Earth and Planetary Science, College of Arts and Sciences

Examining Student Perceptions of an Interactive Online Course with Laboratory Components: GEOL 101 – The Dynamic Earth Course Redesign

Abstract

GEOL 101 online, the very first online course UTK’s Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) department is offering, will enhance the scope of undergraduate geoscience studies by engaging more students. The course will be redesigned with a major emphasis on using Arc within Canvas, to create new instructional videos for course lectures and lab components. The experiences of this course development will be valuable in transferring other courses to an online equivalent, eventually leading to the development of a robust online program.

This online course will spark an increased cross-discipline collaboration as students from various departments select the course to fulfill elective requirements. In addition, developing the course materials to serve a larger class will potentially create positions for teaching assistants, which could have a long-term effect on graduate education, teaching and research. Thus, GEOL 101 online will play an effective role in the advancements of Geology education overall.