The Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Online Course Titled NRES: 743 Human Influences on Wisconsin Forests

Abstract

In 2001, legislation was passed creating a new statewide Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Education Program as a partnership between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Division of Forestry and the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education (WCEE). Due to previous experience and research done by the WCEE with its statewide K-12 Energy Education program, it was known that providing teachers with curriculum and workshops would not be enough to increase forestry education in schools. Therefore, an on-line forestry course was developed to give teachers the Wisconsin forestry background needed to competently and confidently increase Wisconsin forestry education in K-12 schools. After researching and reviewing the course content, pertinent literature, and other on-line courses, a set of on-line course delivery criteria was developed. Once the course content was aligned to those criteria, a pilot test with volunteer Wisconsin educators occurred. Formative and summative evaluations of course content, delivery, and design determined the effectiveness of the course at increasing participants' forestry knowledge. The data showed that course pilot participants experienced an overall increase in Wisconsin forestry knowledge and deemed the online course a valuable learning experience. Several key areas of concern were also highlighted such as misperceptions of the course's purpose, extreme difference in participants' previous forestry knowledge, as well as workload. All the qualitative and quantitative data gathered helped in formulating recommendations and revision.