Teagasc Launches New eCollege
14 November 2005
Teagasc's new eCollege, designed for the education and training of young entrants to farming and part-time farmers, was officially launched today (Monday, November 14th, 2005) at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin, by An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD.
Teagasc eCollege provides an online learning environment, in association with Carmarthenshire College in Wales, well-known for its agricultural courses.
A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is used to manage and support learners, with Teagasc workbooks used as resource material. Students communicate with eTutors online, attend practical training days in Teagasc agricultural colleges and submit assignments by email.
Based at Teagasc's Kinsealy Centre in Co Dublin, it will provide comprehensive online learning programmes in both agriculture and horticulture over the coming years. The piloted 180-hour agricultural training programme, in which over 280 young farmers participated in 2003, 2004 and 2005, will be augmented by the provision of new online courses in the areas of food training, horticulture and technical discussion groups. The pilot online programmes have been so successful, that without advertising, there is a long waiting list for future programmes.
Mairead Kirk is the Teagasc Online Learning Co-Ordinator. Two new Development Officers have been appointed to the Teagasc eCollege - Carmel Finlay and Thomas Harty, who have both been associated with Teagasc agricultural colleges. To date, 24 eTutors have been trained to provide the programmes.
Teagasc's eCollege is designed to meet the increasing demands from students and part-time farmers for flexible delivery of education and training. It also plans to develop programmes for the expansion of technical discussion groups, new opportunities in horticulture and programmes to be run in collaboration with the National Food Centre. Further details on Teagasc eCollege can be found on the Teagasc website (www.teagasc.ie).
