The past two years have been a time of transition and rapidly evolving circumstances for the Pesticide Safety Education Program in Nebraska.
The PSEP office itself has undergone significant changes. Project Coordinator Cheryl Alberts Irwin retired early in 2020, and Clyde Ogg retired late last year after 13 years at the helm of the program. Jennifer Weisbrod was hired as the new PSEP Coordinator this spring.
The end of the pesticide training season in 2020 saw some of the first indirect impacts of COVID-19 arrive in Nebraska, as the last few commercial recertification trainings that year were forced to transition to an online environment.
PSEP’s web app programmer, Robert Harrison, retired in the summer of 2020. This left the online private applicator training without a site on which to be hosted. The PSEP office worked feverishly to rebuild the course, housing it on the eXtension Online Campus website.
These developments in online training, while beginning in 2020, did not see their first full implementation until the 2021 training season.
The online commercial recertification training began as a rapid response to the pandemic’s shutdown of all in-person Extension events. This training option was continued in 2021 to provide applicators with an alternative to in-person sessions during the continuing public health emergency. It was modified to accommodate the influx of applicators wishing to use a more remote recertification option. Running from January 1 to April 15, 2021, the course saw upwards of 1,100 applicators complete the course.
The online private applicator training was hosted in its new eXtension setting in 2021, and with COVID-restricted in-person class sizes, saw its fair share of participants. With a redefined structure, the training allows users two different options for completing the course.
The first option allows applicators to “test out” if they feel they already have a strong mastery of pesticide safety concepts. 390 applicators chose this option, successfully tested out. The second option is the full training for private certification and allows each applicator to set their own pace through the 10-module program. Quizzes at the end of each module assess users’ understanding of the material.
700+ private applicators have completed the online private training in 2021 so far, with 310 of them choosing to follow through the second option and receive the full training of the 10-modlues.
When asked for their thoughts about the online training option for private applicator certification, one applicator said, “Definitely some different questions than I was ‘used to’ with the in-person training, but I think they were challenging in the right way. I greatly appreciated the test out option.”
Chemigation training continues to expand its online presence. Online chemigation training was previously reserved only for those recertifying, but is now open to those seeking initial certification as well. From May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, 610 applicators have completed the online chemigation training program.
This year of transition has been one for the record books, with many PSEP trainings now having at least preliminary online homes. Over time, we hope that continued improvements will allow applicators to choose from multiple high-quality training options to suit their needs.
Some of you have asked to have the list of numbers from your county for applicators that went through an online training program this year. Some of this is to aid with activity insight reports and others it is to help distribute the weed guide that was set aside for them. If this information is something you would like, please reach out to Frank frank.bright@unl.edu with the requests for counties that you would like the information for.