Teaching, live from Boulder
This week I am in Boulder, CO. I am a co-lead instructor for a course that I helped design 3 years ago. This is the 4th time I've taught it. The purpose of the course is to improve weather forecasts around the country by teaching National Weather Service offices about how the land surface impacts the atmosphere.
This year is very unique. Usually, representatives from the various NWS offices come to Boulder for the week and attend the class. This time, apparently to reduce costs, only me and the other instructors are here. The students are at their own NWS offices scattered across the country. The course is being broadcast to them via internet, and they can participate using GoToMeeting and a conference line.
It's a unique challenge to teach a class where the students are so far away (this time they range from Hawaii to New York). There are some logistical issues (e.g., class begins at 5 AM in Hawaii, and some internet connections are slower than others). Interacting with the students is difficult sometimes. But it's also kinda fun in some ways. This first day went very well, and now that we're used to the system it should get easier.
I love teaching. It's a great way to make a difference, even if it's a small one. Most public weather forecasts in the U.S. come from the NWS in one way or another. And by now, most NWS offices in the U.S. have participated in our course. Maybe the course hasn't drastically improved weather forecasts around the country, but it's really neat to think that maybe it has helped a little.
posted by Matt @ 7:13 PM
3 Comments:
Teachers make a bigger impact than you might think. I certianly doubt any of your "students" will forget about the impact of the land surface on their forecasts, even if they've not received enough in-depth training to apply it regularly. I'm sure they're thinking in the back of their mind... "hmm... I wonder if this will impact that tonight..."
:)
If you are going to teach in the future using a distance format, you might see how a virtual world could help the student-teacher interaction. Some people in a few fields have been testing it out with positive results. It may not be as good as face-to-face, but it's getting better all the time.
Very interesting idea, Norman! Thanks! Maybe I'll suggest it.
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