The lesson I am planning to teach will be titled, “Aerial Photography and Flight Planning,” as part of the Geomatics Program’s SUR4350C Advanced Photogrammetry course [1]. It is normally offered during the Fall semester by Dr. Bon Dewitt. Some objectives of my lesson will be for students in the class to be able to:
• Identify some basic regulations for a flight under visual flight rules (VFR)
• Interpret aeronautical charts, including different types of airspace
• List required equipment
• Analyze forecast weather according to VFR weather minimums
• Identify the difference between pilotage and dead reckoning
• Create a final flight plan that will comply with VFR regulations, including the use of navigation systems as backup [2].
Computer and web-based learning would be a great method by which to teach this lesson. Students would be able to utilize a graphic interface that would contain the material being taught along with photos or videos. I would also mix in multiple-choice questions, as I have found this to be especially useful in the past. Teleconferencing would be a good way to teach this as students would be able to ask questions as they arose in real time. There would need to be some pictures and text of the material on both ends to accompany the teleconference in order for it to be most effective. Radio/television would be excellent for teaching to a very large audience, and I am actually surprised other educational topics and subjects are largely left out of radio/television media. Presenting the material through either outlet will best be accompanied by a "call-in" feature, where students can call a telephone number if they have any questions. Audio/video recordings are actually my preferred technology as a student when in the distance education environment. Watching a taped lecture seems to be the method that most closely simulates attending a live lecture, with the exception of being able to interact with each other. Questions from students would most likely need to be addressed by e-mail or telephone. Print is obviously one of the most reliable technologies, and I plan on passing out handouts for my lesson so that the students can follow along.
Narrowing down the technologies I will use, I should note that the students will learn at a local center. For the most part, budgets are in place, and the technologies have already been paid for or are currently being paid for. Students and teachers will be able to interact live through the videoconferencing system known as Polycom. A powerpoint presentation will be e-mailed to students before the lecture in case they wish to follow along live. Additionally, Polycom has the ability to transfer content from the computer that is connected, but videos will not display fluidly. The technology is already in place, so no changes in organization will be required. Polycom is very trendy and other departments will want to incorporate it into their programs, but recent budget cuts will probably delay this from happening. Material can be updated fairly quickly using this technology, and new courses can be produced at about the same rate as traditional courses [3].
The audio/video conference component of my design is familiar to all students in the Geomatics Program. Roughly 80% of the courses are now offered through Polycom, and that number is close to 100% when looking at just the undergraduate program. There is good structure, participation, and feedback present through this technology. Students and teachers both like this form of distance education.
As the instructor, I will make e-mail and telephone interactions available to the students. I hope that my lesson will be interesting enough that a large number (90-100%) of the students interact with questions and ideas about aerial photography and flight planning as it relates to Photogrammetry.
References
1. http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/geomatics/geomatics_courses.htm
2. CFR Title 14 Volume 2 Chapter I Parts 61, 71, and 91.
3. Moore, Michael and Kearsley, Greg. Distance Education: A Systems View.