A Webinar Series to Provide Advanced Training for Iowa Nursery and Landscape Professionals

Surveys of the Iowa Nursery and Landscape Association (INLA) membership in 2008 and 2010, showed that members were interested in educational programming beyond the basic training provided to prepare for the Iowa Certified Nursery Professional exam. Further, members were interested in program delivery methods that were flexible and that could accommodate their schedules. To address this educational need, a series of nine webinars on advanced topics were developed (four in 2011 and five in 2012). Webinars were delivered using Adobe Connect and were available as a live interactive session and asynchronously afterwards via the INLA website.  A total of 21 individuals participated in the nine live webinars and many participated in multiple webinars. Overall attendance to all nine webinars was 64. In the 12 months after the 2012 series was completed, 87 members accessed the webinars. A follow up survey was sent to the 18 participants in the five 2012 webinars and 10 participants returned the survey for a 55.5% response rate. Participants answered three questions using a four point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree; 4 = strongly agree) regarding: new knowledge gained by participating in the webinar; likelihood of implementing one or more new practices/concepts learned in the webinar; and if they expected to increase profitability as a result of participation in the webinar. Overall scores for each of the three questions were between agree and strongly agree. Participants rated gaining new knowledge 4.25, the likelihood of implementing a new practice or concept 4.25 and the likelihood increasing profitability 4.1.  Continuing education webinars have proven to be an effective way to reach nursery and landscape professionals.