Introducing the New VT-STEM Program

By Mike Goatley, Ph.D.

The pandemic of 2020 has greatly altered the ways that the Virginia Tech Turfgrass Team delivers its research updates and overall outreach/extension programs. We offered virtual field days for our three largest industry segments (golf, sports turf, lawn/landscape/sod) and if you missed those ‘in person’ virtual events, please visit the VT Turf page on YouTube where you can watch all of the research updates on your own schedule. Another alteration has been in the offering of our traditional Turfgrass Short Course that could no longer be delivered in person in 2020. There are always advantages to meeting in person, the most important being the relationships formed and information shared between attendees and instructors. However, the inability to gather in person affords us the opportunity to develop and deliver a virtual turfgrass school in turfgrass management that is taught asynchronously, allowing the students to review the materials on their own time, and those materials being supplemented with live Zoom meetings each week for Q/A with the instructors.

We’ve designed an online program called the Virginia Tech School of Turfgrass Ecology and Management (VT-STEM) that was initiated the week of December 6th and runs through mid- March (13 weeks of training). Each VT Turfgrass Team member has specific segments where they teach areas of their expertise by way of pre-recorded lectures, and then they meet with the students to review the materials for a particular week from 7–9 p.m. each Wednesday night. The training is further supported by the students having access to the Certified Turfgrass Professional training manual and copies of all handouts that accompany the presentations, and the students are asked to take pre- and posttraining tests to assess their understanding of the material. Students are automatically enrolled in the Virginia Certified Fertilizer Applicator training and testing program, and if they become CFAs and pass all of the post-training weekly VT-STEM quizzes, they have the opportunity to sit for the Certified Turfgrass Professional exams that will be offered online upon completion of the school.

As of this writing in early December, we have 26 brave souls signed up for our inaugural virtual VT-STEM (hey, these are uncharted waters for us too!). However, we sincerely believe that our students will have a successful and enjoyable educational experience in this format, get to know the VT Turfgrass Team members and some colleagues from the industry, and provide us with feedback that will make future VT-STEM offerings even more valuable. Our student’s success will help grow the VT-STEM program in visibility and numbers, and should increase the recognition and value of become a Certified Turfgrass Professional. With success in this format, we plan on offering advanced topic training in the future as well, similar to our previous inperson Advanced Short Courses. COVID has been a lemon for sure, but when presented with lemons, why not try to make lemonade? We’ll let you know what VT-STEM tasted like later in 2021.