Beginning in May 2009, I accepted a position as the instructor for the Landscape & Turf Management program at Chattanooga State Community College. This page chronicles the development the program, from an entirely new curriculum to constructing an outdoor teaching lab.
Summer 2009
In my first semester as instructor, I worked from the previous instructor's materials. However, I quickly found that the material was outdated, missing several vital references, and was not cohesive in any way. I decided that if I were to continue to teach this class, some major changes to the curriculum had to be made. In researching other landscape industry training programs, I discovered PLANET (the Professional Landcare Network) produced a great set of training manuals for landscape technicians geared towards training students to pass a national certification exam. During the summer semester, while I was learning my way around teaching, I began developing plans to implement a new curriculum with PLANET's training manuals as the core.
Fall 2009
For the Fall semester, I began the transition from the old curriculum to the new structure. Using the 3 PLANET training modules, the class would now be structured around Landscape Installation in the Fall semester, Irrigation in the Spring semester, and Landscape Maintenance in the Summer semester. Since the PLANET publications are written for a national audience, I supplemented the text with UT Extension publications where appropriate to expose the students to information specific to our region. PLANET emphasizes safety throughout their training, and I decided this needed to be a large component of our training as well. I began the Fall semester with a landscape safety training program and equipment training. During this semester, I also started using Chattanooga State's eLearn system to deliver course content and administer exams.
Spring 2010
This semester began our irrigation training, something that had previously been absent from the course. Using the PLANET manual, I instructed the class on irrigation topics from concepts and equipment to installation and troubleshooting. When working to setup field exercises and show the class real-world examples, I learned that the limited irrigation systems on campus are in very poor condition. I ordered supplies and the class worked on fixing the numerous problems we found with our greenhouse irrigation system. This semester was also my first exposure to the program's annual Plant Sale. Helping students grow plants in the greenhouse was a great educational experience for me as well. By the end of the semester, I was quite pleased with the cleanup and repairs to the greenhouse that the class was able to accomplish and we produced a nice crop of bedding plants.
Summer 2010 In my second Summer semester, I wanted to introduce another topic to the class that had been previously ignored - Turf Management. Although Turf Management is part of the name of the course, the only attention paid to turf was a brief overview. Without a turf textbook to use, I pulled together information from a variety of sources and structured a Turf Management section for students to study. At the dean's request, I designed and planned construction of a putting green to use for turfgrass education. Surrounding the green, I also planned turf plots with bermuda, zoysia, and fescue as well as landscape beds to turn the previously unused area of campus into an outdoor lab for our program. In June, we broke ground on our putting green surface and began construction of the surrounding beds. |
Fall 2010
By my second Fall semester, the amount of physical labor required from the class to bring neglected areas back up to par was lessening and I felt that I now had room in our schedule to introduce additional topics. Beginning this semester, I introduced the topic of Pruning using An Illustrated Guide to Pruning as our text. Throughout the semester the class pruned trees around campus while learning the proper tools and techniques to produce quality, well-structured trees. This also gave us an opportunity to take care of our on-campus arboretum.
Spring 2011
This spring was my second semester to teach Irrigation. In addition to the basics of irrigation that we covered last spring, I also added topics on water management and auditing and controller programming. I felt that given recent developments in the irrigation industry, it was appropriate that we not only discuss how to irrigate, but also how to do it wisely and efficiently. In addition to our practical training on irrigation, I also had students complete RainBird's Irrigation Design Manual. I feel that understanding how an irrigation system is designed and operates greatly increases students understanding of how to properly install, troubleshoot, and repair and irrigation system.
Summer 2011 In my second Summer semester under my new curriculum, I selected a Turfgrass Management textbook and began looking at the idea of structuring the class around the topics of irrigation, turfgrass management, and landscape construction. While I believe that the PLANET training materials were a great starting point for a new curriculum, I began to feel that they were oversimplified and didn't explore topics in as much depth as I'd like. Working towards this structure, our newly constructed golf green and outdoor lab became a foundation for Turfgrass Management as the primary focus of the Summer semester. In this semester, I also went through training for the development of online courses and began testing strategies for moving a portion of our coursework online. I believe that this move will strengthen our program and has the potential to allow students to complete their coursework while getting on-the-job training at a landscape company, golf course, or park. |
Fall 2011
Beginning in the Fall 2011 semester, we will begin piloting a hybrid system of course delivery where students attend class and labs as well as completing a percentage of their coursework online.
Future Plans
Recently, we have begun discussing ideas for offering a modified version of our program to those already employed in the landscape industry who would like a way to further their education while continuing to work full time. We are also currently in the process of visioning for a dedicated Golf Course and Sports Turf Maintenance training program.
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