Engage your Ag students
Agriculture is an exciting and engaging subject for students, in high demand every year. With new NCEA changes taking effect, it's never been more important to find support, and now it's never been easier. Don't let anything stand in the the way of offering this subject at your school.
July 2023 saw the nationwide launch of AgDept, an interactive, engaging and high quality online resource used to teach the Year 11 Agriculture (AS90921) curriculum.
Let us take the strain...
A complete, self-paced resource for you and your learners
Health Management Practices
This course on health & welfare includes the causes of disease along with health issues and health calendars for individual species.
Breeding Management Practices
The breeding course covers everything from the basics through to genetics and includes modules on reproduction in various species.
Feed Management Practices
Nutrition is vital to animal health and in this course we cover the science of digestion and the practical implications for feeding livestock.
AgDept has been created with the endorsement of HATA and the assistance of Massey University School of Agriculture & Environment.
I do not have a farming background so found the site really useful given the depth and breadth of content required to be covered by AS90921. It gave me space to leave the students well set up while I spent time with individual Agricultural students or other Horticulture students.
Students found the content [was] engaging and supported their learning. It also supported us as teachers to know that the advanced students had everything they needed to gain Excellence, while giving the less competent kids the confidence to attend the external NZQA examination and achieve credits.
Ivan Davie
Tauranga Boy's College
AgDept
The AgDept online learning platform is veterinary-taught, by the entertaining Dr Sarah Clews, renowned for her deep breadth of knowledge and skill across all species covered - Cattle, sheep, poultry and pigs; health & husbandry, breeding and nutrition.
Video lessons are accompanied by a downloadable E-book, bonus materials, self-study games, and interactive quizzes that feed back to teachers, allowing both student and teacher to monitor the individual’s progress.
Local
Expertise
Key features
Species-specific farming calendars allow learners to understand how topics fit into the big picture
Quiz results are fed back to the teacher to allow both learner and teacher to follow their progress
A personalised dashboard allows the learner to pick up where they left off and move at their own pace
Quizzes and handouts reinforce key concepts and essential jargon
Updated annually with changes in welfare laws and gold-standard practices
Students engage in self-directed learning, freeing up teachers to focus their time where it's needed the most
Covers content for the new NCEA curriculum
Information-packed video lessons
Downloadable course books
Give your students their best chance for success
AgDept gives advanced learners the tools they need to excel and boosts the confidence of less academic learners all while freeing up your time.
It's a win-win!
Why Choose AgDept?
A complete learning package
Expert presenter
Taught by Dr Sarah Clews, an Aotearoa-New Zealand based veterinarian
Video lessons
Engaging videos explain the concepts, supported by graphics and animations
Course books
Everything covered in the courses are also supplied in comprehensive, downloadable ebooks.
Quizzes
Learners can test their understanding with quizzes, which also feed back to teachers, keeping everyone informed of the progress made
After a highly successful trial use at Tauranga Boys’ College, teachers report an increase in student confidence and engagement with their 1.6 external examination from previous years when the app was not used.
Students had greater engagement with the concepts as the app gave each individual in the class their own personalised dashboard so they could pick up where they left off and they could test their own learning after each section was completed
About us
Sarah Clews
Veterinarian
Sarah Clews is a farm & lifestyle block vet, with a passion for welfare and education.
Born and raised on a lifestyle block, she grew up around goats, sheep, chooks, horses and more, developing a passion for caring for and bettering the welfare of our farm animals from a young age.
Dr Sez initially studied animal behaviour, further fuelling her passion, before returning to New Zealand to become a qualified vet. She now works with the many farms and lifestyle blocks of the South Auckland region and runs the YouTube channel
‘Sez the Vet’, airing interesting and topical weekly episodes on the health of farm animals.
Kate Brennan
Editor lifestyleblock.co.nz
Kate has been a lifestyle farmer for over 25 years and editor of lifestyleblock.co.nz since it launched in April 2000.
As editor, Kate has worked with veterinarians, farmers, academics and experts to provide accurate, NZ-based information to people who are starting from scratch.
Starting on a 4 acre block in the Waikato, Kate now farms angora goats and cattle on a 220 acre Northland block.
Kate doesn't appear on-screen very often but works with Sarah on writing and producing the courses.
Pricing
Learners
What they get:
Access to all three courses
Video lessons
Downloadable coursebooks
Bonus materials
Quizzes
Personalised dashboard
Teachers have access to quiz results and progress
$30 for up to 12 months access
Teachers Professional Development
What you get:
Access to all three courses
Video lessons
Downloadable coursebooks
Bonus materials
Quizzes
Personalised dashboard
Private discussion forum
$200 for up to 12 months access
reduced to $50 if more than 10 learners enroll from your school
Terms & Conditions apply.
Call 021 840 151
Email:kate@lifestyleblock.co.nz