ATTEMPTS AT INCREASING STUDENT SUCCESS AND IMPROVING THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN TWO-YEAR COLLEGE, ONLINE GEOLOGY COURSES

Introductory (physical and historical) geology lecture and lab courses are among the first online science courses offered at Perimeter College, the two year, associate degree offering institution of Georgia State University. Any given semester, the GSU-PC online enrollment exceeds that of face to face offerings at other campuses however student success for distance learners is not as high. Whereas many variables can be responsible for lower student performance, the online course format, student accountability and specimen quality were addressed.

Over the past two semesters, several directives are being explored in an effort to increase student success in online physical and historical lecture and lab courses. Students are expected to assess their readiness for online learning and regularly reflect on their performances throughout the semester. Course format changes include ‘chunking’ of material into smaller, more manageable segments versus extended weekly units. On-campus specimens are of much higher quality in comparison to online lab so in an effort to improve the lab materials, a digital database of high-quality, professional two dimensional and three dimensional images of the on-campus specimens has been created. The digital database contains multiple images of a variety of specimens for use in content delivery, lab exercises and assessments. It is hoped that these modifications will have a reduction in WDF rates in the online geology courses.