The NESDIS cooperative institutes (CI) at Oregon, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maryland and New York have begun development of virtual teaching collaborations in satellite remote sensing. There are two goals in this effort, 1) support the continued development of a community of learners at the CIs (including faculty, staff and students) and 2) help better train students in satellite remote sensing.

Collaborative group work is an effective teaching method. Research intimates that students working in groups tend to learn more and retain it longer than when the same content is delivered in another format. These groups can be ad hoc groups formed temporarily in a given class (e.g. think-pair share activities), formal groups formed in a class to undertake a particular project (e.g. a group project for a case study analysis or homework), or study groups that last throughout the course and provide peer learning and support.

Advanced satellite meteorology and oceanography courses do not tend to cover all satellite sensors equally, they instead often focus on professors are of interest or expertise. Guest lecturers are an appropriate approach to expanding course material.

In this collaboration we made use of VistView to bring scientists from other institutes into the hosting CI classroom. The virtual visitor taught aspects of a course in their area of expertise. This paper will summarize the lessons learned during this several semester long experiment, and its plans for the future.