Abstract for the American Geophysical Union
Fall 2001 Conference
Dr. William Porter, ECSU Professor Geoscience

PLANS OF IMPLEMENTATION AND METHODS OF INCREASING STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN THE EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE COURSE AT ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY
This presentation reviews the experience of Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in offering the Earth Systems Science (ESS) on-line course sponsored by the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) and how it relates to our plans to offer the course in the Spring Semester of 2002. The course was offered for the first time at ECSU during the Fall Semester 2000. Eight students were enrolled in the course; four enrolled in the high school course and four in the elementary school course. While eight enrolled students may not be considered a large number, we felt that the administration of the course was successful because of the staff's learning experience. The small number is also a reflection of the nature of ECSU's primary recruitment region of northeastern North Carolina; this area is extremely rural with a smaller population, lower economic development, and fewer cultural amenities than most other regions of the state. Our approach to this project is for a long-term effective offering of a course that is much needed, especially in this area of the state. The ultimate goal is to develop ESS as our on-line offering of courses in the Geoscience Department curriculum so as to recruit students who might not have the opportunity to take college level courses because of day-time work commitments and/or inaccessibility to a local college or university.

A major component of ESS is its focus on problem-based learning built upon the life experiences of participating students. Having learned from the previous offering of the course, the following are objectives related to its offering in the Spring Semester:
  1. To get ESS to become a part of the Geoscience Curriculum so that it will be listed on the schedule of classes for the Spring Semester 2002 and each succeeding semester;

  2. To aggressively reach out to public school teachers, especially in the recruitment region of ECSU in northeastern North Carolina, by using effective recruitment strategies;

  3. To have an active and continuous communication with prospective students prior to and immedicately after their enrollment, as well as being accessible to them during the entire period of the course; and

  4. To have students focus on the problem-based aspect of the course as it relates to their life experiences.
These objectives are designed to increase enrollment in the course as well as to enhance the retention of participating students.

American Geophysical Union
American Geophysical Union is an international scientific society with more than 35,000 members in over 115 countries. For over 75 years, AGU researchers, teachers, and science administrators have dedicated themselves to advancing the understanding of Earth and its environment in space and making the results available to the public.
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