(18) Incorporating web-based resources into extension activities

Session: Poster session

Many private landowners do not access the services that Extension agents, educators, and specialists can provide.  They may be young landowners, absentee owners, or retired professionals who have just bought their property.  These landowner audiences are difficult to reach, but may benefit the most from the technical expertise that extension professional can provide to them. The National Leaning Center for Private Forest and Range landowners offers natural resource educators a variety of tools that can help them to connect to a wider landowner audience.

The learning center, located on the web at www.forestandrange.org, has developed 14 modules in topics in forest, wildlife and range management.  Each module presents a visitor with an opportunity to engage in self-directed learning.  Modules are designed to provide the learner with the knowledge and skills to engage in sustainable natural resource management practices.  These materials address a wide array natural resource management issues and serve the interests of a national audience in an innovative way.  The learning modules provide on-demand learning to clientele that they can use to fit their individual needs and schedules, a feature that is unique to a web-based program.  Twenty-one different partner institutions worked collaboratively to develop learning materials suitable for delivery in the web environment.  An independent education specialist reviewed all materials to ensure that materials met guidelines for excellence in distance education and that a learner could complete the instructional unit independently. 

Educators who visit Forest and Range will find a suite of resources that they download and adapt to enrich the programs they offer their clientele.  Educators can incorporate many of the resources we offer into more traditional program formats.  Forest and Range also hosts a searchable that enables visitors to locate local natural resource professionals.  Thousands of landowners from across the U.S. use this database every year.

Kelley Zophy
University of Tennesee
274 PSB
2431 Joe Johnson Dr.
Koxville, TN, 37996
phone: 865-974-2946
kzophy@utk.edu