Collaborative Research: Google Earth for Onsite and Distance Education (GEODE)

这一合作项目是在以前工作的基础上开展的，目的是根据谷歌地球虚拟地球提供的资源，扩大、扩充和传播地球科学学习资源。该项目的组成部分包括1)开发一套全球分布的互动虚拟野外旅行，将高分辨率的千兆像素全景图像、虚拟露头和标本以及自动分级添加到谷歌地球基础上；2)使用地球引擎API将大型地球科学数据集整合到虚拟地球中，使更多形式的探究式学习和本科生研究成为可能；3)扩展工具包，包括移动应用程序，使更广泛的教职员工和学生能够向在线储存库提供众包数据和教育资源；4)举办面对面和在线的教师专业发展研讨会，以促进使用，5)通过调查、点击流数据和前后测试相结合的方式，评估传播努力和学生的学习收获。这个项目的智力价值在于它能够利用用户友好的尖端虚拟地球和千兆像素成像技术让学生参与一系列学习活动和虚拟环境。评估将通过调查和前后测试收集的离散数据与更连续的点击流数据相结合，以深入了解学生如何在此类虚拟环境中学习。该项目的更广泛的影响包括：1)它适用于各种机构，既作为正式的课程作业，也作为本科生地球科学课程内外的辅助使用；2)通过面对面、网络研讨会和小组视频会议的方式广泛发展教师的专业知识；3)专门为职前科学教师编写教材；4)为行动不便的学生以及那些因工作或家庭责任而限制参加实际实地考察的学生提供机会。

This collaborative project builds on prior work to expand, augment and disseminate geoscience learning resources based on the affordances of the Google Earth virtual globe. Components of the project include 1) development of a suite of globally distributed interactive virtual fields trips which add high-resolution gigapixel panoramic images, virtual outcrops and specimens, and automated grading to the Google Earth base, 2) using the Earth Engine API to integrate large geoscience datasets into the virtual globe, enabling additional forms of inquiry-based learning and undergraduate research, 3) expanding toolkits, including mobile apps, to enable a broader range of faculty and students to contribute crowd-sourced data and educational resources to an online repository, 4) conducting face-to-face and online faculty professional-development workshops to promote use, and 5) assessing dissemination efforts and student learning gains through a combination of surveys, clickstream data and pre-/post-tests. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its ability to leverage user-friendly, cutting-edge virtual-globe and gigapixel-imaging technology to engage students in an array of learning activities and virtual settings. Assessment is combining discrete collection of data through surveys and pre- and post-tests with more-continuous clickstream data to provide insights into how students learn in such virtual environments. The broader impacts of the project include 1) its applicability across a wide range of institutions, both as formal course assignments and for ancillary use in and beyond the undergraduate geoscience curriculum, 2) extensive faculty professional development using face-to-face, webinar and group-video-conferencing approaches, 3) materials development specifically for pre-service science teachers, and 4) provision of access for mobility-impaired students, as well as those with work or family commitments which limit participation in actual field trips.