• Materials for This Class
• Outcomes for Week #1
• Tasks for Week #1
• Making Timely and Substantial Contributions to Discussion Threads
• Assigned Discussion Threads for Week 1

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Welcome to the first week in Pacific Northwest Geology online. The goals for this first week are to get used to working in the online classroom, discuss geology with each other, and start learning the geology of the Northwest.

Material and Computer Requirements

Lab Kit: The Pacific Northwest Geology Rocks lab kit is required for this course. You must purchase the rock kit from from Wenatchee College Bookstore in Wenatchee, 1300 Fifth Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801, (509) 664-2592. It may take 5-10 days to deliver, so order now!

Textbook: The necessary text is provided in the form of Web pages online. No textbook is required for this course. You may choose to purchase the following optional book: Northwest Exposures: A Geologic Story of the Northwest, by David Alt and Donald Hyndman, Mountain Press, Missoula, Montana, ISBN 0-87842-323-0, paperback. The book can be ordered from Specialty Books. Enter the course number, 4101, on that Web page. However, Specialty Books may take 7-14 days to deliver. To receive the book more quickly, purchase from a local bookstore or from a speedier online bookstore of your choice, or from Wenatchee College Bookstore in Wenatchee, 1300 Fifth Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801, (509) 664-2592.

Outcomes for Week #1

Now let us take a look at what is happening this week. At the end of the first week, you should be able to:

• find the instructions and course content you need to perform the assigned tasks
• post your own discussion items and email to the appropriate places in the online classroom
• show where the major landscape regions of the Pacific Northwest are located on a map of the Northwest
• describe the physical characteristics of the landscape regions, such as the presence of mountain ranges, plateaus, and major rivers
• describe how landscapes and landforms relate to the geologic history of the regions in which they occur
• define relative and absolute geologic time
• describe how relative and absolute geologic time are determined
• look up information on a geologic timescale

Tasks for Week #1

• Read the course syllabus
• Post your Mini-Bio in the Discussion folder, and read the Mini-Bios from the other students
• Read Lecture #1 and the course content Web pages to which it is linked
• Make timely and substantial contributions to the assigned discussion threads (see below)
• Complete Lab Assignment #1. This week send Lab Assignment 1 on time in two forms:
1. Answers to part I in the form of printed maps you have labeled, mailed to the instructor at:
   Ralph Dawes PNW
   Wenatchee Valley College
   1300 Fifth Street
   Wenatchee, WA 98801
2. Answers to parts II and III in the Lab Assignment 1 Answers form on your online classroom. Follow the instructions on the answer form carefully.
3. The lab, like everything else, is on the weekly schedule. It is due (or mailed materials must be postmarked by) Wednesday, the last day of the online week.
• Take the weekly quiz online.
• Write your weekly summary on the last day of the week and post it to the classroom by the end of that day (see below).

Making Timely and Substantial Contributions to Discussion Threads

Each week you are assigned one (or several) discussion threads. You are expected, at minimum, to submit a comment of your own, and at least one response to another student's comment, as your contribution to that thread. You are also expected to provide substance to at least one of your postings. Substance means such things as descriptions of real geological examples that you have encountered, or references (with your own comments) to things you have read about, or references (with your own comments) to other Web pages that are relevant to the discussion thread.

You are also welcome to, and encouraged to, start your own discussion threads and respond to other students' discussion threads. The minimum requirement is to take part in the discussion threads that are assigned at the beginning of each week, in the agenda.

Assigned Discussion Threads for Week 1

Here is a listing of the first week's assigned discussion threads (there are two of them).

1. Describe the most dynamic encounter with a geologic activity that you have had. Examples may include experiencing a strong earthquake, climbing a volcano, witnessing a volcanic eruption, driving high up into an amazing mountain range, rafting down a deep canyon with all sorts of rocks in the canyon walls, witnessing a major river in flood, witnessing a landslide, helping somebody dig out their basement of yard from a mudflow, and so on.
2. State which landscape region you live in, and describe some of the geology that you have seen in your landscape region (you don't have to get technical in your description).

Your Weekly Summary

Your weekly summary is important. It is to be completed on the last day of the online week. It is to be sent to the Weekly Summary discussion thread. (I may change that procedure in the future. If so, I will let you know.)

Writing a summary helps you solidify in your mind what you learned that week. A high-quality summary clearly describes the main ideas you learned, with some specific examples. Demonstrate what you have learned and discuss your experience in learning it, in your own words.

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