The Learning Environment

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This materials for this class are on on the World Wide Web. Registered students in this course will need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:

  • This site - The instructional materials in this site include 10 modules, plus this course orientation. Each module contains an introduction, followed by the reading assignments, lengthy presentation of the topic and between 1 and 4 laboratory exercises.  The lab exercises are a key part of the class, designed to provide you with a stronger grasp of the concepts in each module.   A few of the lab exercises include Google Earth, you must be able to download this software.  We will help you if it does not work on your computer.  The Orientation includes a tutorial to get you up to speed.  The other key components of the course are the readings.  These are mandatory.  Some of the material in the readings is not covered in the text of the course and you will be expected to master that material.  Most of the readings are from journals are are intended for a general audience.  Even though the reading material is compiled at the beginning of the module, we recommend that you read the references after you have read the text.  The Earth is very visual and we have incorporated a lot of images in the text, more than a typical on-line course.   Make sure that you take in these images as you read the text.  The final element of the course are videos.  Make sure you watch them.
  • Course Management Systems
    • Penn State Students use Canvas, Penn State's course management system. In Canvas, registered students consult course calendars, communicate with instructors and fellow students, submit assignments, receive feedback from the instructor, take online surveys, and check assignment scores and course grades. Note that a link to Canvas appears at left in the Resources menu.

Topics of study

The content of this course is divided into three broad areas or units.   Each unit is made up of Modules.  There are ten modules in the course, eight are one week in length and two are two week in length.

Unit 1:  Fresh Water: Scarcity or Surfeit?

Unit 2: Physical Hydrology

Unit 3: Social Science of Water

Course assignments

  *Please refer to the assignment page in the course orientation and your course syllabus for more details including assignment weighting and final grade calculation.