Before we begin our semester of study together, it is important that you review all of the material on all these pages and all of the resources located in this Course Orientation, as it will not only prepare you to be successful in this course, but it will also help you prepare for the "Course Information" quiz at the end of the orientation. You must get a score of at least 90% on that quiz to gain access to Lesson 1 (as well as the rest of the course!) . . . and the answers are all contained in this orientation!
This course orientation will complement, and expand on, the information provided on our syllabus. Be sure to review that document, too . . . carefully! A link to the syllabus is located above.
You should complete the Course Orientation by the time the course officially begins.
As you work your way through these online materials for the Course Orientation, you will encounter additional reading assignments and hands-on exercises and activities. The chart below provides an overview of the requirements for the Course Orientation. For assignment details, refer to the orientation page noted.
Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates.
ACTIVITY | LOCATION | SUBMITTED FOR GRADING? |
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Personalize your Canvas space | page 4 | No—If you are new to Canvas, personalize your Canvas space (follow directions on the "Canvas Overview" page of this lesson). |
Forward your Canvas e-mail | page 4 | No—This is an optional step that enables you to be notified of e-mail sent to you in the course so you can be sure you don't miss any important course communications. |
Register with the Library | page 6 | |
Introduce yourself and meet the rest of the class!
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Canvas: Modules tab | Yes—this activity will count toward your overall Participation grade. |
Complete the "Initial Course Survey" |
Canvas: Modules tab Orientation folder |
Yes - This survey contains questions about you and your expectations for this course. It also has some content questions designed for me to get a sense of everybody's familiarity and comfort level with some background science and math material. You will NOT be graded on the correctness of your answers to the content questions. However, participating in this survey is 5% of your final course grade. |
Take the Course Information Quiz |
Canvas: Modules tab Orientation folder |
Yes - The quiz is designed to test your knowledge of the course and the information covered in this lesson. You must get a score of 90% or better on this quiz to unlock Lesson 1. You may retake the quiz as many times as you need.
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If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum (not e-mail), located under the Discussion tab in Canvas. I will check that discussion forum daily to respond. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
On the following pages you will find important information about the course structure, requirements, scheduling, and technical requirements and assistance . . . all of which you'll need to know in order to pass the course. Remember, you are also responsible for the information located on our course syllabus (see the Resources menu).
EARTH 530 will be conducted entirely on the World Wide Web. There are no set class meeting times, but you will be required to complete weekly assignments. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:
Students who register for this Penn State course gain access to assignments and instructor feedback, and earn academic credit. Information about Penn State's Online Geospatial Education programs is available at the Geospatial Education Program Office [2].
This course is organized into seven units. The structure was chosen to include a focus on the four driving questions which active scholars have identified as the most important for understanding the "Critical Zone". The science lesson in the first unit will introduce you to the concept of the Critical Zone. Units 2 through 6 will cover issues related to soil, the atmosphere and climate, water, landforms, and ecosystems, respectively, as they relate to Critical Zone studies. Finally in Unit 7, with your newly attained knowledge of the Critical Zone, we will integrate the lessons learned in Units 2 through 6 into an Earth Systems framework and consider the impacts of human society on the Critical Zone. We will also revisit the outstanding questions in Critical Zone science and consider the implications of the state of the Critical Zone to the overall health of life on Earth.
As further outlined below, the course consists of twelve lessons divided into the seven aforementioned units. Lessons will be completed at a rate of one per week and each contains interactive exercises, links, animations, movies, and novel explanations of the basic scientific principles of Critical Zone science.
The first page of content for each lesson contains an overview of what that lesson will cover, including a list of any "external" reading assignments (articles, book chapters, etc.) and a list of "deliverables" (things you have to submit for that lesson).
Week 1 Lesson 1 |
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Week 2 Lesson 2 |
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Week 3 Lesson 3 |
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Week 4 Lesson 4 |
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Week 5 Lesson 5 |
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Week 6 Lesson 6 |
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Week 7 Lesson 7 |
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Week 8 Lesson 8 |
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Week 9 Lesson 9 |
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Week 10 Lesson 10 |
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Week 11 Lesson 11 |
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Week 12 Lesson 12 |
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EARTH 530 will rely upon a variety of methods to assess and evaluate your learning progress, including:
NOTE: All formal written assignments must be double-spaced in 12 point Times Roman font.
Penn State uses an online course management system called Canvas to deliver most of its online courses to registered students. (For more information about Canvas, visit the Getting Started with Canvas page). Canvas organizes content using different sections in its site. Here is how we use it for the Penn State courses that use this course text. (Registered students might want to open Canvas in a second tab or browser window while studying this page.)
Main Menu in the left pane:
Menu of links once inside a course:
For a more complete introduction to Canvas please see the Getting Started with Canvas page.
To get the most out of Canvas, registered students should configure their Canvas profiles as follows:
When in Canvas, at the bottom-left corner of the screen you will see a round icon with a question mark. Click this question mark icon for a list of options, including "Search the Canvas Guides", which provides lots of information about how to operate in the Canvas site.
How can you define and achieve success in an online course like this one? It depends on your goals and perspective. A 19-year-old undergraduate student who registers for an online course in the hope of earning an easy “A” is unlikely to be successful, no matter how adept he or she may be with information technology. However, Palloff and Pratt observe that “in general, distance education has been applied to and seen as most successful in the arena of adult and continuing education” (Palloff and Pratt, 2001, p. 109).
“Much of the research done on successful students in distance education programs suggests that students who are attracted to this form of education share certain characteristics, including that they are voluntarily seeking further education, are motivated, have higher expectations, and are more self-disciplined. They tend to be older than the average student and to have a more serious attitude toward their courses, education, and learning. They are what most would consider to be nontraditional students.” (Palloff and Pratt 2001, p. 109)
This is not to say that younger students can’t succeed in online classes. Indeed, “most [undergraduate] students today are older, are working, and need more flexible schedules” (Palloff and Pratt 2001, p. 109). The question is, assuming that a student is motivated to get the most out of an online class, and that the class is well-designed and led by attentive instructors, which attitudes and behaviors increase the student’s chance of having a satisfactory experience?
Swan and colleagues (2000) surveyed approximately 3,800 students enrolled in 264 online courses through the SUNY Learning Network. Of the 1,406 responses received, the researchers analyzed data associated with 73 courses for which there was a 40 percent response rate or greater. Among their findings were statistically significant correlations between student satisfaction and (a) perceived learning gains; (b) interaction with instructors; and (c) interaction with fellow students. Additionally, respondents who rated their own level of activity in online classes as high also tended to report higher levels of satisfaction.
Research results like these, along with lessons learned in our more than ten years of experience in distance learning, leads us to recommend the following three study habits that will maximize your chances for success in your online class:
1) Devote sufficient time and effort. Time-on-task is a necessary—if insufficient—condition for learning (Gibbs 1999; Chickering and Gamson 1987; Bransford et al. 2000). Schedule several blocks of time during each week to study the text, to work on project assignments, and to read and contribute to discussions. To gauge whether you are spending enough time, assume that you will spend 8–12 hrs/week on each lesson.
2) Communicate effectively. Post succinct, specific questions and comments with informative subject lines. Whenever appropriate, share questions and comments with the entire class (through text commenting or discussion forums) rather than using private e-mail. Read others’ questions and comments and replies. Compose project reports with the same care and skill that you’d hope your instructor or employer would devote to a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Be civil. If frustrated or angry, wait until the next day to post a message.
3) Approach learning reflectively. Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses as a learner. Students who develop strong “metacognitive” skills tend to be the most effective learners. Also, those who are able to relate what they learned to situations outside the classroom (real or virtual) are most likely to retain that knowledge (Bransford, J.D. et al. 2000).
Bransford, J. D. et al. (Eds.) (2000) How People Learn: Brain, Mind, and Experience. Washington, D.C.: National Research Council.
Chickering, A. W., and Gamson, Z. F. (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin, 39(7) 3–7.
Gibbs, G. (1999) Planning Your Students’ Learning Activities. In McKeachie, W.J. (Ed.) McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, 10th Ed. 20–33. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Palloff, R. M. and Pratt, K. (2001) Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Swan, K. et al. (2000) Course Design Factors Influencing the Success of Online Learning. Proceedings, WebNet 2000 World Conference on the WWW and Internet. San Antonio, TX, October 30–November 4.
Meaningful interactions among students and instructors are the hallmark of a successful online class. Most of communications in this course are via Canvas system. Canvas provide several kinds of interactive tools, as described below, which will be used during the semester.
The Canvas course management system supports several modes of communication, which include:
Now that you've had a chance to learn about the course and the online learning environment, I'd like to get to know you . . . and help you get to know each other! Complete the activities below, then continue with the remainder of the Course Orientation.
By now you hopefully have a much better idea of what this course, and the online course environment, will be like. Time to test your skills! Once you have reviewed all of the materials for the Course Orientation, you will need to take the "Course Information Quiz" and pass it with a score of 90% or better in order to unlock the assignment dropboxes for this course. You can take the quiz as many times as you need until you obtain at least a 90%.
Good luck!
You have reached the end of the Course Orientation! Double-check the to-do list on the Course Orientation Overview page to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before you begin Lesson 1. (To access Lesson 1, use the link in the "Course Outline" menu at left.)
If you have anything you'd like to comment on, or add to, the course orientation materials, feel free to share your thoughts with Tim.