DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES IN THE GEOSCIENCES

Online learning resources provide a new opportunity for geoscience faculty to utilize technology and the web in their classes. Online activities allow faculty to integrate online data, web resources and new assessment techniques in their teaching while easing the management of large classes. Creating high-quality resources gives instructors a valuable opportunity to examine their teaching and activities and it also provides a new avenue for scholarly activity. Online resources are particularly suited to reuse by other faculty and sharing via the web. The On the Cutting Edge website "Developing Effective Online Learning Resources in the Geosciences" (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/webdesign/index.html) provides resources and support for faculty creating online resources. The site brings together research from experts in the fields of educational design, website construction and resource reusability to address many of the critical issues in designing new online resources or adapting traditional materials to use on the web. The site has activities to help faculty envision what goals their resource is to achieve, then provides links to best-practice information and exemplary sites to help faculty design resources that achieve these goals. Finally, the site addresses how to structure a new resource to maximize its reusability and appeal to other faculty.