Distance Education

Distance Learning and Diversity

Pat Stephens Williams et al. — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:30:00 PDT

Submitted as part of the Natural Resource Distance Learning Consortium (NRDLC)panel arranged by Kieran Lindsey. Distance learning is quickly becoming the educational opportunity of the future for those students who may not or would not be able to participate in a traditional college education. In addition, for universities to remain current, viable, and competitive, we must embrace at least some form of distance education. In a field where we are carefully watching consolidation of our colleges and departments and the bottom line of recruitment and retention, distance learning may provide us with a way to increase student numbers and diversity within those numbers. This presentation works with the other pieces of this distance learning session by addressing diversity, such as current trends of diversity, how we might tap into that information to improve the diversity of our student representation in the natural resource fields, increase our enrollment numbers, how distance learning feeds into this process, and issues that might arise by working with diverse audiences in a distance learning atmosphere.

The Natural Resources Distance Learning Consortium

Kieran J. Lindsey et al. — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PDT

The NRDLC, an organization formed in 2003 with the support of USDA‐Forest Service, delivers courses to web‐based learners who are either currently working in the natural resource professions or who are hoping to enter the field. Currently the organization consists of 10 accredited university members as well as various federal agency partners. NRDL members offer over 350 distance learning courses, 11 degrees, and 18 certificates. Kieran Lindsey, the NRDLC director, will present an overview of the organization, its history, and its impact. Additionally, Bill Woodland, National Partnership & Volunteers Program Manager at USDA‐Forest Service, will discuss the needs of federal resource management agencies and their employees that can be met through distance learning, as well as the motivation behind USDA‐FS financial support of NRDLC's development.

Design, Development and Delivery of Online Courses for Natural Resource Management

Kieran J. Lindsey — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:15:00 PDT

Online educators from a variety of universities will present examples of their approach to online education for natural resource management topics. Distance learning issues‐‐e.g., ever expanding technology choices, the pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous delivery, virtual workgroups for homework assignments, facilitating instructor‐student and student‐student communication‐‐will be discussed and real‐world examples provided. Distance learning instructor presentations will be followed by a panel discussion to allow further exploration for those interested in taking the distance learning plunge.

Distance Education in Natural Resources: A National Study of Inhibitors and Motivators for Participation in Distance Education Programs

Jodi B. Roberts et al. — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 08:30:00 PDT

Distance education is an aphorism that is gaining a great deal of attention on university campuses across the United States as well as worldwide. Despite this attention, the earliest record of distance education traces back to Biblical times, and was later referred to as correspondence. Land‐grant institutions were among the first to offer correspondence courses to students who may otherwise not be able to attend traditional university classes. While distance education programs and courses across the United States have grown, from 1.6 million students enrolled to 3.94 million students in two years, with only 4.5% of those offered in the discipline of natural resources. Identification of inhibitors and motivators for engagement in distance education opportunities with regards to university administrators, faculty, and students in the field of natural resources is the next step to understanding why the discipline is so poorly represented. Three surveys will be conducted in cooperation with 50 institutions, named by the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Accredited and Candidate Forestry Degree Programs listing to identify inhibitors and motivators, real and perceived, of university administrators, faculty, and students on their engagement in distance education activities. SAF is the accrediting body for the field of forestry and recognized these institutions as having met the criteria for a professional degree in forestry. Student populations from these institutions will consist of primarily traditional college undergraduate as well as graduate students enrolled in natural resource degree programs. Information obtained from all three surveys will provide insights into what administrators, faculty, and student needs might be in the future relative to distance education.

Transforming Face to Face Activities into Distance Learning Activities: Increasing Student Engagement

Janell L. Moretz et al. — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:00:00 PDT

As universities look to innovative ideas during these lean economic times, more departments are offering distance learning courses as an attempt to bridge the gap in their budgetary shortfalls, through generating additional funding and increasing class sizes (Foster & Carnevale, 2007). Unfortunately many times, faculty simply transform a face‐to‐face course into a distance education (DE) course without truly understanding the need to change the pedagogy necessary for a successful DE course (Carnevale, 2000; Xenos, Avouris, Stavrinoudis, & Margaritis, 2009). The purpose of our presentation is to explore the value of distance education and to present the challenges involved with transforming face‐to‐face courses and activities for DE courses. Transforming a face‐to‐face class into a distance learning class is relatively simple for course content; however, making the distance learning class as interactive as the face‐to‐face class is more challenging. There are obstacles inherent to distance learning as it pertains to group activities, student input, class activities, and sense of community among students; however these obstacles can be eliminated with the use of creative solutions and through the use of technological innovations. For example, simulated face‐to‐face interactions can be created by using online communication software (e.g., Elluminate) for conducting a virtual classroom experience. Additionally, the appropriate IT support plays a key role in the successful development and implementation of activities for student engagement. Attendees will be shown the differences between synchronous and asynchronous methods for online teaching and be given specific examples from our previous experiences in DE courses. We will identify ways to modify face‐to‐face activities into DE activities that will cater to all types of learners, thus offering a richer learning experience. Participants are encouraged to bring their face‐to‐face course syllabi and activities/assignments to our presentation, as there will be an opportunity to develop an action plan for transforming face‐to‐ face course activities to DE, specific to their course needs. This workshop is not about technical issues, but tailored toward teaching staff wishing to gain a better understanding in developing online courses and student engagement through online activities. Outcomes Participants will be able to: • Identify the positives and negatives of student engagement with online learning • Identify IT support needed in providing quality online learning experiences • Develop potential synchronous and asynchronous online learning and teaching activities specific to course needs • Design an action plan for implementation of distance learning activities

How to Make E Learning Courses in Curricula of Natural Resources Management More Sustainable?

Siegfried E. Lewark — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:30:00 PDT

"The Internet may be the means of realizing a forestry lecturer’s dream. Imagine being able to discuss, for example, different timber harvesting systems used internationally with a group of motivated students from different regions of the globe in one virtual classroom." (Längin, Ackerman & Lewark, 2004). The huge potential of e‐learning has not yet been fully recognized let alone realized in higher education. Over the last ten to fifteen years many e‐learning courses in the fields of natural resources management, forestry and wood sciences emerged, have been used – and often disappeared again. Much effort and money has gone into development of e‐learning courses, but sustainable examples are few in these fields – the exceptions mostly being parts of bigger e‐learning units in some universities. Reasons for short‐lived success seem to be in the first place that these courses have often been add‐ons, elective courses or self‐standing courses with little institutional and curricular anchoring. They often started with great ideas and relevant contents, but with limited long term commitment on the side of the organizers as well as of the students. As time and money needed for e‐learning courses may be a limiting factor for successful development and running them sustainably options of courses must be examined for which input is lower or at least not higher than for traditional face‐to‐face courses. This could include using share‐ ware e‐learning platforms as well as technological minimalism (Fillip, in GTZ 2005). At the same time learner oriented and activating didactical concepts should be developed, which would make the courses attractive and work against early drop‐out. Experiences and considerations will be presented. In order to make better use of the potential of e‐learning for improvement of higher education, following these ideas, the concept of WELAN has been developed by higher education specialists from IUFRO, IPFE and faculties of forestry and environmental sciences of six universities as a worldwide e‐learning academy. WELAN will explore approaches of open learning resources, i.e. courses available without tuition fees. Activities of WELAN will start with the development of recommendations for administrative regulations including course formats, course delivery, credit recognition, accreditation, tuition fees in order to allow students from different universities as well as companies to have access to e‐ learning course information and to the courses of the collaborating universities and get their credits gained easily recognized independent their affiliation. Following this the development and offering of courses and course package under the umbrella of WELAN is aimed at, for organization and funding to be divided in separate projects with defined course packages. Thus in a growing and comprehensive system essential parts of Natural Resources, Forestry and Wood Science will be covered.