I just returned from a Great Plains IDEA and Ag*IDEA meeting held this week in Omaha, NE. The Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (IDEA) is a partnership involving 20 public universities collaborating to offer online graduate and undergraduate courses in a variety of subject matter areas; AG*IDEA is an affiliate of the Great Plains IDEA and offers courses and programs in agricultural disciplines. UNL as member of these networks offers students access to the following programs:
• Ag Systems, Management & Technology
• Community Development
• Dietetics
• Early Care & Ed in a Mobile Society
• Family & Community Services
• Family Financial Planning
• Food Safety & Defense
• Gerontology
• Swine Science Online
• Youth Development
In my role as Coordinator of Online Education for CASNR, I see a number of people with career interests in Extension enrolling in these types of courses/programs. It is a classic example of “together better than separate” because through working together institutions can offer students access to educational programs that no single institution might be able to provide alone.
I enjoyed attending the planning meeting for the Community Development Program -- http://www.hsidea.org/programs/cdev/. The Master’s program focuses on challenges faced by communities in the US and other countries, particularly those in rural areas. It’s a program that may align well with our Community Vitality program area and the goals of the Rural Futures Institute.
Another interesting session, “Cool Tools for Online Instruction” contained information about a few interesting technologies for developing/delivering online instruction. I’m always interested in experimenting with new tools; perhaps you are, as well.
• Audio editor/recorder
-- Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/
• Generate Infographics
-- Easel.ly: http://www.easel.ly/
-- Piktochart: http://piktochart.com/
• Online bulletin board
-- Padlet: https://padlet.com/
• Visual organizer (create graphic organizer, timelines)
-- Popplet: https://popplet.com/
• Chat platform
-- TodaysMeet: https://todaysmeet.com/
-- Dan Cotton