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CapitalPress.com
March 10, 2017
OSU looks to Ecampus to train future agronomists
For the Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Tom
Chastain, a professor of seed
crop physiology and ecology
at Oregon State University, has
taught seed production every
spring since 1992.
But in the fall term, Chastain
taught the course, Crop 450,
online for the first time.
“It was a new venture for
me,” Chastain said. “I like this
kind of thing, but I needed help
on lecturing to a camera as op-
posed to a room full of people.
And figuring out how I was
going to maintain contact with
students, answering questions
and facilitating discussions on-
line.”
OSU’s Crop and Soil Sci-
ence Department doesn’t have
an online degree program yet,
but Chastain estimates that’s
only about 18 months off. Af-
ter a “very favorable” external
review in November, Chastain
said they are looking to add
courses in plant genetics, soil
fertility, and several others to
the two classes the department
offers online now.
“The bulk of the growth
at OSU in the last few years
has been in online courses,”
Chastain said. “My feeling is,
once we have some more class-
es online, we’ll have a big bump
in department enrollment.”
The decision to offer a crop
and soil science degree online
is OSU’s answer to a steady de-
cline in enrollment in tradition-
al crop and soil science classes
at OSU, as well as in similar
programs around the country.
“The agronomy program is
not big,” Chastain said. “We’ve
had some enrollment issues, but
there are good job opportunities
throughout the country. People
are just not taking advantage of
those opportunities.”
Sixty students are now
enrolled in degree programs
in Chastain’s department.
Chastain said Crop 450, which
has drawn an average of 20
students over the last five years
in traditional classrooms, had
13 Ecampus students for the
Tom Chastain
same class online. Of the 13,
five were from Oregon. The
rest were from Iowa, Florida,
Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas,
Utah, South Dakota and even
Tasmania.
“A lot of them are place-
bound people,” Chastain said.
“They have jobs or families.
For whatever reason they can’t
take time off to come to Corval-
lis. My student from Tasmania
is already working as an agron-
omist and now wants a formal
education.”
By broadening its reach as a
department, Chastain said OSU
can reach those place-bound
students and begin training more
people to work in the field.
Chastain is quick to say he’s
not the first professor in his de-
partment to take advantage of
online classes. Sabry Elias, an
associate professor of seed sci-
ence and technology, saw the
same problems in 2010.
“Enrollment for my class
wasn’t so big,” he said. “I talked
with the head of my department
and was able to transfer my cur-
riculum online.”
Seed science and technology
is the only class Elias teaches
online and, while Elias admit-
ted online classes can’t replace
the interactions in a tradition-
al classroom, he is passionate
about what he is teaching.
“There is a challenge we’re
trying to solve,” he said. “The
number of working seed scien-
tists is decreasing to an alarming
degree.”
Like Chastain’s online stu-
dents, the students signing
up for Elias’ class are spread
across the country and around
the world.
“About half of my students
now are working professionals,”
he said. “They are coming from
Kentucky, New York, Hawaii
and even Thailand. By offering
courses online, we’re able to get
more students interested.”
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By BRETT TALLMAN
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