The Application of Web 2.0 Technologies to the Teaching of Earth Observation

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The Application of Web 2.0 Technologies to the
Teaching of Earth Observation

• Avril Behan Frances Boylan
• Dublin Institute of Technology
• avril.behan_at_dit.ie frances.boylan_at_dit.ie

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Presentation Content

• Context
• Project
• Motivation
• Implementation Detail
• Evaluation
• Future work

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Context

• In 2002 WebCT first used by Dept. of SIS for
  delivery of e-learning course in Co-ordinate
  Reference Systems (developed with the Learning
  Technology Team)
• Fully accredited Continuing Professional
  Development course with ECTS points
• Delivered to students in
• Ireland
• Cyprus
• Germany
• Korea

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Context

• In the academic year 2003-2004 WebCT was used for
  4th year students particularly for communications
  during dissertation
• In 2004-2005 WebCT rolled out to all students of
  the 4 year Geomatics BSc programme
• For communications at year and programme levels
• By individual lecturers for material
  dissemination and communications

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Project Motivation

• The results of using WebCT for 2 years are
• Students
• very positive about the access to course
  materials
• negative about modules that do not use WebCT
• Staff
• Concerns about lack of attendance at classes
• Uneasy about the lack of deep learning by some
  students who do not engage in classes as a result
  of the easy availability of course notes

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Attempted Improvement Measures

• Use of WebCT evaluation tools
• Self test
• Quiz/Survey (created in Respondus)
• Inclusion of partial notes in WebCT with more
  content delivered in class that is available

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Results of these Measures

• Continued difficulty in producing deep learning
  by students
• Quizzes and self-tests (paragraph format) require
  huge amounts of time for the provision of
  feedback to students when using a formative
  assessment model
• Each individual must be separately addressed and
  peer-learning is not facilitated
• Thus learning technologies outside of WebCT 4.1
  were investigated
• Decision made to investigate the potential
  benefit of wikis (web-pages that multiple people
  can edit) as learning tools

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What is Geomatics?

• It involves the measurement and management of
  data relating to the earth
• It encompasses the professional activities of
• Land Hydrographic Surveying
• Engineering Mine Surveying
• Remote Sensing
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Land Management

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Module Selection Background

• In 2006 a new modular version of the Geomatics
  BSc began
• This included 3 joint modules which were
  delivered to students of the
• BSc in Geomatics
• BSc in Spatial Planning
• BSc in Environmental Management
• This resulted in a large class (for a technology
  programme) of 72 where individual feedback would
  be difficult

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Introduction to Geomatics

• Introductory level overview, context setting
  generation of excitement
• Assessed via Exam 75 and Coursework 25
• Components
• Spatial Data Applications
• Appreciation of Earth Observing Systems (EOS)
• Sustainable Land Management

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Component Delivery Structure

• Face-to-face lectures used to present background
  concepts related to
• the physics of remote measurement
• historic and current sensors and platforms
• applications for which the technologies are used
• Coursework marks research upload to the wiki
• Exam question (optional) based on content from
  the final, completed wiki

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Wiki Preparation

• Wiki set up on pbwiki http//appreciationofeos.pbw
  iki.com/
• Simple site structure
• 1 Welcome Page
• 1 Sidebar where sensors are grouped by
• Platform airborne or spaceborne
• Type multispectral, superspectral,
  hyperspectral, radar, panchromatic frame
• Site access was public but password for changes
  was only made available to students taking the
  module

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Appreciation of EOS Wiki
http//appreciationofeos.pbwiki.com
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Investigation of an EO sensor

• Groups of 2 (from different cohorts)
• Students were required to carry out web-based
  research to answer a set of 10 questions
  describing, for their nominated sensor
• earth observing technology
• data availability and costs
• accuracy
• a critical evaluation of 2 particular
  applications of the sensor

9 questions
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Items Provided to the Students

• One page pre-loaded on the wiki as an example
• A template in MS Word containing the 10 questions
  and answers from the pre-prepared example with
  relevant html tagging
• A clear indication of the content that needed to
  be changed for each page
• A set of instructions on creating editing pages
  in the wiki
• A link to the Wiki style guide HTML development
  pages to facilitate variation in appearance
• A starter list of research sites

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Template (Section)

• All blue content to be replaced with information
  on the assigned sensor

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Instructions (Element 3 of 6)
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General Outcomes

• 10 students did not submit any content to the
  wiki
• Most students answered the questions on
  technology, data accuracy competently
• 4 groups provided critical analysis of
  applications of the sensor the rest either
  ignored the question or simply listed a website
• No groups edited the standard template in any way
  except by accident
• Approximately 1/3 of the students failed the
  Appreciation of EOS component of the exam which
  could easily have been passed by integrating the
  researched material

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Feedback - Groups

• Groups were composed of 2 students studying
  different programmes
• With the exception of 2 other modules the groups
  were differently timetabled and did not have much
  contact
• While Geomatics students were using WebCT for
  approximately 80 of their modules, SP and EM
  students only used WebCT for 2 joint modules
• Thus WebCT communications tools could not
  automatically be effectively used to coordinate
  research within groups more encouragement needed

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Feedback - Resources

• The class size was very large (72 students) for a
  technology-intensive module
• This limited the amount of support that could be
  given via student-lecturer contact
• Better usage of communications tools by the
  lecturer, or the introduction of a second
  lecturer to support laboratory-based sessions,
  could have reduced this problem

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Feedback - Duration

• The duration of the project was very short 4
  weeks
• This prohibited students from becoming fully
  involved with either the content research or the
  wiki development
• The exercise became one of uploading content
• Editing and correction of the wiki content was
  carried out by the lecturer rather than by the
  students which would probably have resulted in
  deeper learning

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Suggestions for Future Development

• Longer project at least 1 semester long
• Students would be given the opportunity to
  improve their initial submissions to the wiki
  after discussion in groups and with the lecturer
• More than one investigation task enabling
  students to
• Learn from the initial experience
• Take ownership of the wiki including through
  variations in design and structure as appropriate
• Improve the quality of the resultant wiki making
  it a useful tool for research in later modules
• Integrate the final wiki into their end-of-year
  electronic portfolio

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Stage 2 of the Project

• Wikis will be further integrated with WebCT 6 CE
• Other Web 2.0 tools such as social bookmarks and
  social citation will be evaluated and included
• Student feedback will be more comprehensively
  collected enabling better evaluation of success
  in student learning
• The web-based tools will be combined with group
  work, problem-solving sessions, discussions
  presentations in a blended-learning environment

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Thank You