WOOSTER, Ohio — The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute is adding online courses beginning this autumn semester, with a partnership with a northwest Ohio community college.
The two-year degree-granting institution of the university’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State ATI is partnering with Northwest State Community College (NSCC), located in Archbold, Ohio.
Through this arrangement, Ohio State ATI will deliver crops and soil courses to NSCC students via the Adobe Connect platform, with students at both institutions taking the same course simultaneously, according to Deana Namuth-Covert, who was hired last year as professor and director of online education and outreach for Ohio State ATI and the college.
“The local agricultural community asked NSCC to develop a degree program that covers crops, agronomy and also business,” said Jeanne Osborne, assistant director for academic affairs at Ohio State ATI. “They can cover the business side, but had dropped agriculture courses in the past.”
New degree
So, Ohio State ATI worked with NSCC to create an Associate of Technical Studies degree, which will initially include 21 credit hours (about a third of the program) being offered by Ohio State ATI instructors.
In the next phase of the program, Osborne said, the goal is to offer additional coursework so that students will graduate with degrees from both institutions.
The program’s inaugural class consists of nine NSCC students taking Introduction to Soil Science, a course taught by Ohio State ATI instructor Don McConnell.
While McConnell will deliver all lectures remotely, the course’s laboratory component will be handled by an NSCC instructor on site.
