The Western Meat School short course is an innovative, adult-learner focused educational experience for farmers and ranchers who want to get into the business of selling meat. A multi-state project team designed and delivered the course as a six week long hybrid course (both in-person and online) delivered in fall of 2020 and has now turned it into an on-demand self-paced course available at any time. Classes took place both online and in several Western towns in five states (Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico); it is now 100% online for anyone to take.
We exceeded our original expectations of 150-170 producers five-fold. We actually had 650 attendees in the Fall 2020 class and another 100 have signed up thus far for the self-paced version in 2021.
Some highlights include:
-offering 100 reduced tuition scholarships to low-income and BIPOC individuals
-allowing close to 100 Extension, 4H, and FFA staff and volunteers to take the course for free
-partnering with two tribal organizations to offer scholarships to tribal members
-creating a participant listserv that has close to 300 people in it and is still active
-turning the course into an OSU Professional & Continuing Education course (PACE)