Higher Education in Horticultural Sciences Globally During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dear Colleagues,

Education is a means by which people develop and acquire knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. The pandemic has forced most classes around the world to go online, and the majority of instructors had to suddenly adapt from a face-to-face to a remote classroom. In the past several decades, quality education has included distance learning but has also shifted from passive learning to active learning. In horticulture, curriculum development involves the need for frequently updated information that can be presented to students. Cooperative learning may enhance student capacity to rapidly respond to real world scenarios. The increasing demand for and supply of transnational degrees, diplomas, or micro-credentials will offer opportunities for global assessments of teacher and student performance, as well as of highly skilled practitioners. International credit recognition needs a standardization of workload for students and instructors, and after the pandemic there will likely be an increasing demand for mutual recognition around the world.

The present Special Issue welcomes new research and reviews of pedagogical development for teaching horticultural sciences in a broader context, including new syllabi. Specific examples include, but are not limited to, overcoming setbacks due to the lockdown period and identifying opportunities for new class topics and even degrees.

Prof. Dr. Silvana Nicola
Prof. Dr. Amarat Simonne
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• curriculum development
• active learning
• cooperative learning
• course design
• learning assessment
• new teaching approaches
• transnational degrees
• blended classes
• hybrid classes
• diploma supplement
• student engagement