Use of Technology
This course emphasizes the use of technology. To communicate with the other participants and your facilitator, you will log on to the Internet. It will enable you to send email and to enter virtual classroom spaces for "threaded" discussions. To conduct research on assigned topics, you will rely extensively on CD-ROM resources and the World Wide Web to find the information you need. Some or all of these computer technologies may already be familiar to you.

You will also view remotely sensed images in each three-week cycle. These images of the earth are taken by instruments mounted on satellites. Looking at remotely sensed images can help people to understand how the whole earth functions--how its subsystems (the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere) interact with one another to produce global flow and change. Remotely sensed images taken over decades can show patterns of change in the more fluid spheres--the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Examples include El Niņo, ozone depletion, and global warming. Remotely sensed images collected over longer time periods may someday reveal changes in the lithosphere. Examples include mountain formation and erosion, oceanic basin formation, and other major hard features.