KASELEHLIE!

Micronesia Grows Technology: A Program to Facilitate Distance Learning for Agriculture and Extension Students at the College of Micronesia-FSM

The Cooperative Research and Extension (CRE) program promotes agricultural development in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), typically training approximately a hundred students per year across the four states of the FSM, plus several times that number of agriculture students in other programs the college offers. Computing resources are only available to these students at their respective campuses during hours of operation. Their ability to make progress will be improved if the college can establish a laptop rental program at each site to serve these students. The program will be sustainable, paying for replacement computers with a nominal fee each semester. The proposal is for funds to purchase these computers and administer the rental programs, plus extra monies to pay for students and faculty to develop a few high-need online resources: websites for public education, videos and text materials as part of the distance education offerings that the new computer resources will facilitate. The ability to do distance education coursework with this technology will ensure the agricultural extension students have the tools they need to succeed in the extension program and beyond, and will support progress in the agricultural sector.

After a year of implementing the project, a few modifications were made. Instead of purchasing laptops, agricultural tools and equipment were purchased to supplement the laboratory courses of the college. Five modules that can be accessed on the CRE website was made instead of online textbook.

Goals / Objectives

The overall goal is: Strengthen the nation’s workforce in the field of agriculture and natural resources.
Objective 1: To attract and support undergraduate students in order to educate them in identified area of national need – Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (ANRM);
Objective 2: To increase the number and diversity of students who will pursue and complete a post-secondary degree in ANRM; Objective 3: To develop and enhance educational skills of students to use technology in the classroom while seeking a degree.