Welcome to Foundations in Horticulture – Growing and Caring for Plants in Wisconsin (FIH)!

We are excited you are here! Thank you for joining us for our 2021 session of Foundations in Horticulture – Growing and Caring for Plants in Wisconsin (FIH). Whether you are a beginner gardener or have been doing it for a number of years, gardening is an activity that benefits our minds and bodies in so many ways. It can put home grown veggies on the table. Flowers can brighten our yards and neighborhoods. Trees provide shade to our homes and lawns play an important role in recreational activities at home and in parks. Gardening has significant impacts on us as individuals and our communities.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension FIH course is designed to provide you a strong foundation in horticulture. We introduce you to a decision making framework that focuses on understanding how plants best grow, why pests and problems happen, and how to do your best to keep plant problems from happening. By the end of the course you will:

1. 1. Demonstrate your knowledge in pest/host/ecosystem biology to improve the productivity and health of gardens and landscapes.
   2. Demonstrate your knowledge in decision making aids to improve the productivity and health of gardens and landscapes.
   3. Demonstrate your knowledge of pest management tactics to improve the productivity and health of gardens and landscapes.
   4. Demonstrate skills to find and use university research-based resources.
   5. Demonstrate various plant management techniques to improve the productivity and health of gardens and landscapes.
   6. And if you are a prospective participant in the Master Gardener Program, you will be prepared for the exam portion of the Master Gardener Onboarding.

We hope that upon completion of FIH, you will become a more successful gardener with knowledge that you can share with others! Read through the following so you know what to expect and the important information that you need to know to navigate through the FIH course. All of this is also available in the downloadable FIH 2021 Course Summary (Syllabus).

Course Materials

There are a variety of materials used in the course, each designed to meet the objectives and increase your knowledge about growing and caring for plants in Wisconsin.

Course Website
You will log in to the Canvas course website to access the course materials, interactive exercises, course calendar, important announcements, and recordings of the Q & A with the Experts.

Foundations of Horticulture Training Manual
Throughout the course, we will refer to the corresponding chapters from the FIH manual. Downloadable PDFs of all FIH manual chapters are available within each module in Canvas.

Multimedia Resources
The Canvas course website has instructor-created videos, recordings of the Q&A with the Experts, supplemental videos and other related material.

Q & A with the Experts (Webinars)
Q & A with the Experts are live Zoom webinars with UW-Madison and UW-Madison Division of Extension specialists and experts. During the webinar, they will answer your plant and gardening questions within their area of expertise. We know that bringing in specialists will enrich your educational experience. You are encouraged to complete the program module specific to the Q & A content area before attending (if possible) and will be able to submit questions ahead of time. Attendance is optional. All will be recorded. In Canvas, you will find the Q & A with the Experts module. It will include the schedule, links to access the webinars, and the form to submit questions. All recordings of each Q & A webinar will also be posted here. The schedule is listed in the course calendar.

Optional Labs
If you signed up for a Lab section, you will receive additional information via email from your Lab Instructor.

Course Website – Canvas

We use Canvas for the online learning experience. All students must log into the Canvas course website to access the course materials, interactive exercises, important announcements, and recordings of the Q & A with the Experts.

The course is divided into 3 units that will open sequentially during the course: Unit 1–introduction, Unit 2–pests, and Unit 3–plants. Within each of these units are modules that focus on different topics. All modules (or topics) within a unit will be open at the same time (at midnight on the date indicated). Each module contains the work you need to do for that topic for that week. This is described more below. We recommend completing the modules in the order they are in the course as some modules build upon earlier ones, however it is not required that you complete them in a specific order.

Once opened, each unit will stay open throughout until the end of the course.  This gives you the opportunity to go back and “catch up” if you need to. Participants will have access to everything in the Canvas course until August 31, 2022.  After this date, participants will no longer have access to this course.

Each module contains the following components:

🛠️ Toolkit for Success

We know that this may be your first time in an online class or that some of the terminology is brand new. That’s okay! To help you navigate through the course, we have developed Toolkits for Success for each of the modules that contain helpful information and downloadable PDF handouts.

In each Toolkit for Success, you will find:

• Helpful hints – tips on how to best approach the material.
• Notes – a downloadable .pdf an outline of the chapter to add additional notes as you move through the reading and videos.
• Keywords – a downloadable .pdf of the glossary for each module, highlighting the key terms to pay attention to.
• Reflection – a downloadable .pdf of a reflection question based on real-life scenarios to help take your understanding of the material a little deeper.

We want you to be successful, and hopefully these tools will help you identify which concepts are the most critical. We will also provide a downloadable PDF Notes with Answers that will fill in the blanks on the Notes page so you can check your answers.

⭐️ Learn

In each module, we cover a different topic. In “Learn,” you will find the following things to do:

• Read
  Read the assigned chapter or sections of the chapter from the Foundations in Horticulture manual. You can refer to your purchased manual or download a .pdf of the chapter from each module.
• Watch
  Watch the selected video(s). Each module contains a different number of videos in its specified playlist. Even if there are several videos to watch, they are not long. You do not need to watch them in one sitting!
• Practice
  Following the videos there will be a few short interactive exercises to help practice what you learned from the readings and videos! Don’t worry if you get an incorrect answer….these are just meant for practice and checking in with your own understanding!
• Supplemental Materials
  For most modules, there will be a variety of supplemental materials listed such as additional readings, links to other publications and/or videos. These supplemental materials are not required for you to view, but have been specifically selected for that topic and are provided to give you additional resources to explore.

❓ Practice Questions

For each module, there will be a set of practice questions. Answering these questions really are for practice so you can check your understanding of the material presented in the chapter reading and videos. If you are a prospective Master Gardener, these practice questions are a great way to prepare for the Master Gardener Exam in the required Onboarding course. Continuing Education units (4 CEUs) and a Certificate of Completion will automatically be emailed to you if you complete all of the module quizzes by January 15, 2022.

👉🏾 Module Feedback

It is very important to us that you have a smooth and enjoyable learning experience during our time together in the FIH course. At the end of each module, there is a quick survey for you to complete. Your answers are anonymous and will help us make improvements to the course.

Completing the Course

At the end of each module, please complete the quizzes and module feedback survey. We will send Certificates of Completion after January 15, 2022 to everyone completing the quizzes by that deadline. You still have access to the course materials in Canvas until August 31, 2022.

If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener after the completion of FIH, you must complete the Master Gardener Program Onboarding online course. The Onboarding course will be open in early 2022. Prior to registering for the Master Gardener Program Onboarding online course, you must connect with your county’s Extension staff by attending an “orientation” informational session to learn more about the local Master Gardener opportunities. Details of dates and times will be provided in the FIH course. You must live in or adjacent to the county you wish to volunteer.

💬 Q & A with the Experts

There is a separate module in Canvas to help you find information for the Q & A with the Experts. These are live Zoom webinars with our UW-Madison, Division of Extension specialists and experts, answering your plant and gardening questions within their area of expertise. We suggest you complete the program module specific to the Q & A content area before attending, but if you cannot complete the program module, it is okay to still attend. You will be able to submit questions ahead of time. Attendance is optional and the sessions will be recorded and posted in Canvas. Check this module for updates, Zoom links to the webinars and recordings and any handouts provided by our specialists.

Ready to get started?!

While you are waiting for the modules of Unit 1 to open on September 12th, you can read the Finding Credible Sources page to learn more about how to find and use reliable information from the internet and what we will be referring to in the course. If you would like, you can introduce yourself to your online classmates in the Introduce Yourself Discussion Board.

Any course related questions can be directed to: gardening.class@extension.wisc.edu

If you need help with your NetID, contact the Learn@UW Help Desk via email help@doit.wisc.edu or by phone 1-888-435-7589 (staffed seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. US Central Time). Please use the word Lifelong Learner (L3) in all correspondence with Learn@UW Help Desk! You MUST specify you are enrolled as a Lifelong Learner (L3) so the Help Desk knows you are not a student on campus. If you already have a UW-Madison netID, you may contact the Help Desk to combine your accounts should you choose to do so.

Thank you for joining us and we are looking forward to building your knowledge and skills in Wisconsin horticulture!