On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1	Demonstrate understanding of horticultural industries and identify the major commercial horticultural varieties, pests and diseases in annual and perennial crops in Australia
2	Demonstrate understanding of how diverse horticultural industries contribute to food culture, environmental resilience, and economic opportunity
3	Compare and contrast the differences in physiology and consequent management of several horticultural crops including selecting appropriate propagation, canopy management, post-harvest and quality control procedures
4	Appraise the salient management processes and technology for best practice within an industry domain and create an implementation program for a new crop enterprise
5	Demonstrate understanding of current digital technologies for managing horticultural systems

This course is delivered as an intensive in Winter School.

A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g., pre-class preparation, post-class assessments, reading and revision).

Attendance on all 4 field tours expected; so appropriate clothing required (i.e. closed top shoes, dress to daily weather). Attendance at all Industry workshop presentations is compulsory

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Hurdle?	Learning Outcome
Online Quizzes	Formative & Summative	End of Week 2 of intensive	25%	Yes	1,2
Workshop Presentations	Formative & Summative	During 2-week block	15%	No	3
Consultant Report	Summative	2 weeks after 2-week block	30%	No	4
Digital Technology Practical Exam	Summative	Last day of 2-week block	10%	No	5
Written Exam	Summative	1 week after 2-week block	20%	Yes	1,2,3

Online Quizzes [25%]
The online quizzes are based on foundational material presented in online videos and a learning tool.
The topics of the 5 industry domain quizzes will be
1] protected cropping
2] field vegetable crops
3] tree crops
4] peri-urban and innovative horticulture
5] amenity horticulture.

In 2019 there will be at least two videos on each industry domain. These may be augmented in later years as required. These videos will present the basic information on the 5 knowledge domains for each industry (with some modifications for industry domains 4 & 5), i.e.:
1] Industry structure
2] Propagation & crop management
3] Irrigation & nutrition
4] Plant health
5] Post-harvest & supply chain

For the industry quizzes students are given two attempts to complete each quiz, with indications of correct answer after first attempt.

The 6th quiz is based on student’s ability to identify major horticultural varieties and symptoms of pest, disease and nutrient problems. A learning tool will be available online with images and descriptions of varieties and symptoms. The students can undertake the quiz as many times as they like until to get the highest score possible, but aim for a hurdle of at least 50% correct. The sequence of image display is randomised so each student experiences the quiz differently each time it is attempted. The 2019 version of the learning tool will have ~100 images of varieties and abiotic stress symptoms. Later versions will have more images, but the hurdle will remain at 50/100 for equity across cohorts.

All quizzes will be available to students two weeks before the course begins.

The industry domain videos and quizzes are presented as flipped learning. Each set of industry domain videos will be required viewing before the related lectures on that topic. Students will be asked to have their first attempt at the relevant quiz before the lectures.

All final attempts of all quizzes will be completed by the end of the two-week teaching block.

3 Industry workshop presentations [15%]
Following lectures on each of the industry domains a specific crop within that industry will be selected for case study. The selection of case study crop will be determined by what crops are viewed on the field tour.

The class will divide into 5 groups which will spend 2 hours researching online one of the knowledge domains (industry structure, propagation & management, irrigation & nutrition, plant health, post-harvest & supply chain). The information gathered will be loaded onto a Google-doc so all students have access to all information. At the end of the session, each sub-group will briefly present their information with a view to make it interesting as well as informative. They will also share the sources of information they discover which might inform other industry and knowledge domains.

Over the course of 3 industry workshops students will have opportunity to research each of the 5 knowledge domains. Students will be required to participate in all 3 workshops.
A small in-class assessment (5% each workshop) is given to each group based on criteria of: comprehensiveness of the information gathered; the quality of the information loaded on the Google-doc as a resource that will be easy to later study for an exam; and creativity in presenting the information in an interesting, informative fashion.

Students will know that:
1] this workshop format is a model for the type (and sources) of information that they will need for their individual consultant’s report.
2] understanding of information collected on the 5 Google-docs will be assessed in the 2-hour written exam.

Consultant’s report [30%]
There are two options for this assignment:

Option 1 Each student will select a crop of their personal interest that has not been covered in the Workshop presentations and prepare a report for a hypothetical client who wishes to establish a specific horticultural enterprise. The report will provide recommendations on the type of site (region and soils, minimum property size), crop genetics and sources, crop management, production infrastructure, postharvest handling, marketing, quality assurance and industry links that will support the enterprise.

Option 2: An alternative report would cover one of the knowledge domains that spans across many industries (e.g. big data, blockchains, robotics, irrigation technology, post-harvest technology).


This assignment will be submitted 2 weeks after the 2-week teaching block has completed.

Digital technology practical exam [10%]
Students will have four 1-hour sessions of exposure to and learning the basics of using a horticultural control system software (e.g. glasshouse management or irrigation control). The practical exam will be to use the package to respond to a simple crop management event.

This exam will be held on the last day of the 2-week teaching block

Written examination [20%]
This 2-hour examination will cover material gathered in the 5 Industry workshops and the 4-5 field tours

Late submission of assessments

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days or more late without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the mark.