Geog 360 Fall 2009 Blog Updates

General updates to the blog for the Fall 2009 version of Geog 360.

These images are not animated: they are static images that illusion your brains.

On Working with SNC Students

Each student in the Fall ‘08 Geography 360 was assigned a small group of Sagan National Colloquium students (taking the Colloquium for .25 credit) to assist with their project.

The results were mixed: some of the SNC students were engaged and helpful, others disengaged or even absent from the projects.

Working with and managing people is a skill that takes quite a bit of experience.  Most college students don’t gain such experiences in college.  Thus look at this as a potentially useful skill you are learning.

I asked the Fall ‘08 Geography 360 students to send me a few comments on their experiences working with the SNC students.  Those comments, mostly unedited, are below.  Hopefully these comments might help students in the Spring 2009 Geography 360 course.

Please review these comments and let me or Paula Travis know if you have any questions whatsoever.

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Molly Verhoff: In the beginning with my group of six it was a nightmare because no one would respond on time, some people never responded, and everyone had conflicts with their schedule. After the first few meetings some people dropped out and others had never responded so I stopped contacting them. This left me with 3 students and it was manageable. I made a Facebook group and sent out a group message with meeting times and reminders. One of the girls had a sports conflict for a lot of our meetings so I had her come when she could and gave her an alternate assignment (research on us landfills and recycling) so she could still get credit.

I don’t have any great advice to give. I know two girls in my group went to the same high school so they liked to come to the meeting because it was the only time they saw each other in college. I guess one thing that is good is to learn if any of them are friends because they can remind each other of the meeting times. I would also recommend a Facebook group because it makes contacting everyone really easy and they won’t delete it like an email.

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Sydney Fitzpatrick: Working with students in the Sagan National Colloquium course was an educational experience.  Trying to get multiple people together who had varying interest in the project was difficult and tedious.  Students did not realize that they would need to do more work than what could be done sitting at a computer.  I told any student that wasn’t interested in the project to let me know immediately so I could stop trying to involve them.  When actually gathering data and talking to people needed for the project, it was very hard to find a time that fit their schedule, so I gave up and told them when I was doing things and that they had to come to one of these activities to get course credit. Since working with the students face to face seemed to pose a big problem, I gave them assignments that had to do project and then asked to meet with them individually to discuss what they did.  I have met with one student but have yet to hear from the other two. Although they all seemed interested in trying to make biodiesel, they thought that they would be able to jump right in and start producing biodiesel.  They really don’t want to deal with all the preparation that goes into a project that could become very big.

I think that in order to improve retention, communication and involvement; the students need to be better informed about the projects up front before being assigned to them. We were very rushed to pick a project and give a proposal that would inform students what we hoped to be accomplishing.  SNC students should be well informed on the time and activity commitment that they need to put in.  I would also try to advertise the SNC class to upper classmen. Older students know how to better manage their time, and they have a better idea of what they are interested in and might want to get involved in.  And my advice to students that are heading the projects to try to work with the students, but don’t put all your effort into try to get them involved.  Just do the project with or without them.

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Spring 2009 Updates

Updates of the course syllabus and schedule are complete for Spring 2009.  As with the Fall 2008 semester, students in Geography 360 will work on projects related to the 2008-09 Sagan National Colloquium. The Projects tab above describes ongoing and potential projects.

We are all going to try and vastly reduce paper use in this course, using PDFs, email, and the blog.  We’ll see how that goes.

See you Wednesday.

Fall 2008 Updates

Updates of the course syllabus and schedule are complete for the Fall 2008 – although I will add some details to these in the near future.  We will work with students enrolled in the 2008-09 Sagan National Colloquium this fall (and in the spring) on projects related to a green campus.  Should be an interesting application of environmental geography.

Gray Wolves Coming Off Endangered Species List

“BILLINGS, Mont. – Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are being removed from the endangered species list, following a 13-year restoration effort that has seen the animal’s population soar.

An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That’s a dramatic turnaround for a predator that was largely exterminated in the United States in the early 20th century.”

More

Environmental Geography: Spring 2008

The blog syllabus and schedule for Geography 360: Environmental Geography have been updated. Our first meeting is next Wednesday eve at 6pm. The course is currently full and there is no room in our meeting room (218 Science Center) to add more.

Make sure you at least acquire a copy of the Sullivan book (Meadowlands) as we will read that book in its entirety for our second meeting.

John K.

Geography 360: Environmental Geography, Fall 2007

This is the blog for Geography 360, Environmental Geography, Fall of 2007. I have updated the course syllabus and schedule (linked at the top of this page) and will add students to the blog during the first meeting.  The course is currently full.
John K.