PMN Offers New CEU Self-Studies for CCAs

Plant Management Network subscribers and partner organizations now have access to a new PMN Education and Training Center. The online center is envisioned to grow to include innumerable educational and training materials including scripted PowerPoint presentations, downloadable videos, learning modules, online testing capabilities, and much, much more. Like all of PMN, the Education and Training Center is a collaborative effort in which the actual educational materials are developed by PMN's contributing authors and affiliated partners, with PMN providing a centralized point of access, peer-review, promotion, and a growing audience of plant and agricultural practitioners. 

 

The inaugural rendition of the center contains ten self-study opportunities for Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs), each providing one or two Continuing Education Units (CEUs) accredited by the CCA Continuing Education Committee. Current self-study materials include articles published within PMN's journals, Crop Management and Plant Health Progress; CEU Learning Modules developed by the Iowa State University Crop Adviser Institute; and Plant Disease Lessons from the APSnet Education Center. Summaries of the self-studies are available free of charge and CEUs are spread over the areas of crop, nutrient, pest, and soil and water management. Subscribers may log in to receive access to the actual self-study materials and the links to the online examinations.

 

All ten self-studies are included within PMN's one single subscription rate, at no additional cost. A complete list of all of the applied agricultural journals and resources included in a PMN subscription is available online. Individual subscriptions start as low as $38/year and may be purchased through PMN's secure Yahoo! order site.

 

PMN's self-study exams are administered online by the Iowa State University Crop Adviser Institute (CAI) and require a processing fee of $12 per CEU to cover scoring of the test and filing of the CEU units. The processing fees affiliated with the PMN Education and Training Center have been reduced by 20% and are actually $3 per CEU less than those associated with the CAI's normal exam fees.

Educators interested in contributing materials to the PMN Education and Training Center should first contact PMN at editorialoffice@plantmanagementnetwork.org for additional information.
 

WSU Adds Over 800 Extension Publications to PMN Database

Washington State University has joined several other of PMN's land-grant partners by indexing over 800 of its web-based extension publications into the PMN Plant Science Database. This brings the total number of documents in the database to 4,000 including journal articles, extension fact sheets, product listings, books, and other agricultural resources. R. James Cook, Interim Dean, College of Agricultural, Human, & Natural Resource Sciences, said, "Having our extension materials available through this centralized web portal for applied agriculture will both extend WSU's outreach and leverage the investment already made in their development. The PMN should be complimented on the development of this cooperative resource, which is an additional benefit of being a partner." PMN visitors may use the database's free search, while PMN subscribers and partners have access to a more delineated advanced search, which filters by article type, source, and "any" or "all" keywords.

Rosskopf to Represent USDA/ARS on PMN Advisory Council

PMN Introduces New Navigation System

July saw the addition of a new navigational aid throughout the PMN website. Available at the top of all major pages within the site, the system features a simple drop-down menu immediately below the Plant Management Network masthead. Users will find that the menu bar provides quick access to PMN's increasing suite of online resources.