[liberationtech] Last Chance to Enroll: TechChange Online Course in Agriculture, Innovation and Technology

Thu Jun 2 07:51:03 PDT 2016

Hi LiberationTech Folks,

Just a quick note about the course we have coming up on June 13th: Agriculture,
Innovation and Technology. It will follow a one-day conference on ITCforAg
<http://ictforag.org/> that we're co-hosting with Abt, DAI, & FHI360 in DC.

https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/

The online course will take place over four weeks and feature many of the
leading experts and entrepreneurs working on ICTforAg projects. USAID's
Global Development Lab has assisted in developing content and we've got
about 50 participants enrolled. It's shaping up to be a fantastic course.

Let me know if you’d like to enroll, happy to extend the discount price of $
295 if you use the discount code “agtech295”. Feel free to share with other
colleagues if you think they'd be interested.

And don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Cheers,

Nick

***
TC115: Agriculture, Innovation, and Technology

June 13, 2016 - July 08, 2016 | Facilitated by Nick Martin

https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/

APPLY NOW
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/>
Course Description

Smallholder farmers make up over half of the world’s food-insecure
populations in developing countries. These farmers face numerous
challenges: decreasing land sizes, weather changes, inadequate access to
equipment & resources, insufficient training,  market volatility and more.

This four-week online certificate course will explore a number of design
considerations and technologies to help make agricultural production
increasingly accessible and affordable in the developing world.  These
include: digital financial services, SMS and IVR campaign tools, remote
sensing technologies, mobile applications and services, drone surveillance,
GIS data, and more.

The course will use the principles of digital development
<http://digitalprinciples.org/> as a guiding framework and feature a
variety of discussions, activities, case studies and live guest expert
presentations around the following weekly topics:

   -

   Week 1: Introduction, Crop Planning and Financing
   -

   Week 2: Planting and Growing (Crop Cycle)
   -

   Week 3: Post-Harvest and Farm Management
   -

   Week 4: The Horizon of ICTs for Agriculture (Sensors, GIS, Big Data, and
   Digital Photo Recognition, Data Analytics)

Across all four weeks, we will weave in several topics that go across the
agriculture cycle, such as:

   -

   The trade-offs between different digital “channels” (e.g., mobile versus
   radio versus GIS) for different types of information and learning
   -

   The potential role of farmer profiling and its opportunities and
   challenges
   -

   The roles and challenges of using community or rural service agents
   -

   Terms such as “push” versus “pull”; direct to farmer or mediated
   -

   The role and capacity of local service providers, international ones,
   and mobile network operators
   -

   The role of government ministries
   -

   Gender and youth as factors in the design, rollout and scaling of
   digital services

The course will also consider a range of challenges to implementation like
access to power, language barriers, literacy levels, high transactions
costs, access to quality extension services and more.

Participants can expect a dynamic learning environment with a number of
real-world case studies from countries like Mali and Kenya, custom
animations and video tutorials, interactions with leading experts in the
field and practical simulations to apply new skills and strategies.

Judy Payne, USAID’s ICT Advisor for Agriculture, has served as an advisor
in the design of this course.  She is also the Bureau of Food Security
(BFS) lead for the Digital Development for Feed the Future Collaboration
between the [lab] and BFS.
Course Objectives

At the conclusion of the course, participants will be able to:

   -

   critically analyze both the opportunities and the pitfalls that emerge
   when working with technology to improve agricultural outcomes
   -

   connect relevant development theories to the technological strategies
   and tools discussed in the course
   -

   manage specific agricultural software platforms and tools
   -

   design dynamic and effective strategies for using tools and platforms
   improve agricultural efforts
   -

   develop critical self-confidence for working with mobile technology to
   address agricultural challenges

Course Methodology

   -

   This course is delivered entirely online over a period of four weeks.
   -

   This course features several live interactive expert presentations each
   week with leading practitioners, software developers, academics, and donors.
   -

   Every live event is recorded and archived for you to watch later.
   -

   This course also features a unique hands-on learning environment with
   animated videos, technology demos, practical activities, networking events,
   office hours, participant presentations, immersive simulations, and more.
   -

   TechChange recommends budgeting a minimum commitment of 5-7 hours per
   week and scheduling time for the course around your existing obligations.
   -

   Participants will have access to all course content for at least 4
   months after course completion so the material can be completed and
   revisited later.

Guest Experts

Jamila Abass

CEO & Co-Founder, MFarm Ltd(K)

Read Bio
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

Judith Payne

e-Business Advisor, USAID

Read Bio
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

Hillary Miller-Wise

Esoko

Read Bio
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

Jaheil Oliver

CEO of Hello Tractor

Read Bio
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

Samantha Wapnick

Field-based Climate, Gender, and KM Manager—Feed the Future Naatal Mbay

Read Bio
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/#>

Eric Couper

COO, GreenPath Food

David MacAfee

Founder and CEO, HNI

Karen Hampson

Regional Program Manager, East and Southern Africa Farm Radio

Alex Dunlop

Digital Green

Anushka Ratnayake

Founder & Executive Director of MyAgro

Shaun Ferris

Catholic Relief Services

Course Price

   -

   $345 if application and payment is submitted by May 20, 2016
   -

   $395 if application and payment is submitted by June 10th, 2016
   -

   $445 if application and payment is submitted by course start date and
   beyond
   -

   $395 bundle for the course and the a ticket to the ICTforAg conference
   <http://ictforag.org/> in DC on June 10th, 2016. Cost is
   -

   Group discount rates available. For more details, please contact us at
   social [at] techchange.org.
   -

   If you are not happy with your course experience for any reason,
   TechChange is happy to discuss refunds.

APPLY NOW
<https://www.techchange.org/online-courses/agriculture-innovation-technology/>

***
[image: Inline image 1]

Nick Martin

Founder & CEO, TechChange

M 240 505 2324 | www.techchange.org | @ncmart
<http://www.twitter.com/ncmart>

<http://www.facebook.com/techchange>  <http://www.twitter.com/techchange>
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholascmartin>

Check out our new courses here! <http://bit.ly/1LV2bLM>
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