The College of Agriculture, National Chiayi University, and the Chiayi Forest District Office, Forestry Bureau, joined efforts to boost the production of domestic timber, strengthen the professional abilities of timber harvesting and processing, and promote the development and utilization of domestic timber. Chaired by Han Qian Lin, Dean of the NCYU College of Agriculture, an interdisciplinary team consisted of members from the Department of Wood Materials and Design, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering and Department of E-learning Design and Management, among others. A platform for digital teaching materials and e-learning was built to prepare learners with self-directed learning skills.
According to Dean Han Qian Lin, the Chiayi Forest District Office provided 30 hectares of forest land in Fenqihu for the school team to carry out forest management plans. Professional teaching materials for domestic timber manufacturing skills were created, beginning with field survey, logging and harvesting, scaling, transportation and other measurement and thinning plans, complete with lumbering, storing, drying and wood product design. There are currently three hectares of forest land undergoing thinning with different methods. Videos were made by shooting the five processes of forest harvesting on-site – “logging, bucking, gathering, transportation and storage.” The videos were later edited into practice-oriented educational films. To enrich the content of the educational films, they designed and developed digital teaching materials with reality technology that enable learners to gain a real-life experience through simulated reality before entering the forest farm.
Chang Tai, Director of the Chiayi Forest District Office, Forestry Bureau, indicated that the Forestry Bureau has been promoting the use of domestic products since 2017. It becomes all the more critical to cultivate forestry professionals as Taiwan’s forestry gradually recovers. To promote the key development policy, efforts should be made to increase the domestic timber utilization rate, and strengthen the industrial chain. The practice-oriented education platform on harvesting domestic timber can be used to promote education of domestic timber production among forestry students and practitioners through digital teaching materials and films. They hoped that the platform could help alleviate the current forestry workforce gap, pass on the forestry skills, thus bringing in new opportunities to promote education on sustainable forest management and wood utilization.
Thanks to the forest land offered by the Chiayi Forest District Office, the team was able to produce educational films on domestic timber production and digital teaching materials through virtual reality. The teaching materials are expected to help cultivate professionals on forestry practice and skills, and achieve diverse learning on forestry practice using top-notch technology. As Taiwan’s forestry production gradually recovers, they hoped that forestry practitioners could again pick up their logging tools and travel freely in the forest, thus restoring vitality into Taiwan’s forests. By producing the teaching materials, they wished to promote the advantages of forest management and preciousness of environmental resources. The ultimate goal is to allow the forestry practitioners to coexist sustainably with the forest, so that Taiwan’s timber industry could continue to prosper.
A film on the processes of harvesting domestic timber – logging, bucking, gathering, transportation and storage:
