INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING PLANT PATHOLOGY

The teaching environment for plant pathology is changing in both positive and negative ways. Teaching expectations are increasing and resources are decreasing, but recent educational research and instructional technology offer new approaches to meet these challenges. Plant pathologists are teaching courses that may attract new students to the discipline or at least improve agricultural awareness. The Internet offers rapid access to information and images for both students and instructors. Instructional technology provides new tools for classroom presentations, communication with students, reaching new audiences, and distance learning, but using these new tools to enhance learning requires skilled and creative instructors. In the past, many plant pathology instructors worked in relative isolation, but new communication technologies and publishing opportunities for teaching scholarship should improve the sharing of instructional resources and methods.