Welcome to Physical Geology, Earth Science 1302. It is my hope that you will find this class entertaining and informative. I very much enjoy the online format because it gives students and teachers a chance to think about the stuff in the text and ‘lecture’ that usually goes by so quickly [some of you would say not quickly enough] in a classroom setting. You will see a variety of material and have a chance to discuss this material in bulletins, also known as discussion postings. These discussions are one of the most important elements of the class, and test questions will be drawn form them. Another important element of the class is the modules explaining what I think is important in each chapter. There are questions in almost every slide show that you will be responsible for answering, mostly as discussion postings, again sometimes called bulletins. The third important element of the course is the exercises and essays that you will turn in. The point of these is to encourage you to learn more about certain subjects and to explore and reinforce topics from the course material.

You have registered for this web-based course to fulfill part of the core lab science requirement for graduation from UALR. This course is a little different from a regularly-scheduled lecture class, partly because you are responsible for reading the text and viewing the slide shows in a timely fashion. You will need to do this to keep up in class.

There will be a simple quiz covering some of the introductory information contained in the syllabus and on the webct getting started page. You may refer to these as you take the quiz. It is important to have an understanding of the course syllabus and software. But even if you are a webct pro, don’t wait until the last minute to take tests or do assignments. Build a schedule for yourself that includes some downtime for yourself and possibly for technological glitches.

Your learning is your responsibility. The good news is that this class will be relevant to your daily lives and will use materials from the media and the web to emphasize what might otherwise be dull class material. Don’t waste your time thinking about the usual counterproductive themes of ‘I’m not a scientist’ or ‘I’m not a science person’ or ‘what a bunch of useless stuff’. We all need to be informed citizens in this day and age of advance technology. It is therefore your job and mine to keep this class relevant to our daily lives.

Finally some tips that I find useful. Pay attention! I know we all have lives outside this course, but we must try to keep up with the material. Log on often, post bulletins/discussions often, and learn to enjoy science as a way to understand the universe. Science is not the only way to gain knowledge, but it is an important element of our society today.