National Dissemination of Online Weather Studies: a college-level distance-learning course on the basics of meteorology

The American Meteorological Society, with initial support from the National Science Foundation, developed, pilot-tested and is nationally disseminating a one-semester, introductory college-level online distance-learning course on the fundamentals of atmospheric science. Online Weather Studies is a user-friendly, cost-effective, turnkey course package with electronic and printed components. Online Weather Studies models and promotes scientific inquiry by emphasizing investigations of current weather utilizing learning activities keyed to Internet-delivered near real-time meteorological information. Students negotiate understanding about atmospheric processes by studying weather as it happens. Online Weather Studies is being offered in various formats, from almost totally online asynchronous (often with several on-campus class meetings) to a supplement for a traditional lecture-based course. Survey of faculty who offer the course indicates that Online Weather Studies provides a valuable general education experience for their students, stimulating student interest in science, and building their information-age skills in environmental data analysis and interpretation. The success of Online Weather Studies is spurring a greater effort at national dissemination with renewed emphasis on reaching institutions that serve large minority and/or economically disadvantaged student populations and colleges that enroll significant numbers of preservice teachers.