By: Jarred Shellhouse, 352-273-2599, jshellhouse@ufl.edu

Media Contact: Samantha Murray, 352-294-3307, grenrosa@ufl.edu

University of Florida faculty and students have launched an online resource for agricultural educators adjusting to remote teaching due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

As teachers in Florida and around the country adapt to teaching students in an online format, Tre Easterly, assistant professor of agricultural education and communication at UF/IFAS, wanted to create a space for educators to share resources.

“This transition to online learning for every student is challenging, and not just for teachers,” said Easterly. “With math, history and every other subject being delivered online, we recognized that there is a need for students to be able to have lessons that allow them to step away from the computer and learn in diverse ways.”

Currently, resources exist in the areas of agriscience foundations, animal science, plant science and other miscellaneous assets. There are plans for this to grow into other content areas.

“I am excited about some of our resources to help students with subjects like pesticide labeling, flower dissection and how events like a COVID-19 outbreak influence the agricultural supply chain,” said Easterly. “I think I am even more excited about how I see this growing.”

As a former agricultural educator, Easterly recognized how a network of teachers and resources can make a more valuable learning experience for each student.

“Our goal is to have a space where teachers can go to get ideas to facilitate continued learning for each and every student,” said Brian Myers, professor and chair of the agricultural education and communication department. “Still, we need the help of other teachers. We are asking that agriculture teachers who have distance learning resources and are willing to share, to please send them to us.”

Lesson plans and resources are available for educators at https://aec.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/ag-teachers and educators can send their own resources to Tre Easterly, tre.easterly@ufl.edu, to be posted.

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