Multi-dimensional, multi-national, multi-faceted hydrographic training: the Nippon Foundation GEBCO training program at the University of New Hampshire

Hydrographic training entered a new era when students arrived at the University of New Hampshire in August of 2004 to form the first class of the Nippon Foundation GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) training program. Born out of the need to replenish GEBCO’s aging human material, and of the desire to spread deep ocean mapping capabilities more widely throughout the world, the program attracted applications from 57 students in over thirty countries. The seven selected each had post graduate training and several years experience, but differed in that three were hydrographers, two geologists and two oceanographers. Classes planned for the next two years will bring in a further fourteen students. The UNH program had been selected as the closest match to the general course requirements GEBCO considered that ocean bathymetrists should have. Subjects include all types of depth measurements, oceanography, acoustics, tides, plate tectonics, sea floor morphology, ocean basins, sedimentary processes, hydrothermal-thermal processes, gravity-magnetic relationships to seafloor fabrics, positioning and geodesy, maps and charts, IHO standards, GIS, data bases, gridding, contouring, spatial statistics, and the history of GEBCO and ocean mapping. These are taught at the graduate level as part of the graduate degree program at UNH. In this paper, the experiences that participants from the different backgrounds underwent are recounted with the overall goal of improving the general education required to map the floors of the deep ocean. Recommendations are made regarding the prior preparation of students entering the program, the content and intensity of courses comprising the program, and follow-up actions to solidify the learning experience. Intangibles such as the networking of professional contacts are also evaluated. Extrapolations to training in other areas of hydrography are made

Special Libraries, September 1976

Volume 67, Issue 9https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1976/1007/thumbnail.jp

WSU Course Catalog, 2024

School catalog delineating classes offered, credits, requirements, and other academic information believed to be necessary for incoming students at Washington State University

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach