1. INTRODUCTION
Weather impacts many facets of life, including agriculture. Weather
is one of the driving factors in the dynamics of plant, soil and
environmental interaction. For example, precipitation, wind, sky
cover and other aspects of meteorology influence such soil and
plant processes as ground water contamination, plant growth, plant
nutriment, pest control, and soil erosion. The effects of weather
on the various aspects of soil and plant science are inseparable.
Such subject matter can be studied without a thorough knowledge
of the weather, however, a more valuable education is going to
be had by those that include atmospheric science in their course
of study. It was for this benefit that the Plant, Soil and Environmental
Science (PSES) department at Montana State University (MSU), in
Bozeman, Montana decided to offer an atmospheric science course
to their students.
2. BACKGROUND
At MSU there is no atmospheric science program, therefore, there are no professors on the campus available to support the PSES department broaden their educational program through inclusion of the study of atmospheric science. It was also not financially feasible for the department to add faculty for the instruction of one or two courses a year.
MSU and the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota have actively participated in the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium. This consortium was developed to promote participation in educational and research issues associated with the application of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth activities. Through UMAC activities a strong tie has developed between UND and MSU. UND has an active undergraduate program in atmospheric science so the natural solution to broadening the scope of the PSES education at MSU was to initiate a partnership with the atmospheric science department at UND.
During the spring semester of 1997 the equivalent of UND's Weather Operations course (AtSci 310) was taught via the Internet to students in MSU's PSES department (PSES 480). The goal of this class was to introduce an operations approach to the application of practical methodologies of weather analysis to persons without extensive meteorological knowledge. This was to be accomplished through the use of computer textual and graphical analysis systems that would give students sufficient knowledge to better utilize the weather distributed to the public.
The Internet was chosen as the optimal means by which to teach the class to students at MSU from UND for numerous reasons. The dominating factor was that MSU had an established program of Internet-based education; this meant that some of the general problems associated with teaching over the Internet had at least been acknowledged, if not rectified before the implementation of the PSES 480 course.
The Internet is also a more dynamic medium over which to communicate
than the typical reliance upon textbooks, paper and the U.S. Postal
Service for the traditional independent study or correspondence
type of distance learning. Use of the Internet is one of the most
economically feasible options available in distance learning today
(Crowley, 1997). Conducting class on the
"Information Superhighway" allows the students and instructors
to best overcome restraints of time and space often found in distance
learning (Kerka, 1996). In addition, today's
technology allows for "real-time" discussion, which
helps students take a more active role in their education, that
cannot take place with the conventional distance learning course.
Motivated students can also increase the breadth or depth of their
learning experience more readily by using the Internet as the
educational platform because there is a vast amount of current
information available with a web browser (Heckman and Owens, 1996).
3. ISSUES
In the development stage and throughout the course, many issues
were addressed. Questions included those incurred in any distance
learning course as well as those specific to courses taught over
the Internet.
3.1 General Issues
When teaching the Weather Operations course at UND, the students are expected to have a certain amount of knowledge about basic atmospheric processes obtained through prerequisite courses upon enrollment into UND's AtSci 310. Due to the lack of such courses at MSU, some deviation from the UND class curriculum was needed. It was necessary to identify how the required material of other introductory atmospheric sciences courses be best incorporated into PSES 480.
One of the biggest problems in distance learning is the natural
tendency for procrastination. Using the web enhances students'
need for motivation, self-discipline, self-directed learning and
responsibility, but at the same time the reliance on student drive
can be a problem (Kerka, 1996). At many
points during the semester, it was necessary to identify ways
to effectively motivate students to take part in weather related
activities on a daily basis.
3.2 Internet Related Issues
Unlike the usual distance learning course, a course based on the Internet can demand intercommunication between the participants. This interaction includes student-to-student as well as instructor-to-student interchange. With classroom based courses, this task is easier. When working solely over the Internet, what is the best means to prompt active participation in the course?
Grading is more difficult when dealing with students entirely over the Internet. If there is insufficient instructor-student communication an accurate assessment of a student's knowledge becomes a challenge because study habits and effort cannot easily be observed. How can a factual evaluation of a student's grasp of required material take place over the Internet? How can a test best be administered over the Internet and remain truthful in its results?
In the effort to provoke student participation, the paperwork associated with the class can grow out of hand without providing an accurate assessment of the knowledge gained by the student. When prompting students to take an active role in their education, how can the paperwork remain near the level of a classroom-based course and still provide an accurate representation of a student's grasp of the required material?
Face-to-face interaction like that found in classroom-based courses had many benefits. In order to reap those benefits in an Internet-based course, how can the live one-on-one interchange best be mimicked over the Internet?
The nature of the Weather Operations course requires numerous
supporting graphics, including large graphics files of synoptic
weather charts. In the specific case of meteorology courses that
are strongly based upon the use of maps and charts, how can graphics
be used extensively for teaching purposes as well as for student
exercises?
4. IMPLEMENTATION
The class began with certain expectations being made by both the instructors and the students involved. To best meet the needs and interests of the students, the PSES 480 course evolved and transformed throughout the semester as the above issues shifted in their importance and everyone became more comfortable with the Internet as an educational setting.
PSES 480 was designed to be a three credit course. In keeping with the traditional view that a three credit course has three contact-hours of class per week and two hours of work outside of class for each hour spent in class, the work level for the class was expected to be approximately nine hours each week. By the end of the semester, a typical week's work for the student in PSES 480 included the reading of three "lectures" and three of seven daily weather briefings. In addition, weekly participation in discussions of three out of five possible current weather topics, participation in two of three one-hour "chat sessions", and completion of one homework assignment were mandatory.
Work was to be done by the student no less than three days out
of the week. By requiring the students to participate on-line
three days each week, the problems of procrastination were greatly
reduced. The means of enforcing on-line computer connections three
days per week generated excessive paperwork. Points were to be
distributed on a daily basis, and no merit was placed upon the
quality of their participation, thus these points were not representative
of either the student's effort or understanding of the presented
material.
4.1 Use of MSU Link
The multi-faceted nature of the Internet also required analysis of the best way to effectively put it to work for the class. MSU developed and implemented a special commercial software package to interface with the student through either direct dial-up to the MSU host server or through an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This interface, called MSU Link, was built using the First Class Software package and was used for the PSES 480 class.
The success of prior courses taught via MSU Link spurred its extensive use at the beginning of the semester. This package utilizes numerous nesting "conferences" that are similar to Internet newsgroups where messages between the professor and students can be posted and read by all participants in the class. The instructor is offered enough control of the options for the conferences that moderating of messages can be done as necessary. The MSU Link software also provided personal e-mail communication to participants without requiring the use of an additional e-mail package. MSU Link also supported chat capabilities. Any communication occurring through this interface could be saved for future reference and reviewed later in the term. This also provided an easy means to assess the student's participation.
Midway through the semester the advantages of the live chat feature were realized. This provoked the scheduling of three hour-long chat sessions each week with attendance required at two. These chats quickly became the most valuable asset of the course. It bridged the difference between the traditional classroom setting and the non-traditional Internet setting by mimicking the interpersonal communication of the classroom. Not only did it provide a better means of communication of ideas and questions, but it also provided the instructor with a more accurate means to measure the students' grasp of class material and furnished a platform for further discussion of issues of interest. Adding the chats to the class curriculum actively engaged the students in the determination of their education while also providing the instructor with a better means of grading without significantly adding to the paperwork.
While the use of MSU Link had many advantages, there were some
problems as well. The most significant problem with MSU Link was
the lack of effective graphics support. Because MSU Link's communication
is based upon textual messages there was a limitation to the graphics
that could be used within its platform. Only one graphic could
be used per message and there was a file size quota. It was discovered
that once a graphic file of a synoptic chart was reduced to fit
within the file size restrictions, it was too small to interpret.
This problem could not be ignored because the class required numerous
charts to be viewed daily.
4.2 Use of the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW) was part of the class from the beginning, even when all exchange of information and ideas was being conducted via MSU Link. In the effort to introduce the students to practical methodologies of weather analysis, the WWW was the natural choice for the introduction to and collection of weather data. This was due to its large volume of current weather information available anytime, anywhere. The first week's assignment included searching the web for locations for future information and sharing the results with the class. This also served as a means to assess the student's familiarity with the web and to illustrate its value as a resource tool. As in any class there was a range of ability, but all seemed generally comfortable in its use.
As harder topics were addressed and the students were provided sufficient background to begin simple weather analysis, the need for supporting graphics was greatly enhanced. As stated earlier, MSU Link did not support graphics well. The WWW, through the use of the hypertext markup language (HTML) allows for flowing integration of graphics and text. This led to a greater emphasis on the use of a web browser for the presentation of class materials including "lectures" and the daily weather briefings. A web site was established under the Regional Weather Information Center's (RWIC) web site (http://www.rwic.und.edu). Supporting background information and lecture notes were cross-linked to the PSES 480 site from other atmospheric science classes residing on the web. This enhancement of the background knowledge was the responsibility of the student. If a student was unfamiliar with a term or concept, the option was available to study it more in-depth by following the hyperlink. The use of these hyperlinks made the presentation of the prerequisite material smoother while providing the motivated student with more information to study.
Since all participants had a tolerable comfort level with the use of the WWW, the transition to the RWIC web pages was smooth. However, It was not without problems. Many of the students were taking this course for the flexibility it afforded their schedules. Many students completed the course while working from home. When the information was moved to the web, access to the appropriate technology became a dilemma for some of the students. Many did not have the latest web browser that supported frames, or they didn't have telnet or ftp capabilities. Bandwidth problems also made student access from home a challenge as many of their systems lacked the power to access the large graphics files that were used on a daily basis. These issues took away some of the flexibility offered by a distance learning course by requiring them to use campus computer resources. For those students taking the course for its schedule flexibility, the hardware and software requirements should have been stated prior to the beginning of the course as a prerequisite.
The use of the WWW for the presentation of course information increased the weekly preparation time needed for the course. The "lectures" could no longer be typed into a message and sent. HTML had to be used to format the documents. Also, graphics files needed to be converted to formats that are useable on the web. The files accumulated quickly and file management also required time. This problem, however, could easily be rectified through pre-term preparation of all lecture and reference materials. Weekly preparation time could be reduced significantly to address issues which arose from the current weather situation.
Once course materials were moved to the WWW there was work to
be done both within MSU Link as well as with a web browser. This
made the activities more cumbersome than originally intended.
When students were working from home they were using a configuration
of MSU Link that directly dialed the MSU Link host server and
could not then access the web from that phone line. Thus, multiple
phone calls and modem connections were required to perform a day's
work. This problem could be rectified if reconfiguring the MSU
Link software to connect to the server via an ISP instead of direct
dial were possible.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The primary distance learning system, MSU Link, had some valuable attributes. It was effective and convenient for the interaction between class participants through its use of message conferencing and chat capabilities. It was also convenient for non-graphical information exchange. However, the WWW was most practical for the presentation of graphic laden class materials due to its ease of graphic-text integration. This advantage far outweighs any of the unsolvable problems associated with the use of the WWW. Also, with the technology available for use with today's web browsers most of the positive attributes of MSU Link are achievable on the web through the use of scripts and applets (Taber, 1997).
As we enter the 21st century, Internet-based education will become an ever increasing issue in education reform, and especially the area of distance learning (Plotnick 1996). The popularity of the Internet as a platform for education has many factors, some of which have been addressed. With the changing student demographics indicating a larger number of non-traditional students in the university setting, the Internet-based course will gain popularity for its increased flexibility in time and space over the synchronous classroom course (Yarger et al., 1997; Shoemake, 1996).
By better understanding the issues of distance learning in general and having a greater knowledge of WWW development and its possibilities, an Internet-based course can be a positive experience for everyone involved.
6. REFERENCES
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