The Virtual Field: Online Soil Science Education.

Since the early 1990s, post-secondary institutions have taken advantage of the internet and online learning technology to assist teaching and learning in agricultural education.  Distance education departments were early adapters because online learning was a tool that increased course access and gave flexibility to learners who were not able to come to campus for classroom lectures. Online or web-based learning continues to be a powerful resource in the distance education field, however, the growing technological sophistication of learning technologies has moved beyond just accessibility and flexibility to also include the support of teaching and learning from many different educational perspectives. When combined with appropriate instructional design, online learning technologies can meet almost all the instructors’ and learners’ needs, while supporting a variety of learning styles that engage and motivate learners. The UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems (LFS) combines the use of appropriate online technologies with appropriate instructional design from CTLT to promote and support learning in ways that include interactivity, flexibility, accessibility, critical understanding, problem-based learning, learner-generated content, open educational resources, learner participation and engagement, blended learning, authentic learning, outreach, and community building.

Most LFS online courses use tools in the learning management systems that support group work assignments that generate interactivity, learner engagement, and user-generated content. Other online courses use video streaming technology to illustrate authentic learning situations (e.g., soil field trips, food preservation techniques), online assessment tools for quizzes, and blogs to help build learning communities.  Teaching and learning trends in online agricultural education include the creation of open learning resources and establishing distributed communities of practice where learners, instructors, professionals and the interested public can build a community in the real and virtual worlds. Agricultural education is beginning to explore the role in online learning of social media (e.g., blogs, Facebook, Twitter) and m-learning on mobile devices such as smart phones and notebooks.