Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Canadian University Offers 'Million Dollar' Online Course in Soils and Fertilizers By KAREN BIRCHARD Canadian authorities on Tuesday announced the creation of a "million dollar" online course intended to teach agriculture professionals about soils and fertilizers. The course, "This Land," is available through the University of Saskatchewan's extension department. University officials say the high price tag is because "This Land" is the first online course designed on LearnSphere, a new system for creating Web-based courses. The development costs for the software and the course material, together totaling $1-million Canadian (about $630,000 U.S.), were split by the federal government and the university, which is located in Saskatoon. "It took two years for our software partners to develop LearnSphere and for us to design and convert our regular correspondence-course print-based material to the new format," said Bruce Hobin, the program director for agriculture, food, and horticulture in the university's extension division. "It's had a good reaction from a number of agencies and students who have taken part in technical reviews." LearnSphere was developed by Inroad Solutions, a local software company. Company officials say instructors will find the software easy to use for designing courses. "It allows the course designer to interface with Microsoft Word, a software most people are already familiar with," said Mark Dilsner, a software developer for the company. "It means editing and adding material is very easy." Government officials think the money is well spent, because the government wants to encourage innovation in online learning. "The government of Canada is proud to help Canadian institutions and companies develop more innovative learning opportunities via the Internet," said Alan Rock, the minister of industry. He said the ministry's "objective in contributing to such projects is to develop Canada's learnware industry and to address Canadians' growing demand for online learning." Those taking the so-called million-dollar course -- among them people who work in agriculture, horticulture, and related industries -- may find it a bargain: The fee is a mere $325 in Canadian currency -- or $204 in U.S. money. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Civil-rights group defends affirmative action and blasts White House policies Former student takes hostages in classroom at Fairfield U. Delaware State U. settles racial-bias lawsuit by fired white professor U. of Wisconsin at Whitewater rescinds free-speech policy pending review of widely raised concerns Montana Supreme Court backs college's right to suspend basketball coach Vice chancellor of Medical U. of South Africa is arrested on assault charge Lincoln Prize will go to professor at Amherst College Cornell professor offers a guide to producing handsome books on home computers Canadian university offers "million dollar" online course in soils and fertilizers