Paul Ruscher's Presentation at "Using Satellite Data and Computing Technologies for Research and Education in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences" June 22-27,1997
Paul Ruscher of Florida State University presented and discussed the development of web-based courses taught at FSU including a course on satellite meteorology and remote sensing and a course on earth science in elementary childhood education. He discussed instructional strategies emphasizing that the course designer needs to specify what data is required for the course, distinguishing between what you think you need and the actual data needs of the course, what is the cost of data, methods to analyze and display data. He further pointed out the necessity of providing a justification for the cost of the data required for a course.
Dr. Ruscher discussed the role of the instructor in using various data resources in a course. He stated that it is necessary for the instructor to be familiar with the sources of data i.e. satellite, observational, models. Data should not be treated as a black box, but rather the instructor needs to know the details of the data sources and real-time data and be able to transmit that to the students. He further stated that it is important to develop the relationship of specific course topics to other geoscience disciplines (i.e. satellite orbits, radiative transfer, history of science).
Dr. Ruscher demonstrated the web-based course developed at FSU for earth and elementary childhood education. The course integrates lecture and laboratory for a variety of topics each week using web-based components. He also discussed K-12 initiatives that use satellite imagery. The Explores program bring satellite imagery into the classroom, including direct receipt of polar orbiting satellite data. Currently there are 180 schools in Florida participating in this program.