuously making changes and updates to OLAF as we test recently completed code. We trust that you will keep this website address confidential until we have completed the beta version of the system. 2. We feel we have formalized the content management process, workflows, and approvals necessary to complete OLAF. We also feel that, through numerous weekly team meetings, we have developed processes to acquire, develop, clean, adjust, make available, and store safely the necessary forest data. These were the two other milestones for Year 1 of the project. We have a system in place amongst key team members and influential contributors (Drs. Boston and Grebner) to facilitate the development and review of content that will become available in OLAF. We also have a good data sharing and backup system that contributes nicely to the data management program of the project. 3. We are thinking ahead towards the Year 2 milestones, and developing methods for evaluating the effectiveness of OLAF. 4. We held a stakeholder meeting on September 11, 2019. 5. Processes described in the data management plan (backups of DropBox content and WordPress files) are being followed as closely as possible to archive work weekly. 6. The website being developed is hosted by the University of Georgia and is being developed in WordPress using a Learning Management System (LMS) plugin called LearnDash. This system manages the registration, quizzes, certificates, content, etc. The plugin is a subscription service with an annual fee of $159.00 / year. There are a few issues that were discussed in our September stakeholder meeting that may arise in the future in terms of website management: 1) WordPress plugins have to be updated regularly. If they are not, they will likely not function properly making the website not function properly, 2) UGA is hosting the site and currently only supports an older version of WordPress and PHP. We may run into compatibility issues in the future but those are not foreseen in the near-future, 3) if UGA decides to stop supporting WordPress, site development will have to be revisited. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training in the basic use and advanced fundamentals of WordPress. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?It is too early in the project for disseminating results to communities of interest. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue forward with our efforts to meet the Year 2 deliverables.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? We are on track with the development of an Internet-based educational system (OLAF) that bridges the gap between computer models and basic resources (land and trees).

      Publications