UAF’s School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences’ Experience with Distance Delivery

Alaska covers a large geographic area and includes many villages that are not on the road system. As such, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been active in utilizing distance education. The School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (SNRAS) has been engaged in distance education as it offers a degree concentration at its research station in Palmer, Alaska, located approximately 330 miles south of Fairbanks, and offers several additional graduate and undergraduate courses at Palmer and other locations around the state. SNRAS has been continuing to upgrade its distance delivery capabilities, evolving from smart boards and teleconferences to currently having four classrooms with video conferencing capabilities. This has provided an opportunity for students who cannot be on the Fairbanks campus, allowed resource professionals to advance their education and increased the diversity of students in courses. The video equipment has also expanded the pool of guest speakers for classes. It has had challenges, including infrastructure needs at remote sites, technical issues with equipment, extra burden on faculty, and isolation of students. As part of current school restructuring, discussion is taking place as to whether distance-delivered degree offerings can be expanded