This geology lab internet course is designed to give each student hands-on experience with the fundamentals of the kinds of things that geologists do.

It will require each student to work independently, but will also allow each student to work at a faster pace than programmed for the semester if desired.

Be sure to read the syllabus.

Below is a summary of the required work. Click in the box or scroll to see the information. More details are in the syllabus.

Due dates for all assigned work are posted on the schedule page.

The lessons page has helpful links and other information. Refer to it frequently as it is updated as new web sites are discovered.

The instructor is available online to provide assistance with the exercises and the concepts.

You must ask questions about those things that you do not understand since the instructor will not know what you need if you don't ask. Send questions to geolab@hcc.hawaii.edu

A class mailing list will be sent to the entire class after everyone has checked in during the first week. If you do not want to be included on the class list you must notify the instructor as soon as possible.

You are encouraged to ask classmates for help, and to work together on the exercises although you must work on your own on the quizzes.

All work submitted for grade must be individual effort only. No collaboration is permitted on the quizzes, the exam, or the reports.

For more information see the section on dishonesty in the syllabus.

Lab Lessons (50% - 250 points)

The basic work will consist of self-direted completion of lessons 1 - 10 in the lab manual, which is included as part of the laboratory kit. The virtural field trips in the manual also have quizzes. These VFT quizzes are not required and will not be graded. See below for more information on the one required VFT.

The lessons page has helpful links and other information that will help in completing the exercises and understanding the material.

To see the schedule for completion of the lessons see the schedule page. These dates are guidelines that have been evenly spread throughout the semester. There is no 'official' due date for any lesson, but all quizzes must be completed before the last day of the term as published in the schedule of courses.

Each lesson has a quiz at the end. To answer the quiz questions will require that the exercises in the lesson be worked through. The quiz will take significant time to complete as some of the questions may require problems to be solved using the principles and techniques developed in the exercise.

Quizzes will be due on the dates shown on the schedule page. It is important to keep up with the work because falling behind will make it more difficult to catch up at the end. There is no minimum number of lessons that must be completed, but it is a guarantee that you will not be able to answer the required exam questions unless you complete the exercises.

The quiz format is in the process of being updated due to a new lab manual and new quiz questions. Instructor will send more information as it becomes available early in the semester.

Contact the instructor at geolab@hcc.hawaii.edu before submitting the first quiz if you are unsure about how to do it.

Earthwatch Log/Journal (EW) (10% - 50 points)

Each student is required to submit a journal or log of geological events. Geological events happen somewhere on the planet everyday. These include, but are not limited to earthquakes, landslides, floods, erosion, volcanic eruptions, waves and coastal events (including tsunami).

Each student must keep a log that summarizes 10 geological events that occur during the semester or term. It will be submitted at the end of the term as a single document.

Microsoft Office has templates for reports and logs in the "Project Gallery". Click on 'file' on the menu bar.

The goal is to increase everyone's awareness of those events that do happen frequently, and which are reported in the various newsmedia.

The log should be brief, and must include the date, the source, the event, and a brief statement of the impact, or other relevant information.

It does not have to be a significant event in terms of lives lost or severe property damage.

An example of a log entry is:

"Saturday, July 16, 2005, Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Magnitude 5.2 earthquake rattles Big Island. No significant damage, but the 'moderate' sized quake, centered 30 miles northwest of Hilo shook local residents."

The log must be submitted by the due date shown on the schedule page and should reflect observations made sddklh throughout the semester.

Grading will be based on a regular monitoring of events( 7 - 10 days), and points will be deducted if the logged events are spaced too closely.

The log must include the source of the information (newspaper, magazine, TV), the location and the date of the event, and the extent of damage if any..

Consult the instructor at geolab@hcc.hawaii.edu with questions about the report. View a sample report here.

Virtual Field Trip Report (VFT) (16% - 80 points)

Each student is required to submit a report on a visit to a virtual web site. The laboratory manual contains several virtual field trips to online sites. The manual leads to active links on those sites, although you will find that some links are outdated.

You may use other web sites for the formal report, but the site should be cleared with the instructor beforehand. The lessons web page has links to alternative virtual field trip sites.

Each student must submit a formal report that details the virtual field trip. This report should be a description of the visit as it it was an actual trip taken to the site.

The report will include the name and URL of the site and a description of the site. what was viewed there, what is contained at the site, and topics of interest observed during the visit.

Here are some helpful links to pages about writing reports.

Exam (24% - 120 points)

Each student must take a final exam which will assess what was learned during the semester. The questions will be similar to, but not identical to the questions on the quizzes for the individual lessons.

It is designed to assess how well the learning outcomes were achieved. The objectives for each lesson are at the beginning of the lesson in the lab manual. It is each student's responsibility to be aware of those objectives and to do his/her best to attain them.Keep the objectives in mind while working on the exercises in each lesson.

The exam will be available online at the end of the semester. The URL for the exam will be sent to all students as shown on the schedule.

Updated 01/05/07