The Dutton Institute supports the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences's online course and programs offerings through resident instruction, Penn State World Campus, and MOOCs.
Resident Instruction
In 2019-2020, our college provided 261 course sections of 72 EMS online courses, reaching 6,265 unique undergraduate and graduate student who generated 6,778 enrollments (21,931 student credit hours).
Penn State World Campus
The College of EMS offers 18 online certificate and degree programs through Penn State World Campus, serving more than 1,300 active online learners who study with us from around the world:
Masters Degrees
- Master of Professional Studies in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems (Program Office)
- Master of Geographic Information Systems (Program Office)
- Master of Science in Spatial Data Science (Program Office)
- Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security, Intelligence and Geospatial Analysis Option (Program Office)
Graduate Certificate Programs
- Graduate Certificate Programs in Geospatial Intelligence (Program Office)
- Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Programming and Web Map Development (Program Office)
- Graduate Certificate Program in Remote Sensing and Earth Observation (Program Office)
- Graduate Certificate Programs In Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems (Program Office)
- Graduate Certificate Program in Weather and Climate Analytics (Program Office)
- Postbaccalaureate Certificate Program in Geographic Information Systems (Program Office)
- Postbaccalaureate Certificate Program in Geospatial Intelligence Applications
Undergraduate Degrees
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Energy and Sustainability Policy (ESP) (Program Office)
Undergraduate Certificate Programs
- Undergraduate Certificate Program in Earth Sustainability
- Undergraduate Certificate Program in Weather Forecasting
Undergraduate Minors
- Undergraduate Minor in Earth and Sustainability
- Undergraduate Minor in Energy Business and Finance
- Undergraduate Minor in Geography
Our Open Educational Resources (OER)
More than 130 EMS courses have been put entirely online. To maximize our exposure, including learners and teachers who cannot afford Penn State tuition, the majority of that courseware is openly available through the College's Open Educational Resources initiative. Engagement with our faculty and acquisition of Penn State credit is, however, limited to registered students.
Our MOOCs
In 2013, Penn State joined Coursera in February 2013, with an agreement to offer five MOOCs. The College of EMS and the Dutton Institute are developing two of those five:
- Maps and the Geospatial Revolution by Anthony Robinson, Lead Faculty for Online Geospatial Education and Assistant Director for the GeoVISTA research center in the Department of Geography, and
- Energy, The Environment, and Our Future by Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor, Department of Geosciences.
Why MOOCs? As a University, we desire to:
- increase Penn State’s visibility and global brand,
- showcase key academic strengths and outstanding faculty,
- test the Coursera course platform capability to engage large audiences of learners and apply our learning to our online and hybrid course designs,
- reinforce Penn State’s leadership in online education,
- evaluate capability in providing access to high demand courses,
- extend Penn State content and expertise to internal and external audiences to address key societal issues,
- address Penn State student needs, such as college preparation or remediation,
- meet the engagement requirement for federal agency funding,
- increase visibility of World Campus courses and programs, and drive enrollments to specific programs, and
- consider new revenue models.