THE DIGITAL CLASSROOM: MORE THAN JUST ONLINE LECTURE NOTES
Our discussion will focus on two Earth Systems Science courses that were created to be entirely online. These two courses cover the basics of physical geology, geologic time, Earth history, astronomy, meteorology and oceanography. In particular we will discuss the initial design, structural planning, modification and upkeep processes associated with these courses. Some of these processes are quite different than in traditional lecture courses where the same lecture notes and book can be reused every year. The online realm requires regular maintenance to fix links and keep material up to date, however steps can be taken to allow recorded lectures to be used for multiple years.
While there are some obvious limitations of the online format, including the lack of hands-on experience with rocks and the separation of students from a well supplied lab, we believe that these topics can be still be adequately covered with an online format. The diversity of online materials combined with reading and detailed activities, makes it possible to teach Earth Science topics wholly in the digital realm.
Our courses are available entirely through the Blackboard system at Michigan Technological University. Nothing is “live” in the course; lectures are pre-recorded and available “on demand” online. Lectures were designed to be short introductions to topics covered by the assigned reading, rather than attempting to lecture the entirety of the course material. This is significantly different from the normal classroom approach of trying the lecture all the material students are supposed know.
Online classes, despite some difficulties, offer the unique ability to accommodate a range of students for which traditional classes are unsuitable, such as teachers who are busy during the work day, and students who are physically removed from a campus.