Creating A Computer-Enhanced Geology Learning Environment

Founded as a teacher's college in 1897, SDSU continues to train teachers, and also offers bachelor's degrees in 76 areas, master's degrees in 59 and doctoral degrees granted jointly with cooperating institutions in 13 areas. Approximately 30,000 students attend SDSU. Fifty-five percent were female with an average undergraduate age of 24 and an average graduate age of 32. Two percent were foreign students and 84% transferred from a community college. Ethnically, the population is approximately 46% white, 19% Chicano or other Hispanic, 5% African American, with the rest Asian (12% declined providing data on ethnicity). (To find out more about SDSU and its instructors, see Resource A. Institutional Context.)

The name of the course that we feature in this case study is Collaborative Visualization. Other graduate classes taught in a similar fashion at SDSU are Extensional Tectonics, Compressional Tectonics, and Earth Systems Science. Undergraduate class is Photogeology and Remote Sensing.

Dramatis Personae
Throughout the LT² case studies, we refer to the creators of new learning environments as bricoleurs.^a It's a French term that roughly means "handyman." We use it to describe a person who is adept at finding (sometimes disparate) resources that can be used to achieve this person's goals, particularly as they pertain to creating learning environments that encourage student participation and interaction. In this case study, the bricoleurs are Jeanette Mowery, Lisa Seidman, and Becky Pearlman.

Dr. Eric Frost is a Professor of Geological Sciences who teaches geology and visualization at San Diego State University (SDSU). He is very actively involved in using technology as a tool to solve real-world problems, both for his own and his students' work. He is
• Director of CARRE (Central Asia Research and Remediation Exchange),
• Director of the Visualization Laboratory, a laboratory primarily designed for teaching and research using visualization in the areas of tectonics, fluid flow modeling, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, seismology, seismic reflection processing, and environmental geology and,
• Co-founder of CIVAC (Computer Imaging, Visualization, and Animation Center).


Dr. Kris Stewart has been a Professor of Math and Computer Sciences at SDSU since 1987. Since 1986 she has been involved with the educational uses of supercomputing. In 1992 she founded the NSF-funded program STEP (Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program) to introduce computational science and high performance computing and communications (HPCC) to high school teachers in the San Diego county area. Kris later received a medal of recognition from the Smithsonian Institution for the STEP program. In 1994 she had received the Department of Energy Undergraduate Computational Science Award. In fall 1997 she became the founder and Director of the Education Center for Computational Science & Engineering on behalf of the California State University (CSU) system.


Dr. Yusuf Ozturk is an SDSU Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His course offerings have included: computer organization, computer networks, how to build communication systems, signals and systems, probability and statistics, and engineering problem solving. His research is focused on neural networks, communications, and image processing. Yosuf has extensive experience creating and using technology in education, both via customized hardware and use of software. For example, Yosuf has developed computerized blackboards for instruction and collaboration.


Shane DeGross was a third semester graduate student in geology at the time of our site visit. He had taken three courses offered by Eric Frost: Extensional Tectonics, Compressional Tectonics, and Collaborative Visualization. The collaborative visualization class involved Shane in thinking about, and experimenting with, the physical setup of highly technological environments for sharing of geological information. Shane is now a geology instructor at Grossmont Community College and San Diego State University.


Dr. Gary Girty Department Chair of Geological Sciences, a department consisting of 20 senior track faculty and research scientists. A professor at SDSU for 20 years, Gary also has served as the coordinator of Geology 101, Dynamics of the Earth, and has supervised over 50 Master's Thesis students.

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a. 'Bricoleur' is a French term meaning, roughly, 'handyman.' A bricoleur is adept at finding, or simply recognizing in their environment, resources that can be used to build something they believe is important and then combining these resources in a way that achieves their goals.