In the case of the course Plant Nutrition and Nutrient Management , the idea was generated by two of the instructors, Ellen Paparozzi and Kim Williams, at a professional meeting. Jerry Maranville joined the effort because UNL's Dept. of Agronomy was planning to develop a similar course in the same time frame. Funding Procurement Using distance technology is currently an expensive proposition. The primary source of funding was a USDA Higher Education Programs Challenge Grant, and this grant allowed technology costs to be paid during the initial offering, technical support for visuals development, computer and software purchases, and travel expenses associated with the course. In addition, Williams received a Big 12 Faculty Fellowship to pay for travel to Lincoln for course development.
Many regions encourage and support collaborations across member institutions.
Videoconferencing became the best and most cost-effective means to accomplish delivery of the Plant Nutrition course during its first offering during Spring 1999. Also, plan on pre-course bids that underestimate the final cost of course delivery. It may also be difficult or impossible to accomplish recovery of tuition paid by the students to cover technology costs, depending upon institutional politics such as the domain of continuing education versus traditional courses. The institutional barriers that will be encountered are difficult to predict. Here are a few problems that we encountered.