Aqu@teach—the first aquaponics curriculum to be developed specifically for university students

Milliken, Sarah (author), Ovca, Andrej (author), Antenen, Nadine (author), Villarroel, Morris (author), Griessler Bulc, Tjaša (author), Kotzen, Benz (author), Junge-Berberovic, Ranka (author)

Aquaponic food production requires a broad spectrum of knowledge in order to understand and manage the processes involved, and for commercial aquaponics to develop its full potential, it will require an appropriately trained workforce. Devised in collaboration as an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, Aqu@teach covers the basics of aquaponics with a focus on transferable and entrepreneurial skills. The aquaponics curriculum can either be taught using blended learning—combining digital media and the internet with classroom formats that require the physical co-presence of the teacher and students—or as an e-learning course. The supplementary entrepreneurial skills module was devised on the basis of two surveys: of aquaponics companies around the world, in order to get a broad overview of the skills that are important in the early years of a business; and of European higher education institutions that teach subjects where aquaponics could be incorporated as an optional module. The entrepreneurial skills curriculum introduces the main processes involved in developing a business idea into a start-up company. All of the Aqu@teach resources—the e-learning modules, textbooks, module guides for students, curriculum guides for teachers, best practice guide for teaching aquaponics, and toolbox of innovative didactic practices—are open access.

• Language: English
• Keywords: open access curriculum, aquaponics, higher education, e-learning, transferable skills, entrepreneurial skills
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 7, iss. 2, art. 18
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-124531
• UDC: 378:631.589.2
• ISSN on article: 2311-7524
• DOI: 10.3390/horticulturae7020018
• COBISS.SI-ID: 49248259
• Publication date in RUL: 29.01.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Horticulturae
• Shortened title: Horticulturae
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2311-7524
• COBISS.SI-ID: 526326297

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.02.2021

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: Erasmus+, Strategic Partnership for Higher Education
• Project number: 2017-1-UK01-KA203-036663
• Name: Aqu@teach