This course was developed in response to a need
identified by industry stakeholders for a relevant and comprehensive training
opportunity applicable to the entire sector. Previously, no such industry-wide
opportunity was available.
It's another example of outstanding leadership from the Poultry Industry Council.
PoultryPro consists of four online modules that focus
on management in the barn, for feed and water, for breeders and for diseases.
The target audience is new farm workers, new industry
employees, and new graduates hoping to work in the poultry industry.
"PoultryPro is all-encompassing for the poultry
sector, it is not specific to any one company or poultry species,"
explains Laura Bowers, education and extension programs manager with PIC.
"There is a lot of information out there, but
PoultryPro brings it all together in an online course format that is very
practical and useful at the barn level," she says.
PoultryPro isn't meant to replace on-the-job training;
rather, it will introduce those taking the program to important key poultry
production concepts and make them familiar with relevant general information
and aspects of the poultry industry.
PoultryPro is being delivered through a partnership
with the Business Development Centre at the University of Guelph Ridgetown
Campus. This group was chosen as they already deliver other online courses, and
thus have the required infrastructure and IT resources in place.
Ridgetown also has a staff team experienced in online
course delivery and transferring adult education materials into e-learning
formats.
The course information consists of online materials
and a textbook, and is provided in a variety of ways.
It has been designed to be interactive and features a
number of interactive learning activities, clickable buttons, links and extra
resources throughout each module.
While PoultryPro is a comprehensive training program,
both the time commitment required and cost are manageable, the PIC says.
The course fee is $180 plus HST; more information and
course registration are available on the PIC website at: http://www.poultryindustrycouncil.ca/training-and-events/poultrypro-101/.
This project was funded in part through Growing
Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural
Adaptation Council assists with GF2 delivery in Ontario.
