INNOVATIONS INTEACHINGPLANTPATHOLOGY

Abstract

The teaching environment for plant pathology is changing in both positive and negative ways. Teaching expectations are increasing and resources are decreasing, but recent educational research and instructional technology offer new approaches to meet these challenges. Plant pathologists are teaching courses that may attract new students to the discipline or at least improve agricultural awareness. The Internet offers rapid access to information and images for both students and instructors. Instructional technology provides new tools for classroom presentations, communication with students, reaching new audiences, and distance learning, but using these new tools to enhance learning requires skilled and creative instructors. In the past, many plant pathology instructors worked in relative isolation, but new communication technologies and publishing opportunities for teaching scholarship should improve the sharing of instructional resources and methods.

Plant Pathology: A Story About Biology

“…A good narrative promotes greater engagement, encourages longer participation, stimulates peer-to-peer teaching, and promises better learning outcomes. There are several excellent examples of plant pathology-based serious games, some of which have been reviewed recently (61). An early one was DIAGNOSIS, developed at Massey University (64,65).…”

“…Success in eliciting interest in any subject is determined to a large extent by the manner in which it is presented, and enhanced instructional methodologies are widely seen as critical to attracting more students to a career in science. A number of recent publications address this issue in the broad context of science education (1) and, more specifically, as it relates to (micro)biology (33) and plant pathology (61). These sources and others provide excellent points of entry to scholarly work on science education.…”

<p>Networking Labs in the Online Environment: Indicators for Success</p>

“…As theses options became available, educational institutions, training centers, companies, and even individuals began exploring alternatives to purchasing real equipment to support computer labs. Instead, they explored simulations and remote labs for their educational and training needs (Schumann, 2003;Watts & Becker, 2008). When these alternatives evolved (i.e., remote labs and simulation software), educational institutions began to use such software to offer technical courses online.…”

“…Technological advances during the last several years have supported the development of high-quality network simulations (Boson, 2008) and the sharing of expensive network equipment through Internet-based remote labs (Network Development Group, 2009). Remote labs became more popular because of the power of personal computers and the speed of the Internet (Border, 2007;Rigby & Dark, 2006;Schumann, 2003). According to Corter, Nickerson, Esche, Chassapis, Im, & Ma (2007), remote labs proved to be an effective tool in providing hands-on laboratory experiences to students.…”