Implementation of Online Weather Studies at Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois

Through the Online Weather Studies Geosciences Diversity/National Dissemination Project, Online Weather Studies will be offered for the first time at Harold Washington College in Spring 2006 in a traditional classroom setting; Blackboard will be used on a supplemental basis.

Harold Washington College is a community college within the City Colleges of Chicago district, serving the downtown Chicago community. Harold Washington College has a diverse student population, with 46% African-Americans, 20% whites, and 19% Hispanics. 45% of the students intended to earn Associate degrees, and over half plan to transfer to a 4-year institution; most students enroll part-time.

With the growing number of students in need of general education courses, Online Weather Studies will be a valuable addition to the Harold Washington College course catalog (and to the City Colleges of Chicago course offerings as a whole) because 1) it meets a natural sciences laboratory general education requirement and 2) the students are interested in the local weather, which is interesting because of Chicago's proximity to Lake Michigan. The course catalog already includes Earth Science, Astronomy, Geology, and Oceanography.

The interest in having a meteorology course at Harold Washington College originated with the invitation to participate in the Online Weather Studies Geosciences Diversity/National Dissemination Project. Dr. Dana Perry, from the Biology and Physical Sciences Department, participated in the Online Weather Studies Workshop in Kansas City in May 2005. Because meteorology has not been offered within the City Colleges of Chicago system, a new course number is needed, a process that involves the submission and review of the course syllabus by several committees before presentation to the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees for approval. This process, which was started in Summer 2005, is still in progress.

A future goal is to offer a completely online version of Online Weather Studies, in addition to the classroom course. As the course is offered in the classroom setting annually, the student interest in the course will be monitored to evaluate the need for an online version. Moreover, course information gradually will be added to the Blackboard site, so that eventually a totally online version can be assembled effortlessly.