HR: 0800h
AN: ED51B-0419    [Abstracts]
TI: GeoBrain for Facilitating Earth Science Education in Higher-Education Institutes--Experience and Lessons-learned
AU: * Deng, M
EM: mdeng@gmu.edu
AF: Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, George Mason University, 6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 620, Greenbelt, MD 20770, United States
AU: Di, L
EM: ldi@gmu.edu
AF: Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, George Mason University, 6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 620, Greenbelt, MD 20770, United States
AB: Data integration and analysis are the foundation for the scientific investigation in Earth science. In the past several decades, huge amounts of Earth science data have been collected mainly through remote sensing. Those data have become the treasure for Earth science research. Training students how to discover and use the huge volume of Earth science data in research become one of the most important trainings for making a student a qualified scientist. Being developed by a NASA funded project, the GeoBrain system has adopted and implemented the latest Web services and knowledge management technologies for providing innovative methods in publishing, accessing, visualizing, and analyzing geospatial data and in building/sharing geoscience knowledge. It provides a data-rich online learning and research environment enabled by wealthy data and information available at NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Students, faculty members, and researchers from institutes worldwide can easily access, analyze, and model with the huge amount of NASA EOS data just like they possess such vast resources locally at their desktops. Although still in development, the GeoBrain system has been operational since 2005. A number of education materials have been developed for facilitating the use of GeoBrain as a powerful education tool for Earth science education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Thousands of online higher-education users worldwide have used GeoBrain services. A number of faculty members in multiple universities have been funded as GeoBrain education partners to explore the use of GeoBrain in the classroom teaching and student research. By summarizing and analyzing the feedbacks from the online users and the education partners, this presentation presents the user experiences on using GeoBrain in Earth science teaching and research. The feedbacks on classroom use of GeoBrain have demonstrated that GeoBrain is very useful for facilitating the transition of both undergraduate and graduate students from learners to investigators. They feedbacks have also shown the system can improve teaching effectiveness, refine student's learning habit, and inspire students" interests in pursuing Earth sciences as their career. The interaction with the education users of GeoBrain provides much needed guidance and lessens-learned for future development and promotion of GeoBrain.
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0820 Curriculum and laboratory design
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
DE: 0840 Evaluation and assessment
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting