Farmers' training scheme named online course of the year

A computer-based training course on organic farming, developed by the Scottish Agricultural College, has been named online course of the year by the Institute of Information Technology Training.

The course was developed with the help of KnowledgePool, an international company offering IT and business skills training. The course is part of a Sac initiative to give farmers online learning and training, allowing them to study where and when it is convenient for them.

The course unit is used by Sac students to learn the principles of organic farming. It will soon be available to farmers throughout the United Kingdom.

David Hookham, who is responsible for developing Sac's flexible learning programmes, said the college had decided from the start to make the organic farming unit a "flagship product".

Staff in the college's plant and crop science department in Aberdeen developed and wrote the core material. This includes an interactive model of a virtual farm, allowing users to plan crop rotations, evaluate problems and introduce changes to the farming system.

Academics worked with KnowledgePool on the interactive elements. Mr Hookham said: "Our contract with them was... designed to provide technology transfer and training to staff at Sac. As a result of the partnership, 16 members of Sac staff have sufficient design and multimedia development expertise to produce a wide range of online learning material."