Monday, 7 November 2005
3

Growing a Library of Shared On-Line Learning Resources.

Donald J. Lee1, Deana Namuth2, T.M. Sterling3, Leah L. Sandall1, and P.M. Hain4. (1) University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, 262 Plant Science, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915, (2) Dept. of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915, (3) New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 30003 MSC 3BE, Las Cruces, NM 88003, (4) University of Nebraska,, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915

Directing learners to on-line resources is now a common educational practice. The quality of these on-line resources varies. Therefore, educators find tremendous value in web sites that are repositories of learning resources that are effective for academic or extension use. Six years ago, the University of Nebraska's Department of Agronomy and Horticulture launched “The Library of Crop Technology” as an open source that housed ten lessons that taught the process of crop genetic engineering. Since then, the library has grown to include 70 lessons by authors from seven Universities, three companies and USDA-GIPSA on topics that include soils, horticulture, food science and nutrition. Twenty five of these lessons have been peer reviewed by the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education. In the past three years, over 150,000 users from 108 countries have accessed the Croptechnology site. We will describe our latest projects for this Library that include: 1) the delivery of on-line continuing education units to certified crop advisors; 2) innovative teaching strategies integrated into the design of new lessons in soils and plant science, and 3) the organization of a new look and added features to direct access from the Western Society of Weed Science, ease navigation for the user, and accommodate growth.

Handout (.pps format, 2674.0 kb)

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