HR: 1340h
AN: ED33A-0755    [Abstracts]
TI: Using a Web Site to Support a Seismology Course Textbook
AU: * Wysession, M E
EM: michael@wucore.wustl.edu
AF: Washington University, Earth and Planetary Sciences Campus Box 1169, St. Loius, MO 63130 United States
AU: Stein, S
EM: seth@earth.northwestern.edu
AF: Northwestern University, Department of Geological Sciences, Evanston, IL 60208 United States
AB: We present a course in seismology that consists of a textbook with an accompanying web site (http://epscx.wustl.edu/seismology/book). The web site serves many different functions, and is of great importance as a companion to the curriculum in several different ways: (1) All of the more than 600 figures from the book are available on the web site. Geophysics is a very visually-oriented discipline, and many concepts are more easily taught with appropriate visual tools. In addition, many instructors are now using computer-based lecture programs such as PowerPoint. To aid in this, all of the figures are displayed in a common JPG format, both with and without titles. They are available to be used in a seismology course, or any kind of Earth Science course. This way, an instructor can easily grab a figure from the web site and drop it into a PowerPoint format. The figures are listed by number, but are also obtainable from menus of thumbnail sketches. If an instructor would like all of the figures, they can be obtained as large zip files, which can be unzipped after downloading. In addition, sample PowerPoint lectures using the figures as well the equations from the text will be available on the course web site. (2) Solutions to all of the homework problems are available in PDF format on the course website. Homework is a vital component of any quantitative course, but it is often a significant time commitment for instructors to derive all of the homework problems. In addition, it is much easier to select which homework problems are desired to be assigned if the solutions can be seen. The 64 pages of homework solutions are on a secure web site that requires a user ID and password that can be obtained from the authors. (3) Any errors found in the textbook are immediately posted on an "Errata" web page. Many of these errors are found by instructors who are using the curriculum (and they are given credit for finding the errors!). The text becomes an interactive process, therefore, and is constantly improving. In the past, errors in textbooks were a significant problem, especially if there were errors in parts of the text that were used by students in solving homework problems. However, because this textbook is reprinted in small batches, errors that are found by instructors and reported to the authors get included in the next printing, so that students using the book at any given time are able to have a text that is devoid of all errors found up to that point.
UR: http://epscx.wustl.edu/seismology/book
DE: 7200 SEISMOLOGY
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting