Hi
Frank,
In the
Geology of the Pacific Northwest class I teach online, we haven’t been
having the problems you describe. It seems like there may be several keys to
this.
One key
may be how I respond to the students frequently on all discussions and
assignments with in-depth feedback, in which I try to consistently refer to the
expected outcomes and standards for each assignment or discussion, and provide
encouragement to help the students keep building toward achievement of those
standards.
Another
key is recognizing and acknowledging the students for who they are and having
them share their life experiences. This is done with some of the more
interesting guided discussion topics, which bring out their encounters with
geology, experiences with earthquakes and volcanoes or floods (or stories of
such encounters they heard from relatives or friends), beautiful geological
places they have visited, and so on -- life experiences that are meaningful to
them and which help them get to know each other.
Another
thing we have the students do is a field project much like what Rob Thomas
mentions, with their results shared with each other via pictures and summaries
of their geologic interpretations of their field sites.
The
students in PNW Geology online also work with real rocks and geologic maps from
a lab kit they buy. The rocks and maps provide a basis for several intensive,
discussion rich exercises, including examples and diagrams modeling what the student
will be doing themselves to interpret structures on the geologic map, or the
rocks in terms of the rock cycle. They also engage in social learning by
discussing their rocks in groups after attempting to identifying the rocks once
to see how they did, and then they get to try again. I like it when they start
sending pictures of their rocks around and talking (writing) about them on the
basis of the pictures, though that does not always happen.
On
the whole, the results have been about as good as, or sometimes better than, my
in-person PNW Geology class.
--Ralph
Ralph Dawes, Ph.D.
Earth Sciences
Wenatchee Valley College
1300 Fifth Street
Wenatchee, WA 98801
(509) 682-6754
[log in to unmask]
From: Frank Granshaw [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: On-line earth science courses: Experiences and research
Hello
everyone...
For
the past four years I have been attempting to develop a fully on-line earth
science sequence for non-science majors. In our system we call it
the general science sequence. At the end of this year I will be
"retiring" from teaching distance courses and making the
recommendation that we stay with a hybrid sequence (on-campus lab) rather than
attempt to go fully on-line. As a point of closure I would be most interested
in hearing from some of you that have been involved in similar efforts.
In particular I would appreciate hearing about how you have dealt with
the following issues or if you know of research dealing with these issues.
Again,
I am quite interested in hearing from any of you who have had experience with
these issues or know of research dealing with them, especially as I make my
recommendations to our DL folks and the instructors who will inherit these
courses.
Cheers
Frank
G.
Frank D. Granshaw
Earth Science Instructor
Portland Community
College
Sylvania Campus
Portland, OR
503-977-8236