Online Data Collection

Online data collection is becoming an essential and efficient tool for evaluators, researchers, and other educators. This paper touches on elements of the rather short, but eventful history of online data collection. A brief review of the current literature is presented, followed by a list of pros and cons to be considered when stepping into online surveying. Finally there is a brief look at what makes the online survey run—a database connected to the Internet. For those who would prefer, alternatives to creating or hosting your own online surveys are offered. The paper closes with contemplation toward the future of online data gathering.     

Using Space Imagery in the Science Classroom: Efforts of the CASDE Project

This article describes the ongoing curriculum development efforts of the Consortium for the Application of Space Data in Education (CASDE), which is an evolving consortium of educators, engineers, scientists, and other professionals dedicated to providing the educational community with vast amounts of NASA imagery, tools, and interdisciplinary learning activities, distributed freely over the Internet. The article particularly details the curricular approach taken by CASDE, which involves the concept of curriculum building blocks that contain tools, data, tutorials, curriculum standards, assessments, and a sample lesson or instructional activity. The article also describes the student interactive DataSlate software, developed by engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to help teachers use space imagery conveniently with students in the science classroom. In addition, the article discusses the consortium's approach to providing ongoing training to teachers, and also describes the efforts of the consortium to evaluate some of the educational activities undertaken by participating teachers. Finally, a web-based link to all of the consortium's resources and curriculum activities is provided to the reader for their possible use and reference.