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- Summer 1997 "Update" Newsletter Article -
Distance learning
Agricultural safety courseAgricultural safety course
will be taught at three campuses using latest in audio-video technology
From CATI Publication #970701
Copyright © 1997. All rights reserved.
A new era in agricultural education is slated to begin this fall at California State University, Fresno with the introduction of an Agricultural Safety Course using distance-learning technology. The course will employ audio/video conferencing equipment at three university campuses.
"It will be multi-media, multi-campus and multi-disciplinary in its approach to agricultural safety education," said Bert Mason, director of the Center for Agricultural Business (CAB) and one of the leaders in developing the new course.
Joining Mason in the project are Don Bennett, consultant to CAB in its Agricultural Safety Program; Dr. Richard Cavaletto, director for the Ag Safety Institute at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; and Dr. James Meyers, an ag and environmental health specialist at the University of California, Davis. Curriculum teams from the three universities are working this summer to develop the course, which covers various aspects of agricultural safety. The issue has become critical for ag management, since agriculture continues to have among the highest injury and illness rates of all California industries.
Reasons for agriculture's poor safety record include ineffective educational strategies, difficulty in establishing and enforcing safety and health regulations, and inadequate safety engineering, wrote project leaders in a proposal that drew financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The authors will "develop and deliver an agricultural safety and health course that will serve as a foundation to address occupational safety and health issues in students' careers."
The course will be taught in the fall 1997 semester at all three of the campuses mentioned, but from only one classroom at a time. With the use of audio/video equipment, sessions from Fresno State, for example, will be broadcast live to classrooms at each of the other two campuses. Viewing monitors and audio equipment at the other campuses will allow students there to participate, creating, in essence, one single "video classroom."
"This is an innovative demonstration project incorporating the newest in learning technology," said Bennett. He explained how faculty from each of the three campuses will provide instruction in their areas of specialty. Mason and Bennett will focus on management and administrative topics, offering case studies of successful management practices. Meyers will provide information related to ergonomics and occupational safety and health. Cavaletto will focus on safe agricultural practices, with an emphasis on agricultural engineering.
"This draws on the strengths of the three participating campuses," Bennett said. It brings Fresno State to the forefront of ag education in the California State University system. "This use of technology is what our university president (John Welty) is promoting to the other campuses, and we in the ag department are right in there with him."
The course is listed as Ag Ec 185T "Agricultural Safety" in the catalog and class schedule, and may be registered for through normal university methods, including through the extended education program, Mason said. An evaluation of course materials, instructors and delivery system will be conducted at the end of the semester to determine the effectiveness of the distance learning course. For more information, contact Mason at (559) 278-4405.
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Copyright © 2000. All rights reserved.
CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE - CATI
College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
California State University, Fresno
