Cooperative Extension Service Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program Grant

Abstract: The University of Kentucky, Cooperative Extension Service grant application proposes equipping five rural county Cooperative Extension Service offices and the UK Wood Utilization Center, located in rural communities of Kentucky, with a distance learning system and on-demand educational network that incorporates multiple new technologies and learning interactions. The overall grant proposal is $143,077 of which the University of Kentucky, Cooperative Extension Service can provide $52,000 cash match with $91,077 requested by the DLT grant application. The funds would provide for two-way interactive distance learning videoconferencing, multicast streaming video, web collaboration software, broadcasting, distance learning archives, and on-demand educational opportunities. The grant would provide distance learning equipment for county Extension offices in the counties of Knox, Leslie, Ohio, Russell, Trimble, and the UK Wood Utilization Center in Jackson, Kentucky. These sites would serve as both hubs and end user sites and would link to existing videoconferencing sites across the state including the CenterNet2 (Center for Rural Development) system, Kentucky Postsecondary Education Network, Kentucky Education Television, University of Kentucky Research and Education Center, Kentucky State University and three county Extension offices located in Catlettsburg, Elizabethtown and Benton.