A new online geology course has been developed as part of the University System of Georgia (USG) eCore^TM project. This is a combined lecture and lab course covering a basic introduction to physical geology. The course provides students with an introduction to the Earth System approach, the perspective of the Earth's place in the solar system, and geologic time. Topics covered include metric system, topographic maps, minerals, rocks, weathering, volcanism, crustal deformation and geologic maps, earthquakes, earth's interior, plate tectonics, and water, with an overview of geology of the US and Georgia.

The online course was developed by a collaborative team consisting of faculty, a project coordinator/instructional designer, and a web course designer/graphic artist, under the sponsorship of the Advanced Learning Technologies unit of the Board of Regents, Office of Academics and Fiscal Affairs.

The USG eCore^TM project consists of courses from the first two years of undergraduate instruction, delivered online using WebCT. The courses are offered on a semester schedule by USG institutions, and taught by USG faculty who have been trained in online teaching and learning. USG faculty eCore^TM courses can be previewed and adopted through the SCOUT (Sharing Content Online for University Teaching) website, http://alt.usg.edu/scout/index.html.