Is the use of video conferencing and supporting technologies a feasible and viable way to woo farmers back into farmer education?

North Dakota State University (USA) have been using video conferencing as a delivery mode for farmer education for about 20 years and report that their farmers find this delivery method both practical and worthwhile. With the number of New Zealand farmers attending learning events decreasing, mainly due to time and cost, maybe it is time to use different approaches to engage farmers in learning. A study called 'Feedsmart', which looked into the ways farmers preferred to learn, identified that e-learning is worth further investigation as a learning delivery approach. In this paper we report on three small-scale trials that investigated the viability and effectiveness of generating and delivering information to farmers via a video-conferencing-based learning approach. This study showed that e-learning of this type has potential as a learning approach for farmers and is worthy of further investigation.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

North Dakota State University (USA) have been using video conferencing as a delivery mode for farmer education for about 20 years and report that their farmers find this delivery method both practical and worthwhile. With the number of New Zealand farmers attending learning events decreasing, mainly due to time and cost, maybe it is time to use different approaches to engage farmers in learning. A study called 'Feedsmart', which looked into the ways farmers preferred to learn, identified that e-learning is worth further investigation as a learning delivery approach. In this ...  [+] Show more