Vegetable Seed Production

Preface

Course History

This course was developed as part of the National Seed Science Distance Education Program (NSSDEP) funded by a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant. Through this federally funded program, a sequence of seed science and technology courses have been developed to alleviate national concerns about inadequate course offerings that prevented students from receiving the training needed to pursue careers in US seed industry. All courses in the NSSDEP are delivered via distance learning through web-based technology. The project involved collaboration of seed scientists at multiple universities to maximize efficiency of course development with quality instructors and decrease the unnecessary duplication of producing course materials at multiple universities. This new delivery system will provide national accessibility for students interested in the specialized area of seed science and technology. The overall impact of developing these new courses and establishing a national seed science curriculum will be to provide a more effective and efficient delivery of seed science courses and to produce students qualified to meet the career development needs of the US seed industry.

This consortium of Universities was organized and lead by Colorado State University in cooperation with: Iowa State University, Virginia Tech, University of Kentucky, National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, and Alabama A&M.

I have long taught a course on Vegetable Crops with a sizable seed component, and this project enabled the development of entire course devoted to vegetable seed issues. The site is designed for both visual and auditory learners through a mixture of reading assignments, pictures, and streaming video presentations.