TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS: A SUCCESSFUL, INNOVATIVE MODEL FOR ON-LINE GEOLOGY

It has been stated by the country’s leadership that the community college system is the future of America. During his 2008 presidential campaign, President Barack Obama put forth the idea of the Community College Partnership Program to ensure that community colleges are a vital part of America’s innovative future. In July 2009, the President pledged $12 billion dollars to community colleges over the next 10 years to aid with the goals put forth by the aforementioned program. Columbus State Community College now has the second largest enrollment in Ohio, behind only its neighbor The Ohio State University. Education at a community college is slightly different than at a traditional 4-year institution. There are a completely different set of circumstances that have to be kept in mind; ranging from transportation issues to child-care to job related duties. These issues, along with many others, make on-line courses very desirable to some. Teaching geology on-line takes the difficulty one level higher. Trying to get the wide-range of students to try to remember some of the more important issues from the on-line class has been “taken to the streets”. I found that bringing the geology into the student’s home, job place, leisure time, and neighborhood is the best way to induce some level of ‘geo-memory’ from the on-line course. The ideas I present will propose a simplistic yet detailed model I have found that helps students take important, useful information from an on-line geology class and use it in their future.