Farming eLearning
Online course on calving heifers
The Learning Rooms developed a short online course on calving heifers for the Irish beef farming community. The course outlines the benefits of calving heifers at 24 months instead of the more traditional 30 to 36 months.
About Teagasc
Teagasc is responsible for providing research, advisory services and training to Ireland’s agricultural and food industry and to rural communities.
Teagasc’s mission is to support science-based innovation in the agri-food sector and wider bioeconomy to underpin profitability, competitiveness and sustainability. As part of this mission, Teagasc provides advice and training for farmers in developing their businesses in ways that are sustainable and competitive.
The Challenge
A series of in-person workshops were being rolled out nationwide to provide training for Irish beef farmers on calving heifers. As part of a blended learning approach, Teagasc wanted to provide farmers with a short eLearning course covering basic information. They would then attend an in-person workshop. This course was to include some of Teagasc’s existing video content on the topic.
UDL
Teagasc’s target audience included farmers who may have lower levels of digital literacy and be extremely time-poor. It was important that the course was easy to navigate and quick to complete. Teagasc were also concerned that some learners may have a degree of visual impairment as their target demographic is older in age. It was important to follow universal design for learning principles to make the course more accessible.
The Solution
The Learning Rooms worked with Teagasc to create a 15 minute eLearning course on calving heifers at 24 months. It outlined the best practices for doing so. The course had a simple user interface, with clear instructions for the learner on how to navigate, allowing farmers to complete the course quickly and easily. In line with principles of universal design for learning, font sizes were increased and colours with high contrast were chosen for text and background to make content accessible to learners with visual impairments.
