Undergraduate students completed the first Web-based distance education course in Agroforestry in for the Southeastern U.S. in the spring.

Seven students completed the course, FOR 3855 developed and taught by CSTAF Assistant Director Michael Bannister.

The course is a component of a distance-learning and field course program developed by CSTAF and partners at the University of Georgia and Auburn University.  The program is funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) higher education grant of more than $241,000.

Distance education courses are designed to meet the needs of a broader range of students than those typically enrolled in face-to-face classes. This course proved valuable to a variety of students with nontraditional backgrounds, including a French woman in her 60s who lived in the Key Largo. Another was a young woman with an infant who had recently left the Army and lived in the Florida Panhandle.

Students entered the course via a Website developed using WebCT Vista software, the point of departure for all course activities. From the homepage, students consult the syllabus and calendar, download assigned readings, participate in chats and discussions, access email, and take quizzes and exams.

Larger files containing narrated PowerPoint lectures and video interviews with farmers and researchers are mailed to students on CDs.

Course activities began at a modest pace, giving students time to get used to the system. By the end of the course, students were completing activities at an accelerated pace. Student reaction to the course showed that the high point was a required field exercise involving a farmer interview followed by interaction with county extension agents.

The course will be offered again in the spring of 2006.