Online Learning Resource Center (OLRC): Secondary CTE
OLRC is a collaboration between the Minnesota State Career and Technical Education office, the eight Minnesota State Centers of Excellence, and the Minnesota Department of Education.
Welcome to the Minnesota State Career and Technical Education Online Learning Resource Center (OLRC), a consolidated source of instructional materials to help secondary and post-secondary educators adapt to the need for ongoing remote or blended instruction. The resources in OLRC have been curated by educators, are free for educators to browse and use. Curation was performed using a selection criteria rubric, and content in OLRC is monitored and updated regularly to ensure its relevance and usefulness.
Neither Minnesota State nor the Minnesota Department of Education endorses or promotes any of the resources in OLRC.
Online Learning Instructional Content for Agricultural Secondary Educators
Virtual Field Trips (updated June 2022)
Ag Explorer Virtual Field Trips
This is a National FFA career exploration tool. Virtual tours of well-known companies like John Deere, Syngenta and Cargill are offered.
AgWeek Virtual Experiences
AgWeek has collected some resources that link to more options for virtual tours including a trip to a pig farm.
Minnesota Ag in the Classroom Farm to School Virtual Field Trip Series (MN related field trips created in Oct. 2020)
Minnesota Ag in the Classroom has done some of its own virtual tours. It has visited a dairy, produce and turkey farm in addition to a greenhouse in southern MN that produces lettuce.
Minnesota State Parks Virtual Tours
Have you visited one of the 66 state parks in MN? Here's a chance to find your favorite parks and explore what it has to offer.
University of Nebraska- 4-H Virtual Field Trips
Nebraska 4-H as we go on-site to learn more about science, agriculture, technology, and more! Virtual field trips offer facility tours, educational experiences, and additional resources for teachers. Virtual field trips are perfect for youth in Grades 7- 12.
Virtual Dairy Farm Tours from the American Dairy Association
The American Dairy Association takes us to some dairy farms where you'll learn some fun facts about the cows, calves, what they eat as well as the milking process.
Virtual Farm Trips
Take a tour to a real farm with Virtual Farm Trips. They have partnered with a variety of real working farms to offer you an inside look behind the scenes.
Agricultural Education Learning Resources (updated September 2022)
Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence Career Exploration Videos
We have been working with Ag Food and Natural Resource organizations throughout the state on MN and they have helped us by providing short career exploration videos about various careers in agriculture. Learn about the variety of career options available in ag!
4-H Agronomy and Horticulture Learning Events
Agronomy is the science of using plants for food, fuel, feed and fiber. Horticulture is about growing plants for food and decoration. In 4-H agronomy and horticulture, you'll learn about science, future careers and much more.
Ag Education Discussion Lab Facebook Page
This page is dedicated to a discussion of all things Ag Ed, especially providing resources and mentors to beginning teachers. It is also to be used as a place of discussion for experienced and beginning teachers alike.
AgEdNet Lesson Library
Comprehensive. Flexible. Affordable. AgEdNet.com is an online agriculture curriculum featuring almost 1,300 lessons, lesson extras and daily news for the agriculture education classroom. Each subscription is a site license, good for all teachers and students at the subscribing school.
All About Corn
Corn is the most widely grown crop in our country. Most Americans encounter its products every day. What is it about corn that makes it so special? There are videos, coming from University of Minnesota, similar to class lectures, but they can be watched at the convenience of the student. They have built-in narration and enhanced multimedia capabilities such as music, animation, and quiz questions. These lessons can be used by anyone in the world who wants to learn more about corn and its production.
Agriculture Safety and Health Curricula and Resources
Teacher resource guides will assist instructors with integrating curricula by providing teaching methods to instructors on preparing students with safety instruction.
Animal Science Curriculum – STEM on the Farm
Food, Agriculture and Science; Teacher Guides, lesson plans, and student hand-outs plus additional resources.
CASE (Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education)
CASE Institute is a professional development workshop to provide teachers training for the instruction related to a specific CASE course.
Destination Pork
Instructor-led experience designed for an Introduction to Agriculture course. The content and objectives are aligned with AFNR standards and focus on pork production.
Farm Bureau Foundation
American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has a Resources section on its website, which will lead you lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, activities and print outs.
Minnesota Ag in the Classroom
Minnesota Ag in the Classroom has done some of its own virtual tours, which can be found on this site. It has visited a dairy, produce and turkey farm in addition to a greenhouse in southern MN that produces lettuce.
National 4-H Curriculum (Both hard copies and online resources)
Shop 4‑H curriculum offers at-home learning resources for kids focusing on science, healthy living and civic engagement.
Nourish the Future
Virtual science curriculum resources and activities you can use in planning online instruction.
PhET: Free Online physics, biology, chemistry, Earth science and math
PhET simulations provide fun, interactive research-based simulations for use in K-12 and college STEM education. To help students visually comprehend concepts, PhET simulations animate what is invisible to the eye through the use of graphics and intuitive controls such as click-and-drag manipulations, sliders and radio buttons. In order to further encourage quantitative exploration, the simulations also offer measurement instruments including rulers, stop watches, voltmeters, and thermometers.
Riverview LLP Facebook Live Agriculture Lessons
Riverview, LLP is a diversified agribusiness with beef and dairy farms in various states. This site has some interesting educational videos on food packing engineering, farm machinery, nutrition basics for cows, animal care and more.
STEM+Ag Agriculture Career Pathways Curriculum
The Minnesota State Engineering and Agricultural Centers of Excellence are excited to share their newly released and FREE curriculum STEM+Ag Career Pathways for Grades 6th-8th and 9th-12th.
Tools to Teach Agriculture Safety
The Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center lesson plans, awareness events and additional resources to integrate health and safety topics into the classroom in a teacher friendly format.
Telling the Story Project
The guides can be used by educators, 4-H and FFA leaders, managers, and others looking for positive ways to start a conversation about safety.
Virtual Classroom Support and Resources from Minnesota Association for Agricultural Educators
MAAE has provided a wealth of resources for educators including lessons, lecture recordings, learning guides and more.
Online Learning Pedagogy and Technologies for Educators
Minnesota State Online Learning Resource Center (OLRC) for CTE
To provide feedback on OLRC or suggest other resources to be added, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..