Virtual Voyage - A WWW-based Expedition in Ocean Science Education

San Jose State University Foundation, San Jose CA

Investigators

Abstract

Oceanography (43) The WWW provides exciting, new opportunities in distributed learning in higher education. This project is building on our previous work in technology-mediated learning by bringing the excitement of sea-going research into a college-level oceanography course through the construction of a virtual oceanographic voyage. The virtual voyage of courseware aims to combine elements of experiential learning with the anytime, anywhere access of the WWW to stimulate inquiry-based learning in the ocean sciences. The voyage is synthesized from the vast catalog of recent ocean research supported by major initiatives of NSF, NOAA and the USGS waters of the eastern Pacific, and along the coasts of California and Oregon over the past decade. We are simulating the sea-going experience (sans seasickness of course) by compiling photographs and video of sea-going expeditions from within our community of research colleagues in academia, the USGS and NOAA. Virtual shipboard experiments are patterned after actual cruises and include the technologies of data acquisition and data analysis as well as providing insight into the thought process of scientists through short (8 minutes of less) streaming audio/video interview segments. We are also including subsequent shore-based analyses as part of the "voyage." The WWW-based courseware contains 2-D and 3-D graphics, animations, text and streaming audio/video. Real-time data for monitoring the marine environment is embedded in each module as are methods of learning assessment and self-testing for the students. The project takes advantage of the natural interest through a geographic focus of California and the eastern Pacific, since more students are enrolled in college-level oceanography courses in that state than in any other state in the union (private institutions, UC, CSU system, community colleges and high school). Once fully developed, the virtual voyage will be used as the basis for entire oceanography courses, both through WWW-based modules and online discussions, especially in the growing number of online courses offered through distributed learning. The modules will have a uniform interface, internal mechanisms of learning assessment and span the breadth of oceanography, in addition to showing the linkages between the scientific disciplines of oceanography. In this project we are developing four out of the planned 12 modules of the virtual voyage with testing/assessment at two campuses of the CSU systems (SJSU and SFSU), as well as at least two community colleges (College of Marin and one other to be selected, probably San Jose City College or Ohlone College).