The institute is a community of faculty, staff and students in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences that works together to improve the quality and accessibility of earth and mineral science education through the imaginative use of networked computing. The institute's two-pronged mission aims to help instructors use the Internet to foster active learning and information literacy and to support the development of Internet-based courses and programs designed specifically for lifelong learners.
"The e-Education Institute really energized the College," dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. "It was established it as an entity in the College. He realized the institute had the potential to do everything from reach a global audience to enable the advances of information sciences no matter where they are delivered."
Since the institute's inception in 2000, the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has developed award-winning online courses and has seen student Web space usage rise to nearly 50 percent.
"Now future employers, instead of just reading a resume, can watch our students deliver a weather forecast online.
By 2005, the institute aims to accomplish and create the following: online portfolios for undergraduates in the College; a tutorial to help students create online portfolios; faculty seminars that explore basic and applied research in learning theory and instructional design; an annual e-Education fellowship designed for faculty members committed to education through inter-networked computing; "e-Edified" general education courses that foster active learning and authentic assessment in large-enrollment classes; new distance education programs; decentralization and diffusion of instructional design expertise; research opportunities for graduate students interested in instructional design and development; and leadership in e-Education through its services, products, consultations and professional publications.
