Examples of Good Practice in Earth Science
Learning & Teaching:

World Wide Web

WWW in a Self-Taught Isotope Geology Course
Martin Palmer (University of Bristol)

Teaching with an Intranet
Graham Hendry (University of Birmingham)

The Use of the Internet and WWW in the Development of New Courses
Trevor Emmett (Anglia Polytechinc University)

Developing Web-Based Learning And Information To Support Geoscience Courses
Roger Suthren (Oxford Brookes University)

A Web-Based Teaching Resource - "Microfossils, Environments And Time"
Andrew Weller (University of Southampton)

IMAGE: Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education
Mathematics and Statistical Training Paul Walker (UCL)
Field Based Training Philip Meredith (UCL)

Lotus Notes Intranet Development
Pat James (University of Adelaide, Australia)

An Introduction To VRML Resources For Earth Science Applications
Ed Sides (ITC, Netherlands)

Integrating Databases With The Web: Publishing By Typing/Pasting Into Boxes
Paul Browning (University of Bristol)

WWW in a Self-Taught Isotope Geology Course

Martin Palmer (University of Bristol)

E-Mail: M.R.Palmer@bristol.ac.uk

This course is to begin in the winter of 1997. It is almost entirely Web-based with an introductory lecture and some follow-up lectures. The course is easily accessible from the University of Bristol Geology home page.

(course URL http://www.gly.bris.ac.uk/www/teach/Level2Iso/Level2Iso.html)

I have been teaching a second year isotope geochemistry course for the past five years. Essentially this is a nuts and bolts course, in that its main function is to teach students how to use radiogenic and stable isotope systems to tackle geologic problems. I decided to try the WWW approach for several reasons.

The students have a wide range of abilities (particularly in terms of their maths skills). This means that some students grasps the concepts in the lectures within a few minutes and then find the remaining half an hour rather boring, while others cannot understand how to manipulate the equations, even after 45 minutes of a lecture.
It is not clear to me that the best way of transferring skills is to stand up in front of a lecture theatre and seek to transfer my notes to the students with minimal transcription errors. In addition, these lectures do not require a great deal of student-lecturer interaction of the type that might take place in exploring more open ended concepts in higher level courses.
The traditional course has relatively few practical classes in which to explore the students understanding of the course. Again, some students can complete the exercises in a matter of minutes, while others are still struggling after 3 hours.
The skills they learn from the isotope course form the basis for courses taught later in the 2nd and 3rd years. If the students have not fully grasped the isotope concepts when the course was first presented, they have to rely on their own notes (that are often inadequate) or try and follow the text books. There are a couple of very good text books, but they contain far more information than the students need to know at this stage, there are a limited number available in the library and they are too expensive for the students to purchase themselves.

I designed the WWW Isotope Course to try and address these issues. Specifically:

It allows students to work through the material at their own pace. If they don't understand the material at first reading they can re-read it and go to specific sections in text books that are referred to in the WWW content.
The material is available for review at any time during the student's time at Bristol and it is unfiltered by the note taking process in the classroom.
There are self assessment exercises at the end of each of the modules that allow the student to test their understanding. These exercises incude hints to help students and some feedback on where they are likely to go wrong.

What are the likely pitfalls?

The students won't bother to do the course.
Yes this is likely, but every year there are a small percentage that don't bother turning up for lectures. University students are adults; if they can't be bothered to work it is not our job to chase them.
The students will feel abandoned.
I recognise that this is a problem, so I have organised a weekly "surgery" to help support the students that still have problems understanding the material. It was suggested at the Southampton meeting that it would be a good idea to give a few lectures about the applications of isotopes so that the students could see the point of the work and keep up their interest. This is a good idea, and certainly one that I will take on board.

I am sure there will be more problems that appear on the way, but these are the only ones so far!

How will the course develop?

Through the surgeries I hope to be able to identify the areas where students find most problems and amend the course accordingly.
I would like to make the course look more attractive in terms of its presentation, but this requires support in terms of man hours and we have not yet been given the resources to do this.
I would like to put the course on CD so that students can take it home with them and revise over vacations. As all the material has been generated by myself there are no copyright problems, so it may be possible to make it available to students from outside Bristol in the future.
Because the course is in an electronic format it would be simple to add more advanced material to support specific isotope applications for higher level geology courses, or post graduate level applications.

Teaching with an Intranet

Graham Hendry (University of Birmingham)

E-mail: g.l.hendry@bham.ac.uk

A course on geological data-handling (looked at through spreadsheeting) has been set up on an Intranet Website running on a local Windows server.

Advantages:

The course information is always available - unlike paper.
It is easy to make updates that can be disseminated rapidly.
Provides support to assessed work - the tutor can spot common mistakes and provide feedback to all students.
Questionnaires to assess student experience prior to the commencement of the course.
Feedback forms to analyse Website.
Hints and tips available to all students
Discussion group
Local server - simple to administer (no UNIX required)
Network speed - fewer bottlenecks

'Front Page'

This particular Website was set up using Front Page. This Microsoft software package enables Web pages to be written without using HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language - the language of the WWW) and almost in a WYSIWYG format.

Front Page is integrated with MS Office.

Pros:
It enables PowerPoint to be displayed on the Web.
Forms and questionnaires are easy to set up
It provides simple graphics and animation tools.
Links can be timed out if desired.

Cons:
The features are not so good on Internet browsers other than Microsoft Explorer.
Heavy on resources, a Pentium computer is required in order to use all the features of the package.

Student Use of Website (during this first year of use): Questionnaire form - used by all.; Feedback form - used by the computer literate.; Example pages - early days, used by some.

Future:

The system seems to work in terms of student response and it is easy to set up (takes approximately one week to create).

The main problem, as with all computer-based courses is that of resources and the cost of upgrading equipment etc. At present there are 26 workstations and 106 students on the course.

The Use of the Internet and World-wide Web in the Development of New Courses

Trevor Emmett (Anglia Polytechnic University)

E-mail:temmett@bridge.anglia.ac.uk

The introduction and development of new courses is now seen as an integral part of the strategic plans of most UK HE institutions. Often, this involves little more than minor re-jigging and re-naming of existing courses to take opportunistic advantage of short-lived(?) 'niche markets' (e.g. parts of biology courses become 'food science', physics becomes 'energy in the environment', and so on). Small geology departments have extremely limited potential for this sort of activity, but three years ago it was decided to develop, in collaboration with other projects within the University, some courses in remote sensing in general, and planetary geology in particular. These courses have now run for a full year; they have recruited well and have been favourably received by the students that have taken them.

Resources to teach and support these new courses were virtually non-existent, and had to be acquired with minimal recourse to the University's financial base. That the new courses are now established and working well would not have been possible without apparently cost-free resources available via the Internet and WWW. The support obtained from the Internet/WWW can be divided into three categories:

Recent advances in sensor platforms and data-processing methodologies. This is a rapidly moving field and the resources of the WWW were indispensable in designing and implementing up-to-date curricula.
Access to databases and exemplar material. All remote sensing requires data, mostly images, and much of this is now available commercially (all be it at reduced cost to academics etc.). The ability to pull a useful number of very large data sets of the Internet/WWW was probably the key to making new courses even faintly feasible. It was also possible to acquire some very useful and powerful software (mostly free) in this way.
Access to bibliographic and other databases. Access to the recent literature is, of course, an essential and indispensable requirement of all HE courses. Being able to access (mostly) US databases and judicious use of the ILL system allowed this to take place for the new courses with minimal demands on existing library resources.

It is no small advantage that these resources are available not only to lecturers designing and delivering the courses, but also in the self-same way to students taking the courses. The Internet and World-Wide Web are powerful tools which should enable all institutions to offer a greater variety of high quality and up-to-date courses in a diverse range of subjects. Such developments would, under normal circumstances, be prohibitively expensive for most publicly funded institutions.

Developing Web-Based Learning And Information To Support Geoscience Courses

Roger Suthren
School of Construction & Earth Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Oxford OX3 0BP
(rjsuthren@brookes.ac.uk)

As part of a resource-based learning project, it is our aim to provide a home page for each of our geoscience modules. Each module page contains links to academic and administrative information, and common links to the Library and study skills pages. Development of learning materials linked to each module is at various stages, ranging from on-line lectures and posters, to week by week guides to recommended Internet resources for particular topics. Some pages are being developed by students for course credit. Module pages include on-line tests (mainly using the CASTLE toolkit) to give students regular feedback on their understanding of topics, and in a few cases for summative assessment. Over the next few months, module-specific information will be linked to an on-line version of our course handbooks. The web pages may be accessed from:
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/geology/modules.html

From the module information home page (URL above) there are currently links to 17 out of the 34 available modules, as well as links to the library (home page and geology pages) and to the Georef on-line bibliographic database (http://georef.cos.com).

The WWW is used, in this context, to guide students through available resources. For example, an updateable on-line reading list. Lecturers can utilise existing materials rather than having to produce their own (don't need to reinvent the wheel).

An example of the use of existing resources is the use of 'Virtual Earthquake': this is an exercise to take students through the basics of locating the epicentre for a chosen 'quake, calculating Richter magnitude etc. . It tests graph reading skills, is well illustrated, has a step-by-step approach and allows progress to the next stage only after correct answers have been given. Successful students get a "Virtual Seismologist" certificate to print out - easy for the lecturer to mark!

http://vflylab.calstatela.edu/edesktop/VirtApps/VirtualEarthQuake/VQuakeIntro.html

Another example is the use of the CASTLE toolkit, based at the University of Leicester. The CASTLE toolkit has been developed so that Tutors and Course managers can create on-line interactive assessment tools quickly and easily without any prior knowledge of HTML, cgi, or similar scripting languages. There is a suite of applications which will eventually include on-line course assessment and student progress monitoring.

http://www.le.ac.uk/cc/ltg/castle/tools/intro.html

A Web-Based Teaching Resource - "Microfossils, Environments And Time"

Andrew Weller
Student: University of Southampton. Now at Dept. of Earth Sciences, Keele University Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK
(Email: p8e77@keele.ac.uk or andrew_weller@hotmail.com)

Introduction to the resource
For Andy's final year project as an undergraduate in the Department of Geology at the University of Southampton he designed and created a Web-based teaching resource. This was done using a new software package called WebCT designed at the University of Columbia (http://homebrew.cs.ubc.ca/webct/outsideBeta.html). This facilitates the creation of sophisticated Web-based learning environments.

"WebCT is a tool that facilitates the creation of sophisticated World Wide Web-based educational environments. It does this in three ways: 1. It provides an interface allowing the design of the presentation of the course (color schemes, page layout, etc). 2. It provides a set of educational tools to facilitate learning, communication and collaboration. 3. It provides a set of administrative tools to assist the instructor in the process of management and continuous improvement of the course. � WebCT can be used to create entire on-line courses, or to simply publish materials that supplement existing courses. � WebCT requires minimal technical expertise on the part of the developer of the course, and on the part of the student. � WebCT is entirely web-based. There is no software to install (other than a web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer) on the computers used by the students or instructors."

For the current URL of Andy's teaching resource please contact him via email on either of the addresses given above.

USERNAME: tester
PASSWORD: tester

Before you begin, can you please make sure you read the homepage, as this contains some important information about the program. For example, make sure that JAVA is enabled. Andy's teaching homepage is the entry point for the resource, where links to the course elements can be found:

Extended course outline. A single page of information brought up into a new window frame, which contains its own 'back', 'forward' and 'close' buttons.
Course timetable. The same format as the extended course outline.
Lecture synopses and reference lists. Displayed as a path editor, which displays the content as a sequence. This is organised in two frames, the top of which provides a navigational button bar.
Past exam papers. A link to a supplementary homepage, where you can access the papers in a single page format.
Using the microscopes. The same format as the past exam papers, but with links to associated images embedded in the text.
Coursework. The same format as using the microscopes. A pictorial and informative guide on how to conduct and complete the two reports.
Image database. Labelled images from all the major microfossil groups dealt with in the course. Search for images by clicking on the required database, followed by 'show all', then the image thumbnail.
Associated Web links. The same format as the extended course outline. Click on the highlighted text (hyperlink) to take you to that site.
On-line quizzes and surveys. Short quizzes for six microfossil groups have been compiled, along with a consumer survey. Click on the chosen category to be presented with the quiz/survey. Make sure you save each individual answer. You will only have one chance to do each quiz. The quizzes are marked automatically or manually and released on-line. Grades are automatically entered into the WebCT student management grade database.
Glossary search. This can be accessed in two ways. First, a glossary search tool allows the listing of terms based on initials. Second, a link from the lecture synopses and reference lists, where a hyperlink is embedded in the text.
Course content search. Allows the search for a particular term in the lecture synopses and reference lists.
Bulletin board. Allows anyone to post questions or queries, which can be answered by others on the course, or by those teaching the course.
Private mail. Allows one-to-one message transfer among course takers. First name, last name or login-id can be used to address mail.
View your grades and course record. Students can view their own marks, as entered by the course co-ordinator, or as generated by the on-line quiz marking system.
View your progress tracking information. Maintains information regarding accesses made to particular pages.
My notes (page annotation). This icon is accessed from the lecture synopses and reference lists, allowing students to make personal annotations for the displayed page that are only visible by the student.
Student list and their homepages. Allows the construction of personal homepages.
Resume reading notes where you left off. Restores the learning context from a previous session.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/geolsci/edu/ugrads/image.htm

What is IMAGE?
Interactive Mathematics and Geoscience Education is a project being developed in the Department of Geological Sciences at UCL with funding from the HEFCE Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL). The project aims to develop essential skills applicable to geoscience education, primarily under the subdivisions of mathematical & statistical training and field based training.

Mathematical & Statistical Training

Paul Walker
Higher Education Research and Development Unit, UCL, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT
(paul.walker@ucl.ac.uk)

The mathematical skills component is focused towards developing a suite of modular learning materials for self-study that will provide:

the means for geology students to quickly develop mathematical knowledge and skills they may be lacking on entry to the undergraduate programme.
the means for students to review mathematical concepts when and where necessary and relate these concepts to 'geological' situations.
to provide support for the development of mathematical skills through graduate level with particular emphasis on more advanced geometry, data analysis, graphical representation and statistics.

The focus is on placing the mathematics into a geologically relevant context. There are three sets of modules: revision, 1st level and 2nd level. There is also a glossary of mathematical terms, with links to the the relevant module. Each of the 1st and 2nd level modules begins with a geological context (such as determining seismic velocities, the temperature within the earth, the Richter scale, radioactive decay) in which some maths occurs - the student is then directed to the MathHelp Notebook which contains all relevant information easily explained followed by an Exit Quiz to test the student's understanding. Finally, the student is returned to the geological context and asked relevant, mathematical questions.

The training is self-paced and supported by a tutor but the main interaction is with computers (a paper-based version is available as an adjunct or alternative as necessary). The revision module provides a diagnostic test to allow the students to evaluate where they are in their learning.

The maths has a relatively straightforward, chatty approach and the students really enjoy it. There has been lots of positive feedback and, furthermore, they seem to have learnt the maths!

The IMAGE project intend to make this maths training extendable and are inviting collaboration. For further information contact Paul Walker.

Field Based Training

Phil Meredith
Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
(p.meredith@ucl.ac.uk)

The field skills component is intended NOT to replace the current field training programme with virtual field classes, but to supplement this with pre- and post-field class support and access to revision and self-learning modules relevant to the trips. The overall aims are:

to enhance the development of field-related essential skills;
to enable a field experience for less mobile students;
to provide a potentially wider field experience than that presently constrained by the current field programme.

Pre-field class preparation:
Safety
Itinerary
Administration
Field handouts & guides

A further aim of the fieldwork website is to relate fieldwork to coursework. During the course the students are pointed to the fieldwork as a reference & information is available on the Web, once on the field course the students study the environment using workbooks as an aid. The use of all these resources in conjunction enables the students to get the most, educationally, out of field work.

IMAGE are currently developing a CD-ROM of the Web pages (this allows faster access than through a Web-server) which includes material such as aerial images, video footage, hand specimens, microscope slides etc., as well as providing external WWW links. All this information helps the student put the field area into context and gives the students the opportunity to see some areas they might not normally visit (too dangerous, wrong tides etc.).

Lotus Domino and Notes for Intranet Development

Pat James
Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, Australia, 5005
(pjames@geology.adelaide.edu.au)

Pat James is a structural geologist at the University of Adelaide. He has been developing the use of computer-aided learning (CAL) (using, for example, PowerPoint presentations) and wanted to pull everything (lecture notes, handouts etc.) together in one place. The Adelaide Sciences Online (ASO) project is a faculty-wide programme to develop and deliver teaching, learning, communication and administration in an on-line environment. The environment uses Lotus Domino and Notes software which allows instantaneous web-page publication without using HTML (HyperText Markup Language - the programming language of the Web).

http://sciweb.science.adelaide.edu.au/

There are 6000 - 7000 pages behind the ASO and these are managed using a Web database. Resources contained in ASO include teaching materials for specific subjects, discussions & conferencing, course information and past exam papers, as well as research publications for administrative purposes. Templates are also available for staff to create their own course documentation without wasting time with the programming.

Lotus Notes
Lotus Notes is a workgroup computing environment. With Notes, colleagues can collaborate regardless of technical, organisational, or geographical boundaries. Notes consists of two primary programs: the Notes server and the Notes workstation. The Notes server provides services like storage of shared databases and mail routing. The Notes workstation communicates with Notes servers so that users can use shared databases and read and send mail. Notes Designer is an enhanced Notes client that includes special support for developers who are building applications for delivery via the Domino server to both Notes clients and Web browsers. The Domino server supports HTTP, SSL, SMTP, MIME, POP3, IMAP, LDAP, and NNTP. It is available in two configurations: the Lotus Domino Mail server and the full Domino server, which combines Domino Mail server messaging functionality with the power of Internet and intranet application development. (These notes from http://www.download.com) Further information can be obtained from Lotus at http://www.lotus.com/

An Introduction To VRML Resources For Earth Science Applications

Edmund Sides
Mineral Exploration Division, ITC, Kanaalweg 3, 2628 EB Delft, Netherlands
(edsides@itc.nl)

http://www.itc.nl/~edsides/

Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) is a standard format used for storing 3-d models and animations and specifically designed for facilitating the transfer of such information between different users. Since its initial development several plug-ins for standard Internet browsers have been developed making such models accessible to most users who have access to the World Wide Web. Given the importance of the third dimension to Earth Scientists, VRML provides great potential for the communication of geological ideas and information.

VRML is based on a set of nodes which define simple geometric elements (e.g. triangles, cylinders, spheres) and operations (e.g. transform, rotation, rescaling, timing) which can be combined in order to construct quite complex models. Several Earth Scientists have already started experimenting with the conversion of 3-d models created in a range of application programs into VRML format for publication on the Web.

VRML is an ASCII type format which can be edited in a simple editor such as Notebook. Some current 3-D modelling packages have VRML format as an export option. VRML uses Web browsers to visualise and manipulate 3-D information. As well as a Web browser, you may need an add-in which recognises the VRML format, however, new versions of Netscape, Explorer etc. may have 3-D browsers built in.

One of the advantages of using VRML is that 'hotspots' may be defined on the image which can be linked to other images or HTML files. One of the disadvantages - as with any Web-based system - is that it can be slow if files are being accessed remotely.

Top VRML Sites for Earth Scientists (September 1998)

This list is based on Ed's personal experience of working with VRML for earth science applications over the past 2 years.

VRML repository: the bible on VRML plus many links to plug-ins etc.
Wyoming visualisation project. Includes an interactive 3D display of Yellowstone National Park. This really allows for 3-D data mining; add geology, plus habitat, fire hazards, badgers, etc. to topo relief model with adjustable vert exag.
Cosmo Player - VRML browser and other software.
Home page for GLVIEW - excellent VRML editor and viewer (demo + commercial).
Rendersoft VRML editor (shareware demo version available) - relatively compact and provides a good introduction to VRML modelling.
CSIRO examples of mineral deposit models, including several VRML demos.
Web images of the Earth, VRML display which is to be updated frequently (shows cloud cover in tiles of about 15�).
Collection of links and info on VRML. Some very good sources of info (e.g. scientific applications, etc.).
NASA site with a VRML model of Earth showing NDVI vegetation image. Different resolutions possible using tiled globe. Developed by Jeff de la Beaujardiere.
VRML scenes related to the JASON project (includes globe with linked sites used as basis for Ed's demos at the workshop). The JASON project is a US foundation involved with (youth) scientific exploration around the world.
A brief history of the evolution of the VRML standard.
VRML files of Mars based on the Mars Pathfinder mission.
US EPA research results on GIS visualisation tools (includes several VRML demos).
A variety of different VRML demos, including some of maths functions, terrain models, finite element models, etc.. Theme is scientific visualisation.
Site which allows automatic generation of a VRML topo model for user selected areas of the Earth's surface.
VRML consortium: responsible for development of the VRML standard since December 1996.
VRML architecture group - pre December 1996 group responsible for development of VRML standard. Replaced by the VRML Review Board.
VRML models of gemstones (including beryl, quartz, etc.). Shown as tetrahedra, etc. without explanation of VRML models.
Some demos of interactive VRML based on large elevation grids. Demo 1 is same as GeoComputation 1997; Demo 4 shows stacked grids of different GIS layers.
List of VRML resources and info (appears to be out of date in May '98 as it mainly refers to VRML1).
Examples from GeoComputation 1997 conference; includes an interactive VRML file.

Integrating Databases With The Web: Publishing By Typing/Pasting Into Boxes

Paul Browning
University Library Service, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TJ
(paul.browning@bristol.ac.uk)

Publishing and Devolving the Maintenance of a Prospectus
The compilation and publication of a prospectus can be a long-winded process. The generation of an electronic version as an afterthought can mean a substantial delay before potential students can access course information via the Web.

Conventionally there are four main stages to the process: collation/updating of the course information from academic departments and services, preparation of the combined text using word-processing/desk-top publishing tools, dispatch of the text for printing, then reverse engineering the text into a Web-deliverable version.

By using a Web-enabled database, the Web-page design can be separated from the actual content and the last three stages of the above process can be re-ordered so that the electronic version becomes available soon after the collation/updating of information. If the text elements of the prospectus are held in a database it becomes possible not only to generate the Web pages "on the fly" but also to devolve the maintenance of the information to the people that provide it.

Web form-based interfaces are intuitive to use and familiar to many users (the browser has become an "everyday" application) - they render Web-publishing a more transparent process (no authoring application, no file transfer application, no server directory structure to navigate).

Once the text of the prospectus is held in a database then a monolithic document can be easily produced; this can be imported into the desktop publishing tool that is still used to prepare the version to be sent to the printers. Importantly, though, the Web version is already world visible.

Example Product:

FileMaker Pro V4 (http://www.filemaker.com/)
Inexpensive, multi-platform, runs over TCP/IP
Works out of the box - no learning cliff
Web companion plug-in: first database published inside 5 minutes

Examples of Good Practice in Earth Science Learning & Teaching:

Top VRML Sites for Earth Scientists (September 1998)

Examples of Good Practice in Earth Science
Learning & Teaching: