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    Developing and Evaluating Environmental Finance Distance Education Tools
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IMPORTANT NOTE: In 2003, the EFC created an online distance education course for participants to learn about environmental finance issues. This course (described below) is no longer available. If there is interest in creating a new distance education course, please contact Jeff Hughes.

 

2003 Distance Education Course Description

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to design and evaluate distance education tools for delivering environmental finance content to environmental professionals.

Project Co-Directors: Richard Whisnant and Jeff Hughes

Need
Beginning with HB 515 in 1997, and the 1998 Clean Water Bond Act, the N.C. legislature has signaled its interest in seeing local governments improve their environmental performance and resource management. Professional organizations and boards are being asked to expand training to include finance and regulatory planning. General technical expertise is spread across the state, but specialized training requires teachers or students to travel extensively. To address this challenge, UNC EFC is developing cost-effective distance education tools that will allow students and teachers to share expert knowledge with less travel.


Target Population
The target audiences are professionals. There are currently 9,100 licensed wastewater operators, 6,000 water operators, and 16,500 licensed engineers (PE) in North Carolina. Currently none of their principal licensing and training organizations (Water Pollution Control System Operators Certification Board, Water Treatment Facility Operators Certification Board, American Water Works Association) has a well-established distance education program, but the topic is foremost in their current strategic discussions.


Objectives of Project

  • Help licensing organizations with practical applications of distance education
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of different distance education techniques in conveying environmental finance information by working with participating organizations during and after pilot programs
  • Develop distance education environmental finance modules for use in certification courses and seminars
  • Use distance education to increase the accessibility of information to local government staff.
Project Collaborators /Partners:


UNC School of Government
Jack Vogt, Professor
Greg Allison, Lecturer

North Carolina Water Treatment Facility Operators Certification Board
Stefanie Wicks, Administrative Manager
Tony Arnold

NCSU Masters of Civil Engineering Education Program

NC AWWA/WEA
Pam Moss, Executive Director