Education

[lawman]

What type of education class in the landscape and lawn care relm have you taken while working full time. Were these classes worth your time?

[jcoat]

Well, this will be my first year as a LMO and I will be taking my first class this Wednesday - Thursday. It's called AR-OK Turfgrass Management Shortcourse and will be handled by the horticulture departments of OSU and the U of Arkansas. I'm pretty excited since this is my first class and their first time offering it as curriculum. It will be good for me since I'll hopefully be able to bounce some questions off established companies. I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I'm really excited as the ball is finally rolling for this Spring...

[Island Lawn]

I went looking on the internet and found the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
They, and the PLCAA are offering online "Principles of Turfgrass Mgt". With the completion of this course (self-paced, and you can take up to one year), you are designated a "Certified Turf Professional". You also earn 12 University of Ga Continuing Education Credits.
Members of the Professional Lawn Care Association of America get a discount.

Try this
http://www.gactr.uga.edu/is/turf/whatisturf.html

PLCAA also offers a landscape maint course/certification
try this
http://www.plcaa.org./colp2.html

If anyone has any experience with these or others, please share.

[tranum]

i am currently taking the Principles of Turfgrass Management course offered by the U of Ga. should take my second & final exam in feb. i would certainly reccomend this course as a great foundation for turfgrass mgmt. it's well designed & written, pretty in-depth but easy to read & understand. has review questions at the end of each chapter & 4 self-test exams so you can gauge your progress & get a feel for what the monitored exam will be like. the training material will also be very handy as a reference manual in the future. course covers morphology, growth & physiology; identification, adaptation & use; soils; turfgrass establishment; fertilization; mowing; irrigation; weeds; insects; diseases; pesticides; environmental issues; problems/solutions; and customer relations/professionalism. i can't remember for sure but i think the cost was about $300. well worth it IMO.

[TGCummings]

I'm taking the Professional Landscaper class from Harcourt Learning Direct (http://www.harcourt-learning.com), and it's helped me to understand more of the principles and basics of landscape and landscape management. I had some pretty good overall knowledge of the business going in, but the class has really helped to fill in gaps, etc. Some things I've learned have already come in handy, while others have downright changed my way of thinking on certain things (much like LawnSite :) ).

The class is a bit pricey (about $800), but they have their own in-house payment plan.

You can take the class at your own pace and finish in 6 months or take up to two years. If you're a full-time LCO already, like myself, and have an active life with family/friends as well, the latter is quite a good selling point in itself. ;)

It's been a lot of help to me, in any case. Good luck!

-TGC

[Edited by TGCummings on 01-13-2001 at 11:42 AM]

[KirbysLawn]

So far I've been enrolled at The University of Lesco - Pineville, Professors Josh, Spensor, & Mike. I hope to enroll in the UGA class the spring, just don't have the time right now.

Ray

[dylan]

I'm taking business admin but my program administrator has allowed me to take all my electives from the horticulture program and apply them towards my dipolma. This semester I have turf management, soils and fertilizers and entomology. It is going to be a very interesting semester.
There are also some night seminars at my school about organic practices that I will be attending.

[HOMER]

I have been enrolled in UTE for quite some time now also. It has taught me many invaluable lessons over the last few semesters. It is also a self paced course and very expensive, you pretty much pay as you go, there is never any end in sight as the instructors continually change the outline and raise the bar. Results from exams are instant, never any waiting around and they too can affect your check book with amazing speed.

I think I will try another school soon as this one is wearing me down. The ciricculum (?) is so intense and the other students in the class seem to be advancing quicker than I am.

If anyone is interested though, please feel free to check out their website at http://www.ute.com . (University of Trial & Error):D

If not, try the conventional route and go to a real school, you might save some money along the way!

[tranum]

HOMER,
now that was good....talk about an education that is never ending...think we have ALL earned a few credits from this school of higher (priced) learning.

[Edited by tranum on 01-13-2001 at 06:53 PM]

[TylerAssociatesLLC]

I'm working on my Master's in Physical Therapy at Utica College of Syracuse University. Things are slow during the winter around here so I need a good winter job, lol.

[osc]

Sorry Homer, I just don't get it. Is this dry humor or am I too stupid to understand what you are saying. And whats with the barcode stuff?

[HOMER]

Just a little dry humor with a hidden message for the folks that may be starting up or early in their career. You can do it the hard way or the better way.

Maybe I don't get it..................what bar code stuff?

[osc]

When I click on the website I get Unitech or something like that and it's a manufacturer of barcode scanners and stuff like that. ?

[MJ]

Interesting. Maybe Homer didn't know that was a real web site when he posted it to be "University of Trial and Error" (UTE).

Mick

[osc]

Ah, now I really feel like an idiot.

[HOMER]

Sorry OSC!

Didn't mean to throw you a whammy!

[jay]

I have been taking a few horticulture classes at my local JC its been very helpful for me and a good selling point.