Development of an On-Line Store to Enhance Student Learning In Up
to Four Horticulture Courses
Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford
Department of Horticultural Science
Highlights of Accomplishments
Tasks Completed
As of date, we are on schedule for the implementation of this project. The following
tasks are already completed.
 Secured funds for label printer and computer. These items were needed to
keep inventory in the nursery and host the on-line store.
 Grown a selection of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and ornamental
grasses. These plants will be mature, ready for sale, and listed on the store in
the Fall 2006. Additional plants will be “contract-grown” based on the needs
of the landscape horticulture students’ design project.
 Development of the on-line store’s web site. The framework for the store is
in-place. The site is temporarily located at http://152.1.214.203/nursery/.
Inventory will be added by the students enrolled in HS 411 before the end of
August, 2006.
 Planned implementation for the Fall 2006 semester. An outline of activities,
discussions, and projects has been developed for communication and
participation between Nursery Management students (HS 411) and Site
Design and Construction Materials students (HS 495-X,Y). We are still
finalizing plans with a community partner for a landscape site.
Tasks that will be completed during Fall, 2006 semester
 Final development of on-line store including inventory tracking, pricing, and
product development.
 Production of additional plants.
 Each HS 411 student will design a nursery for the production of a plant. A
plant selection and nursery design rubric will be developed to evaluate the
appropriateness of student’s plant material selection and completeness of their
project.
 Discussions between Nursery Management students and Site Design and
Construction Materials students regarding availability and contract-growing
needs of plant material for design site.
 Installation of design.
 Development of a survey accessing value of activities for enhancing student
learning.
Assessment of Student Learning
We are working on developing methods of measuring learning outcomes. We need to
flesh this out a bit more. We will be in touch with Joni Spurlin for help finding an
assessment professional to help with our assessment planning, data analysis.
Major Goals of Project:
Learning Outcome/Objective
Establish collaboration between Nursery
Management students (future growers) and
Landscape Horticulture students (future
landscape designers/installers)
Through inter-class discussions, each
student will gain a greater understanding of
supply and demand of landscape plants as
well as the roles and communication within
each discipline.
Nursery management students will learn to
analyze the marketing needs of the
landscape industry and development of
stock to meet those needs.
Landscape Horticulture students will learn
to research what plants are currently
available, determine gaps, and means by
which they can influence/work with
growers.
Students in both classes will learn about
contract growing agreements and gain
experience in developing such an
agreement.
Method of Measuring Learning
Outcome/Objective
Using the on-line store and WebCT Vista,
establish a set number of on-line
discussions with defined topics and
objectives
All student graphically describe this supply
and demand and communication roles.
Successful understanding will be evaluated
based on their plant selection for their
nursery design project.
Successful understanding will be evaluated
based on their development of a
environmentally sensitive design for the
landscape site.
Students will research contracts and
develop one for use in this project.
Sample of Possible Survey Questions:
 How did the online store enhance student learning? (or parcel out: How did the
online store help students understand nursery marketing skills? Supply and
demand of nursery plants? Etc. etc)
 How much more valuable was active (hands-on) learning for the students?
 Which lessons were best learned by utilizing the on-line store?
 In what ways did you benefit from interacting with the other class?
 How effectively did this project demonstrate what gaps lay between production
and implementation of landscape plants?
 What specific hands-on activities did you think were most valuable to preparing
you for your horticultural career?
Assessment of Impact on Faculty
Survey can be done on line using Survey Builder developed by CALS, as can other
methods of measuring student learning. This means little additional work for faculty
while class is on-going.
Assessment of Technical Challenges
The ITS Department at NC State University made creating the web page for the on line
store a very smooth and yet, creative, process. With the skills gained during Summer
Institute in 2005, the only additional skills the faculty needed to gain was experience with
the software for the operation and management of store.
Lessons Learned
The development of the store has been a very creative and energizing process for the
faculty. It has opened our eyes to new and exciting possibilities in our courses.
Hopefully it will also increase student learning and enthusiasm.
Potential Applications for Others on Campus
Collaborative work between classes is invigorating for the faculty involved without
involving much increase work-load for the faculty. Hopefully it will also be invigorating
for the students.
List [anticipated] student numbers Fall 2006
HS 411, Nursery Management: 50
HS 495XY, Site Design and Construction Materials: 16
List publications or presentations we plan to make in near future

Regional Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference, September 2006