An upper level oceanography course, with lab component, has been taught on a two year rotation at Wayland Baptist University's home campus, located in Plainview, TX. Plainview is situated in the Texas Panhandle, over 600 miles from the nearest ocean. This location creates a challenge in both developing effective labs and teaching a course in which most students have never experienced the object of study.

The inclusion of Online Ocean Studies from the American Meteorological Society is expected to dramatically enhance the current course offering. For example, the use of near real time data, as required in many of the course components, should boost student interest and provide students with a more active-learning/participatory experience. Ten computers are available for student use in the classroom where the course will be taught, allowing a flexible lecture/lab environment. Other laboratory activities and internet resources will be used to complement the AMS materials to provide a full 3 hour lecture/1 hour lab course.

In addition, the faculty member who attended the AMS “Teaching Online Ocean Studies” workshop held at the University of Washington during June 2007 benefited greatly from the experience. Efforts are underway to incorporate concepts and ideas from the short course in the Oceanography curriculum and also several other classes, such as use of NOAA's “Shoreline Assessment Manual” in Environmental Geology.

The current oceanography course at Wayland includes both physical and biological components. Previous lab activities covered aspects from both of these areas. Labs included use of wave tables along with computer simulations of wave actions, ocean chemistry studies using Java OceanAtlas, density tank demonstrations, and organism identification. The highlight of the class, at least from a student perspective, is a four day field trip to Mustang Island on the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the extensive distance two of the four days are used for travel. While there, activities include a four hour trip on the University of Texas' RV/Katy making primarily biologic collections, numerous beach observations at different locations, and visits to local aquariums and several other coastal features. Plans for future activities during the trip include extensive studies at one of the estuaries.

Founded in 1908, Wayland Baptist University is the oldest institution in continuous operation on the high plains of Texas. The university operates 14 campuses and serves nearly 6000 students of great ethnic diversity throughout the system. The main campus is located in Plainview, Texas, while others range from San Antonio, Texas to Aiea, Hawaii and Fairbanks, Alaska. Wayland is a liberal arts university offering bachelor's degrees in a wide variety of disciplines from the arts and education to math, science, sport science, business, religion and the humanities. Master's degrees are available in social science, religion, education, business and science. The university maintains a focus on learning and student success and service.