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CASNR goes the distance in Ag Ed By
Lea Ann Castleberry
The
OSU Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and 4-H Youth
Development has added a complete online distance master's program. The
OSU Board of Regents approved the program to begin in fall 2000. "This
program is great for students who want to pursue higher education while
still staying in the work force," said Jim Leising, head of the
department. The
30- to 36-hour master's program is designed to be completed in nine
semesters or approximately three years. Nine semester credit hours can
be transferred from another school. While students work on their degrees,
they are not required to come on campus. Students can even work with
their graduate advisory committee online. Just
like on-campus students who are required to have an advisory committee
of three faculty members to provide guidance and mentoring, distance
education students are no different. They are given the option to come
to campus to put their committee together but are not required to do
so. Bob
Heinemann, a station supervisor at the OSU Kiamichi Forestry Research
Station in Idabel, Okla., has taken distance education courses for the
past two years. He said one of the best parts about distance education
classes is they allow you to customize your plan of study. A student's
plan of study consists of the courses he or she will take to complete
a graduate degree. "The
only drawback to online classes is the lack of interaction with other
students," said Heinemann. Todd
and Denise House of Kiowa, Okla., are both working on their agricultural
education master's degrees. "With
both of us having full-time jobs, taking distance classes gives us a
good opportunity to spend more time together," said Todd House. Agricultural
education is one of the first programs in the university to effectively
use the art of video streaming. Other OSU colleges such as business,
education and arts and sciences are looking to CASNR for ideas and advice. To
prepare courses for online delivery, professors digitally record their
lectures. The video-streamed lectures, as well as PowerPoint presentations,
homework and syllabi are posted on the course Web page. Students can
login any time and listen to lectures or review course material. "I
have found that even my in-class students go back and listen to the
lectures again on the course site," said James Key, College of
Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources distance education director. Even
though students are taking courses from a distance, they still have
the opportunity to interact with other students in their classes. Distance
students participate in interactive activities such as work reviews.
Heinemann said work reviews did not sound good at first but, in the
end they became beneficial. Reviews
consist of being paired with another classmate for the semester. E-mail
addresses are exchanged, and students are encouraged to share thoughts
throughout the semester. This allows the discussion of assignments,
along with the exchange of homework ideas and critiques of each other's
work. OSU
has offered online distance education for the past eight years. However,
the first distance courses were taught in the 1960s on talkback television
systems operated through a microwave tower system. This system was a
two-way audio, one-way video. This meant students could see and talk
to the professor, while the professor could only talk to the distance
students. The
problem was distance students had to find a school or site that had
the proper equipment, said Todd House. Then OSU changed to the compressed
two-way audio/video system. This was a great way to interact and teach
distance students, said Key. "OSU
began online classes because distance students needed more courses to
be available," said Key. Key
and Heinemann both said distance courses are for independent people
who are self-motivated. One of the benefits of this program is being
able to move at your own pace, said Heinemann. Key
said, from a professor's standpoint, not only do you have to be concerned
about your students, but also about technology. Using the technology
allows students to further their education - whether they are in Oklahoma
or anywhere around the world. "Our
classes can be anywhere you have Web access," said Key. Potential
students interested in the program can download admission applications
from the OSU Graduate College Web site at http://www.osu-ours.okstate.edu/gradcol. In-state
and out-of-state fees are $151 per credit hour for distance courses.
Other costs such as thesis, internship and other special problems courses
that do not require distance delivery are $116 per credit hour (fall
2001). There are two different degrees to choose from: the master of
science in agricultural education and the master of agriculture. For
more information about the online master of science in agricultural
education or master of agriculture degree programs, view the departmental
Web site at http://agweb.okstate.edu/agedcm4h/.
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If
you're thinking of a master's degree, why not earn it from a distance?
Oklahoma State University's recently