Developing an Asynchronous Online Extension Program for Tennessee Nursery Producers

Asynchronous online extension programs (AOEP), in which content is made available on-demand, have the potential to reach a larger audience, offer more scheduling flexibility, and reduce the strain of limited financial resources and time for Extension faculty. In comparison with traditional in-person Extension programming and online synchronous programming (live-webinars), asynchronous programs can require significant time and resources during the initial development stages. The University of Tennessee, with support from the TDA, USDA and TSU, recently developed an asynchronous education program, the “Tennessee Master Nursery Producer Program” (TMNP). The TMNP consists of 21 one-hour modules covering topics including container and field production, nutrition, irrigation, pest management, pruning, propagation, and economics and marketing. Prior to program development, consider the  availability and expertise of key personnel, content organization, flow, and depth, delivery platform and software, and initial plus recurring costs (e.g. hosting costs) and responsibilities (e.g., updating content, fielding queries, etc.). Key roles for TMNP development included a project coordinator, curriculum developer, information technology specialist, and narrator. For the curriculum developer, initial development of each module required approximately 40 hours plus subsequent editing, revision, and formatting. Within initial development, script preparation required the most time followed by research and content development (gathering and selecting information for each module). The largest expense was personnel: the curriculum developer and project coordinator. Software costs were kept to a minimum through discount educational licenses for Microsoft Office® (Microsoft Corporation, Redmund, WA) and Articulate® Presenter (Articulate, New York, NY) (used to add multimedia to PowerPoint® slides) and utilization of open-source software including Moodle™ (Moodle Pty Ltd, Perth, Western Australia) for the online delivery system and Audacity® (audacity.sourcefoge. net) for recording narration. All members of the developmental team must have clearly defined roles and responsibilities and a completion schedule must be established at the project’s onset. Finalizing the program format at the beginning of the development process, i.e., image size, font, slide layout, and graphics is critical to prevent additional formatting later. Using a trained narrator can be more expensive than an amateur, but may require significantly less editing, and ultimately reduce costs and time to completion. Curriculum previously developed for live presentations are not adequate for online delivery and will likely require significant revision. AOEP can be a pathway to expand Extension’s accessibility to stakeholders. Understanding the development process, essential positions, and budgeting appropriately for personnel expertise and time is essential to successfully developing and launching an AOEP.