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Background:
Traditionally the students who have enrolled in the master’s program
in Agricultural Education were students that were regionally located
to Tarleton State University. Most students started their master’s
right after graduation from their undergraduate degree in
Agricultural Services & Development at Tarleton. There was, and
still are, those students who because of their careers and future
promotions need to obtain a master’s degree. As far back as 1970’s
Texas school districts financially rewarded agriculture science
teachers who obtained a master’s degree. Soon thereafter the
Cooperative Extension Service followed and today has a career ladder
in which master’s degree must be obtained earlier in the agent’s
career. Due to career and leadership pressure from school districts,
state and national agency directors, and other agriculture industry
leaders, a master’s degree is becoming a must in order to advance in
one’s chosen field. Due to these pressures and the distance that
many of these professionals are located from the university where
they can obtain a degree, Tarleton State University offered its
first online master’s course in Agricultural education in the fall of
2003. This was the beginning of realizing the need for entire degree
to be offered online. |
