I could use some input from Bee-L.  This past summer, we launched a  
Masters Beekeeping Series, in addition to our annual MOLLI Grandparents and Kids  
2-day Honey Bee Workshop.  We offer the Masters courses for  Certificate 
and/or Credit.
 
Response to our initial offerings was very good. The University of  
Montana's School of Extended and Life Long Learning has now agreed to  provide me 
with the services of two graduate students in media arts to  help my team put 
together on-line materials this winter for on-line  delivery.
 
One challenge we face is how to offer a three level Masters  Beekeeping  
curriculum to distant locations and still maintain the hands on  in the 
beehive experience.  We've got some ideas, but are open to  others.
 
The other challenge is to design a series of Specialty Short Courses,  both 
on campus in Missoula and where feasible, via distance delivery over  the 
Internet.  I would be very interested in getting a Wish List from  Bee-L.
 
The University of Montana is a Liberal Arts College, with a School  of 
Business, School of Law, School of Forestry, School of Pharmacy,  and the 
Missoula College, aka College of Technology.  We've also been the  state's 
Apiculture Research Specialists for nearly 40 years (and yes, I know,  everyone 
assumes we should be at the Land Grant Ag School, MSU, in Bozeman - its  a long 
story).  
 
My point is that we've access to expertise in a wide range of topics such  
as Marketing, Accounting, Business Management, Business Planning through the 
 School of Business.  We could cover Culinary Arts (Cooking with Honey, 
Food  Technology), welding, small engine repair, heavy equipment operation 
through the  Missoula College.  Virtually all aspects of honey bee biology, 
management,  behavior, disease and pest identification/control/monitoring 
through the  Division of Biological Sciences (our largest department).  Even legal 
 issues such as Bee Laws, Trespass, Liability could be covered.  We might  
even get the Pharmacy School to address medicinal products derived from  
bees.
 
So, I need a WISH LIST - and we'll consider any request.   These short 
courses would be fee-based - with the objective of making  the courses 
self-sustaining.  We are a State University and have to pay  salaries, costs.  We 
would offer Certificates, even academic credit where  appropriate.  We're in 
essence a non-profit, so our priority is to recover  costs, make enough to 
promote and develop the courses, but keep the  overall costs reasonable.  Part 
of the cost equation is  the instructor to student ratio. Our Masters 
Courses have three  instructors, so that we can provide a very good hands on 
experience,  but that does drive up costs.  We'd expect per student costs for  
popular Specialty Courses to be lower.  We're open to almost any size  class, 
but at some point, the cost ratio becomes prohibitive.  So a highly  
specialized class like the law and bees, if it drew a small  audience, might be 
more expensive than a more popular class such as Pest and  Disease Managment. 
 
For our Masters Courses, we offer a Certificate at the base cost, have to  
add a handling and processing fee for Academic Credit (so its a two stage  
fee).   Initially, we had some complaints about us charging for a  course, 
when clubs and extension  programs often offer them for free.   These folks 
forgot that UM gets tuition and fees from our  regular, on campus students.  
The State underwrites some of the costs  of going to school at UM, but not 
all - reason UM charges tuition.   The post-course feedback we got gave us an 
Excellent Rating and acknowledged  that our extensive expertise, hands on 
approach, experience was worth the  fee.
 
We are also considering offering a Commercial Beekeeping  Curriculum.   
Canada has one.  However, Canada does not practice  much migratory  beekeeping 
nor long distance movement of equipment.   And, you pay an additional fee if 
you are not a Canadian citizen.  So,  we're trying  to see if there's 
sufficient interest for us  to pilot a  Commercial Curriculum.  Montana does have 
a very large beekeeping industry,  with many large scale, migratory 
beekeepers.  
 
So, please let me know what you'd be interested in as far as bee-related  
courses.  Assume we can find the expertise to cover the topic.  For  bee 
meetings, we found presentations on Bees and Fossils by one of our  Geologists,  
Training  Bees for Sentinel Activities, Things K-12  Students can do for 
Science Fair Projects, were popular.  I also see a need  to train people in 
how to read and assess a Research Paper, but don't know  whether more than a 
hand full of folks would be interested.  Despite  peer-review, some articles 
are good, some are okay, some are innovative,  some are rather pedantic, and 
some are just awful.  You don't have to be an  expert in statistics or the 
discipline to work through a paper, but we can  provide guidance for 
evaluating the work; things to look for, like was there a  control, do the 
hypotheses make sense, do the results support the conclusions,  if the bibliography 
reflective of current state of knowledge, etc?  We  could even offer a 
course in the design, set up, and conduct of bee-related  experiments.  All 
depends on interest level.
 
Bottom line, I've been offered free help, have some time this winter to  
produce some courses and course materials, let me know what you'd like to see 
us  offer.
 
You can either post here or e-mail me off-line at [log in to unmask] 
(mailto:[log in to unmask])  OR [log in to unmask] 
(mailto:[log in to unmask]) .
 
Thanks for your  help.
 
Jerry
 
 
 

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