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Online Aquatic Animal Health course wins UF award

Dr. Iske Larkin

The University of Florida Aquatic Animal Health Course has received a UF award for excellence in online education.

The Online Education Excellence Awards are presented through the Office of Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence. These awards recognize quality and innovation in online course teaching and delivery. Recipients of the 2015 awards were recognized April 23 at a faculty seminar.

The course, “Aquatic Animal Conservation Issues,” is led by Dr. Iske Larkin, a lecturer and education coordinator for the UF Aquatic Animal Health Program. Also acknowledged were Drs. Patrick Larkin and Amanda Ardente, both of whom served as instructors in the course, and instructional designer Heather Maness.

The course is the longest-running of any offered through the Aquatic Animal Health program, Larkin said.

“We first offered it face-to-face in 2007, then moved to an online format in 2009,” Larkin said.

She has offered it each year since then, making this year the course’s seventh online.

According to its fall 2014 syllabus, the course offers participants an opportunity to become acquainted with controversial issues surrounding the conservation of aquatic animals ranging from invertebrates to marine mammals. The course has some emphasis on marine mammals, but also includes sea turtles, fisheries and marine ecosystems.