Proposal will develop college-level Introduction to Biofuels course
A nationwide agriculture education partnership will soon put grant dollars to work for renewable energy. AgrowKnowledge, the national agriscience and technology education center located at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has announced a major support grant to boost biofuels education. A grant of $15,000 from Pioneer Hi-Bred International and AgrowKnowledge will help develop a college-level biofuels introductory course
In March of this year AgrowKnowledge issued a request for proposals (RFP) to individuals/organizations interested in developing a three-credit, college-level, introductory biofuels course. Four proposals were received. After review by AgrowKnowledge and Pioneer, the proposal submitted by Dr. Ross Spackman at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI), Twin Falls, ID was selected.
Dr. Spackman received his Ph.D. from the University of Idaho. He is a professor at CSI and he has worked extensively in developing new courses in energy and natural resources. He is very familiar with alternative forms of delivery such as web-based. CSI is one of the lead partner colleges of AgrowKnowledge as such Dr. Spackman has participated in and supported many AgrowKnowledge events.
When developed the course will include: a syllabus with learning objectives (competencies), topical outline and assessment methods; lesson plans and class activities for 60 hours of instruction (classroom and laboratory); PowerPoint presentations; readings (URLs for readings on Web sites or PDFs) for each topic in the outline; discussion topics; assignments; case studies; quizzes and tests. Content of the course will reflect the current knowledge of the production and future of biofuels.
Additionally the course will focus on the math, science and technology of biofuels. The overall purpose of this course is to introduce students to the concepts of biofuels and to stimulate their interest in pursuing a career in the area of biofuels.
Presently, AgrowKnowledge is working with Dr. Spackman and Pioneer to set up a review process for this curriculum and benchmarks to establish its completion by September 2008.
For more information contact: Dr. Rick Parker, AgrowKnowledge Director, 319-721-0957 or rick.parker@agrowknow.org.
# # #
AgrowKnowledge is funded, in part, by a grant from the Advanced Technological Education program of the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation [DUE #0434405].