2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Most online instruction for horticulture classes ranges from course site program delivery and testing options to online lectures with/without live labs in various learning management platforms (e.g. Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.). Rarely, if ever, has a horticultural lecture/lab-based course been completely offered online. This option has been avoided due to the strong philosophy that live, hands-on learning is paramount to educating students in essential horticultural concepts and practices. However, as course offerings become more limited within institutions, the opportunities for capturing additional student credit hours with completely online learning has become more economically attractive. We created a completely online Floral Design course with both lectures and labs for virtual student enrollment. The work preceding launch focused on the course website design in Moodle and video capturing of all lecture/lab essentials. Lectures and labs from the comparative live course were retailored for online audiences prior to video recording, followed by editing and uploading short segments via Youtube links. For flower/foliage sources, videos of a) harvesting of plant materials in the landscape were recorded throughout the year and b) opening market bunches sourced from gas stations and grocery stores were made. A semester-long supply list (tools, mechanics, flowers, foliage) was created and a supply box was developed for required purchase at the beginning of the course. A sequential series of required events stepped each student through the concepts to be learned and practiced each week in lectures and labs. First, students completed a thought-provoking, topic-based Question to Ponder prior to starting the topic, which opened unlimited viewing of each lecture. Completing the Lecture Quiz opened up the lab series of exercises: viewing how to make each floral design video, a Cost of Materials list (supply box or floral/foliage items), example photographs of the designs, uploading pics of their designs for grading and Forum Posts, as well as interacting with their group (2-5 individuals) for critiques, submissions of price sheets and journal entries on how design performance. For the initial course offering in spring semester 2017, 35 students enrolled. A preliminary analysis of the course indicates that the level of student interactions, grading assessment of student work and instructor feedback have all significantly increased with online learning. The diversity of the plant materials used by students also increased since they independently obtained materials for each week’s lab. There have been challenges; weekly elimination of course snags has been necessary and instructor/TA grading time has significantly increased with the online course. However, by weeks 3-4, students’ design abilities paralleled and even exceeded that of live student lab creations and the diversity of plant materials has allowed for greater creativity in color schemes and floral types. Additional pedagogical advantages were discovered, demonstrating added benefits of online lab-based learning.