Location
Smyth 146
Event Website
http://www.cpe.vt.edu/cuenr/index.html
Start Date
3-27-2010 8:30 AM
End Date
3-27-2010 9:00 AM
Description
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.
Included in
Distance Education in Natural Resources: A National Study of Inhibitors and Motivators for Participation in Distance Education Programs
Smyth 146
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.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/Sessions/Distance/3
Comments
Citation: Roberts, J.B., S. Grado, A. Londo. 2010. Distance education in natural resources: a national study of inhibitors and motivators for participation in distance education programs. UENR Biennial Conference, Session Distance Education, Paper Number 3. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cuenr/Sessions/Distance/3/.