Virtual Reality

At least a couple of my fellow bloggers, Jesse Stommel and Carol Parenteau, have mentioned how much technology is affecting their teaching. I agree. I am now using tools that were inconceivable a few years ago. For example, I always wanted an observatory for my online students. That is a bit of a trick, since they live all over the state, there would be problems getting them all to the place at a the correct times, etc. The logistics are impossible. Some sort of a virtual observatory is an obvious solution.

There are real virtual observatories (pardon the confusing terminology). That is, there are observatories where you can log on at night, operate a telescope remotely, take images and download them. These are a real hoot! But there is a significant learning curve with operating them. The activities are done at night, the time must be reserved in advance and bad weather means you are out of luck. There is a financial cost and it is nonrefundable. This is exactly the way professional astronomers work.

I have not figured out how to make all of that into an effective online teaching tool. I have great difficulties getting all of my students to log on to the publisher’s webpage so they can read their e-books. Trying to manage them onto another site would be a nightmare. These logistical hurdles are daunting.

Google to the rescue!

If you have not yet tried it, you should visit Google Earth. Download the software and you can have a great time exploring the planet from a distance or staring at your backyard from space.
http://earth.google.com/

The fine folks at Google have placed a button on Google Earth that reverses the view, so you are now looking up at the sky. See the little icon for a planet at the top of the picture? You can zoom to any constellation and any astronomical object. You can even land on the virtual moon and walk around where the astronauts have landed. This is free and available anytime. The students have access to NASA’s finest images. The night sky is theirs!

My part of the solution was to write an exercise for my students. This evolved into a Virtual Lab and it is a pretty good simulation of a real astronomer’s laboratory experience. Most students enjoy the activity and I think the learning is great. I secretly hope they spend a lot of extra time exploring space after they complete the Lab activity. But, the main thing is that they are learning about Astronomy from their living room. They operate a virtual telescope in much the same way a professional would operate a real one.

Here is an excerpt from a simulated student submission as an example:

#8
Below is a picture of the Owl nebula (M97), located in the constellation Ursa Major. This is an exploded star.

#9
Below is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, thought to be a near twin of our own Milky Way.

More new technologies are on the way. I cannot wait what to see them!