navigate: home: magazine: spring/summer 1998: article

Penn State launches World Campus Five time zones separate students and instructor
Debbie Coursey and Craig Carlson of Tucson, Ariz., are enrolled in Turfgrass Management, offered through the World Campus. Using the information technologies of the World Campus, they can compare notes about the soils and climates at golf courses in their area with classmates around the country. Dr. A.J. Turgeon, professor of turfgrass management in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is the first faculty member to teach a course through the Penn State World Campus.	Great distances separated students and instructor, but the pioneering students in the first Penn State World Campus course bridged the distances with computers and World Wide Web connections to learn together.   Introduction to Turfgrass Management drew students from Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington and Puerto Rico, Dr. A.J. Turgeon, professor of turfgrass management, said. He developed the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Turfgrass Management Certificate program for the World Campus in collaboration with faculty members in the departments of Agronomy, Plant Pathology and Entomology. The program was designed to meet the needs of adult learners worldwide.   “In this first World Campus course, we have students from five different time zones, and they bring to the course different experiences, as well as different soils and climates. This makes for a rich learning experience for students,” Turgeon said.   The second group of students enrolling in the same course in March included a student from Chile, he noted.   Enrolling in World Campus courses offers students the benefits of learning at their own pace at any location equipped with a computer and Web connection. Turgeon sets a time frame for course lessons, but within that framework students have the flexibility to set their own learning pace, Turgeon said.   Dr. Gary Miller, associate vice president for distance education and executive director of the World Campus, said, “The World Campus’ asynchronous ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning environment is appealing to students, because it is flexible. It allows learners to work toward their educational goals at times and places that are convenient to them—that fit into their own busy lives. Using the Web and other innovative technologies, Penn State faculty members like Al Turgeon are creating active, on-line learning communities in the World Campus.”   Turgeon, a staunch advocate of using educational technologies to expand access to learning, is director of educational technologies in agricultural sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences. He has been teaching for 30 years and has an international reputation in the field of turfgrass management.   “Like a lot of teachers, if I had my choice, I’d rather have my students with me, but I believe we can provide a quality educational experience for students using the unique capabilities of the Web. One advantage the World Campus provides is the wherewithal for me to extend my educational reach to a lot more students worldwide,” he said.   As a result of his experiences teaching in the World Campus, he has developed a five-faceted approach to instructor-student interactions. The relationship involves: Monitoring students’ progress. WebCT, a Web-based educational delivery system used by the World Campus, enables Turgeon to document each student’s learning process, including when they log into a lesson and how much time they spend on it. Motivating students. If a student is falling behind in his/her work, Turgeon can send them an electronic mail message or use the phone to help get them back on track. Intervening. If a student is having problems, he can offer specific suggestions targeted to what will help the student through a particular lesson. Critiquing written exercises. He analyzes how students draw conclusions and the appropriateness of their explanations and proposed courses of action. Responding to questions. He answers student questions, even those that go beyond the scope of the course.   “Monitoring is the key,” Turgeon says of the instructor-student relationship.   Before offering the course through the World Campus, he tested it with students at Penn State’s University Park and Berks campuses. This enabled him to identify and solve problems before offering the course to a worldwide audience.   “We were the first ones up at bat, and I wanted to go in with some experience,” he explained. “We learned a lot of valuable information during the test run that helped prepare us for the official launch of the World Campus in January.”   The lessons learned will benefit other faculty members who want to develop courses for the World Campus, Turgeon said.   The Turfgrass Management Certificate program was selected as one of the first World Campus offerings, because Penn State’s turfgrass program is ranked among the top five turfgrass programs in the world. It consists of five 3-credit courses: Introduction to Turfgrass Management, Case Studies in Turfgrass Management, Turfgrass Pest Management, Turfgrass Cultural Systems and Turfgrass Edaphology.   The certificate program is designed for golf course superintendents, lawn care operators, grounds managers and other professionals involved with turfgrass management.   A new partnership between the World Campus and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) will expand the audience for this program. Professionals nationwide who are members of the association will be able to maintain GCSAA certification by enrolling in the World Campus courses. In addition to earning Penn State credits for the Turfgrass Management courses, they will earn 4.5 continuing education units toward GCSAA certification.   Deena Amont, director of education for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, said the partnership will make it possible for the association to offer more education to more members.   In the next five years, the World Campus expects to offer as many as 300 Penn State courses. The following programs and courses will be available in 1998: Noise Control Engineering, a noncredit certificate program in acoustics from the College of Engineering; Chemical Dependency Counseling, a postbaccalaureate certificate program in counselor education from the College of Education; Geographic Information Systems, a five-course, noncredit certificate program from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, set to begin in the fall; Fundamentals of Engineering Review, a test preparation course for professional engineers from the College of Engineering; and Reliability Engineering, the first in a series of certificate programs in electrical engineering from the College of Engineering.   For information on the Turfgrass Management Certificate program and other Penn State World Campus programs, call 1-800-252-3592 or visit the Web site at http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu. an outreach program of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State World Campus
	Dear Dr. Spanier,   I would like to take a few minutes to introduce myself and my situation. I am currently taking the turfgrass class from the World Campus. I hope to move from this class to the four-year turfgrass management degree program.   I attended Slippery Rock University for three years after graduating high school in 1992. My major was biology and things seemed to be going my way. I have a unique family situation, and because of this, I have had to put getting my education aside for a while.   My mother is a spastic quadriplegic, arising from complications at my birth. I have lived with my grandparents and my mother my entire life.   When I went away to school at Slippery Rock, it was harder for my grandparents at home to care for my mom, for they were getting older. I did well for my first year of school, but after that, I drove home frequently to help out and my grades suffered.   My grandmother was in a bad car wreck, and I decided to take a semester off. Upon returning, things got worse at home, so I made the decision to leave school until my grandfather retired, so he could be around to help with my mother.   A few months before he was to retire, my grandfather passed away. I got a job at Oakmont Country Club and figured any plans of going back to school were gone. My mother needed me and still does and with my poor grades from leaving school I’m in a predicament.   My interest in turf grew at Oakmont, and I realized that I needed to finish or restart my education in order to live my life the way I wanted to. Yet my family responsibility did not allow me to leave.   I took a turf class and a horticulture class at a local community college and got two “A”s. I was pleased, but did not feel that I was getting the information I needed to be a golf course superintendent someday. I knew I wanted the Penn State education.   The World Campus stepped in at exactly the right time for me. Craig Cochran