Take your continuing education for phyto-license 'online' at the PCLT

Valuable theoretical supplement to practical sessions

I hope everyone comes through the corona crisis healthy and well. For those who have lost someone during these times, my condolences in advance. As director of the PCLT, I think your health and our health are most important. This crisis affects everyone directly or indirectly. This is a difficult period that we must go through. Unfortunately, we also cannot predict how everything will evolve. This can be difficult and for some it will also not be financially evident. With the necessary dose of sobriety and realism, we will get through this.

In the previous edition of this magazine, you could read about how to get in order to maintain your phyto license.

Is online allowed?

Due to circumstances, physical training/meetings are still not allowed by the Department of Agricultural Formation. Therefore, this situation has caused us to think about how to do things differently. Online learning or e-learning was not accepted by the Department of Agricultural Formation until recently.

So this crisis has caused this government agency, at the behest of Agriculture Minister Hilde Crevits, to look differently at the "online story. 

PCLT offers an answer!

With the PCLT, we wanted to provide a quick answer to this! At my request, a pilot project was set up in consultation with the Agricultural Formation Department. After the necessary discussions, we organized our first online training for the phytolics license on April 21. The group consisted of about fifteen participants. I myself, director of the PCLT, attended the training in full. As a listener, it struck me that the lecturer's approach is very important. When you are in front of a group, you feel the connection and you see reaction to what you are telling. With online storytelling, this is less evident. Fortunately, there are other ways to make sure your trainees stay captivated!

This way of working online does open new perspectives for employees and associates of companies, for example. Meanwhile, the PCLT has organized four successful continuing education courses. We have noticed that there are also people outside agriculture and horticulture who need this phytolics license professionally. Traditional agricultural training on beets and potatoes is out of the question for this group. For online training, you no longer need to do a relocation. You lose less valuable working time and as a farm manager you can more easily monitor whether your employee is following the training. Trainees come from all over Flanders. We therefore try to offer a wide variety of subjects.

Testimonials

"I found this morning very interesting and very easy to follow it from home. From me there may be more trainings like this!!! Thanks in advance!"

"I would like to congratulate you on this course. I found it super helpful and super interesting. Well brought by the teacher, even though this is not easy to bring this without physical interaction. The content was perfect and I found the ratio between scientific foundation and practice super. Big thumbs up!"

Online training will never be able to replace the interaction of a physical meeting. Especially for business leaders, who interact with industry colleagues at such times, these events are a place of social contact. Everyone knows that the meeting moment after the formal meeting can also be very enriching. The physical meeting is a networking moment that can break the rut in the daily routine.

From three to two hours?

How long is an online continuing education course? In the past, it was decided that an in-service training for the phytolics license had to be three hours long. This had to include at least two hours dealing with crop protection. There were some reasons to evaluate and adjust the three hours. Some in-service training sessions go on in the evening and close after 11 p.m.. The next day, for most, it's back to work early! Sitting at your computer for three hours or more for an online continuing education is not obvious either. Most practitioners don't have a sitting gap. Therefore, it was recently decided to shorten continuing education sessions from three to two hours! However, the two hours must be filled with crop protection.

Practice remains important!

As PCLT, of course, we continue to nurture our hands-on training. We are very strong in this. The online story is a very good supplement for theoretical matters. Doing the practical stuff still has to be done in practice.  There are individuals who see something and learn very quickly as a self-taught person. Others are best guided and tutored in their learning journey.  Between "seeing" and performing the practice ourselves, there is still a big difference. On the one hand, practice cannot exist without a well-grounded theory, and on the other hand, we fully stand by our motto: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand!"

For online continuing education courses on phytolics, see www.pclt.be/online.

Geert Chys

Director PCLT