Instructor: Melinda Hutson
mhutson@pdx.edu
Description: This on-line course invites students to join in the ongoing exploration of Mars. Themes include the planet's geology, climate, potential for life, and habitability. An exploration timeline, beginning with the first astronomical observations and ending with current space missions, is followed to organize topics for the course. This organizational structure best allows students to capture the flavor of Mars exploration and to appreciate how our thinking about the "Red Planet" has changed dramatically.
Comparison of this course to a typical class: In a non-on-line 4 credit class, students spend four hours per week sitting in a classroom listening to lectures or otherwise engaged in classroom activities. Additionally, students are expected to read material from an accompanying course textbook and do out-of-class work such as homeworks or projects. This out-of-class component can equal between 4 to 8 hours per week for a 4 credit class. So it is not unreasonable for a student taking a 4 credit class to spend 8 to 12 hours per week on an individual class. This is an on-line only class. The "lectures" are delivered in the form of reading material and class discussions. The readings may seem voluminous, but you should remember that they are taking the place of both in-class lectures and out-of-class assigned readings. It is easy to assess participation and attendance in a typical class and to be sure that students are comprehending the course material. It is not as easy to do this in an on-line course. The participation component of this on-line course is designed to evaluate whether or not students are keeping up with the course and understanding the key concepts introduced here.
WebCT: This will be your computer gateway to the course. As this is the first time this course has been taught and your instructor is learning how to use WebCT, you may enounter some minor glitches along the way. You access the course by going to http://psuonline.pdx.edu. In the upper right hand side of the page there is a box entitled "on line course login". You enter the same user name and password that you use to access your ODIN account. This will take you to a page that lists all of your on-line courses. This is also where you can access an on-line help menu. On the right hand side of the page, there is a box that says "Institutional Bookmarks". In this box, there is a link to the help menu entitled "Access WebCT online support for students". To enter the course, you click on the link in the upper left hand side of the page entitled "G399 Exploring Mars". This takes you to a page with all of the course tools. We will probably not use all of the course tools. We will definitely use "Syllabus", "WebCT Mail", "Discussion", "Course Content", "Student Presentations", "Assignments", "Calendar", and "My Grades". Basic course information, and readings will be under "Course Content".
E-mail: Although I have a regular e-mail address, you are required to use the internal e-mail account available for the course (using WebCT). You should only use my regular e-mail if there is a problem with the WebCT e-mail account.
Grades: Grades will be assigned
based on scores as follows: 93% or above = A, 90-92.99% = A-, 87-89.99%
= B+, 83-86.99% = B, 80-82.99% = B-, 77-79.99% = C+, 73-76.99% = C, 70-72.99%
= C-, 67-69.99% = D+, 63-66.99% = D, 60-62.99% = D-, less than 60% = F.
Grades will be determined from performances
on:
Assignments/homework:
60%
Class participation:
10%
Group project: 30%
Assignments/homework: There will be assignments associated with each topic covered in this course. These will vary greatly depending on the topic and may include "lab-type" exercises; discussions using the discussion board feature; debates; on-line quizzes. Assignments will be posted with a due date. Assignments are due on the due date. No late assignments will be accepted for any reason.
Class participation: The class particpation points will be assigned based on the QUALITY of your participation in the various aspects of the class. For example, suppose you are asked to discuss whether or not you feel that a particular experiment on the Viking lander was useful in determining whether or not there is any life on Mars. If you simply say "The lander experiment wasn't useful", then you would get points for doing the assignment, but you would not get participation points. To get the participation points, you would need to actually DISCUSS what the experiment involves and WHY you think it wasn't useful. This is a fairly subjective part of the course, as I have to decide whether or not your participation deserves full or partial credit.
Group project: There will be a number of topics that students will explore in groups, creating a presentation that goes on-line in the student presentation area. The last week of the class will be used as time to allow everyone in the class to look over all of the projects and post critiques of the projects on the discussion board. Projects must be completed before the last week of class. Late projects will lose 50% of their possible credit.
Tentative Course Outline:
| Week 1 | Astronomical observations; historical perspectives; preconceptions about Mars and the possibility of life on Mars. |
| Week 2 | Finish astronomical observations and historical
perspectives
Mariner 4 (and briefly Mariners 6 and 7); impact craters |
| Week 3 | Mariner 4 (and briefly Mariners 6 and 7); relative and absolute ages |
| Week 4 | Mariner 9; geologic activity on a planet; sources of internal heat; volcanism |
| Week 5 | Mariner 9; structural geology; fractures; faults; stream processes |
| Week 6 | Viking 1 and 2; the search for life on Mars |
| Week 7 | Martian meteorites; igneous rocks; ALH84001 |
| Week 8 | Mars Global Surveyor; Mars Odyssey; Mars Express; sedimentary processes, subsurface ice/water, changing climate |
| Week 9 | Pathfinder; Spirit and Opportunity; chemical and mechanical weathering; sedimentary rocks |
| Week 10 | Student Presentations |