News Release

MADISON, WI, OCTOBER 23, 2007 -- Online degrees in natural resources are becoming more common. A concern for graduates of such programs is lack of in-the-field education and hands-on experience. A glaring omission from online natural resource education has been a lab and field based soils course.

A lab-based "introduction to soils for non-majors" class has been developed for online instruction through Oregon State University. The course is designed to meet the general science requirement for OSU undergraduates. An article in the 2007 issue of Journal of Natural Resources and Life Science Education describes the layout of the course, which was developed and taught by Dr. Ron Reuter of OSUís College of Forestry.

A critical piece of the class is the laboratory section. Students in the course are physically separated from the instructor and classmates and do not have access to a typical lab. Labs for the course were designed using common household materials that students could easily obtain: a shovel, measuring cup, plastic wrap, metric ruler, glass jars, and water. Additional supplies for measuring soil parameters are supplied in an inexpensive lab kit the students order.

There are seven labs for the course, dealing with sample collection, parent materials, color, texture, organic matter, pH, nutrients, bulk density, and soil profile description. Students collect soils from specific landscape types in their locale and use these samples throughout the course. The final lab requires the student to visit a road cut or dig a soil pit and describe the horizons they observe, including labeling of master horizons, hand texturing, coloring, pH, and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium analysis and interpretation for land use.

The "lecture" component of the course is based on digital slides with accompanying notes, a textbook, and use of online course software. Students interact with the instructor and classmates through required online discussion boards. Discussions cover topics such as soil erosion, land degradation, and soil survey. Discussion boards are also available to help students troubleshoot and confirm concepts within the lab.

"A study is underway to compare student success in the online class compared with success in the same on-campus class." says Ron Reuter, assistant professor, Department of Forest Resources, Oregon State University.

Comparison is done by using a pre-course test that assesses student soil knowledge before the course and an identical post-course test. Results indicate that students in both class types achieve similar comprehension of soil concepts.

Most telling is the results of standardized soil texturing performed by each group. Soil samples of a range of texture and clay percentages (known by the instructor) were sent to off-campus students to accompany the post-course test; one set with answers for practice and one unknown set for skill assessment. Similar samples were used for the on-campus students. Students were required to hand texture the samples and, using a textural triangle, select the appropriate texture class and estimate clay percentage. There was no significant difference between the success of the on-campus and online students in the hand texturing exercise.

Reuter's opinion is that "it is possible to direct students in valuable hands-on lab and field work even if they are at a distance."