Monday, 7/14

TOPIC:
Practice with online chat protocol (transcript not copied).

Tuesday, 7/15
GUEST:  Phil Sadler, Principal Investigator of MicroObservatory
TOPIC:	Participant Introductions (tell about yourself how you 
hope to use MicroObservatory with your students).

Wednesday, 7/16
TOPIC 1:  
Image Processing--Why does an image come out black; other 
problems with taking images.
TOPIC 2 :
(begins at end of meeting, continued on Thursday):
How is using MicroObservatory different from downloading 
images from a pre-existing database or archive?  How is it 
more effective educationally?

Thursday, 7/17
TOPIC (continued from end of Wednesday):  
1)  How is using MO different from downloading images 
from a database or archive.
2)   Image Processing

Friday, 7/18
TOPIC:
	1) Something you  learned this week;
	2) the topic on which you've decided to construct an
educational activity and with whom; and
	3) what you think of the structure of the workshop.	

Monday, 7/21
TOPIC:
1) What curriculum are you or your colleagues now using?
2)  What textbook?
3)  How might MicroObservatory fit in to your current 
curriculum?  If you are already use MicroObservatory, 
please tell us how.


Tuesday, 7/22
TOPIC:  
Steve Leiker online to answer questions about:
	-	Image Processing
	- Telescopes


Wednesday, 7/23
TOPIC:
Please describe how you expect the collaborative process 
to take place.  Will your students work in	teams within 
your classroom; in teams among more than 1 classroom
 in your school; with students at other schools; 
individually; or in some other format?
What are the advantages/drawbacks of collaboration in 
a computer-based environment?

Thursday, 7/24
TOPIC:
Rob Ochs and Linda French discuss their  
MicroObservatory Project in progress, 
"Observing Jupiter and its Moons."

Friday, 7/25
TOPIC:
Evaluation:
How will you assess student learning during and following 
MicroObservatory instruction?  For example, will students 
receive a "grade" for their projects; will their MO grade be a 
part of their course grade?  If graded, what would be the 
criteria for an ideal project--eg, good images, concise explanations, 
thorough lab reports, other?  What other assessment issues might 
MO projects raise?

MONDAY, 7/28
TOPIC:
 "Teaching Physics On-Line."
Why do you think the online format (versus face-to-face) 
might require more independence and responsibility on 
the part of the student?
What effect will the online format have on 
students' writing skills?
What are the advantages of having your students engage in 
'live' online conversations with other students, and what 
about with other teachers?  
What have been the advantages/disadvantages of this 
format for during this you workshop?

TUESDAY, 7/29
TOPIC:
Bruce Mellin ( MA) and Larry Weatherwax (AK) will discuss the 
MO activity they are currently developing for use in their classrooms 
(a series of labs on observing Apollo asteroids).


Wednesday, 7/30
TOPIC:  
We are considering ways to assess students' abilities pre 
and post using the telescopes.  For example, we could ask 
a single question (such as a multiple choice question) each 
time the user requests an image.  How would students respond to
this:  Would their answers be an adequate representation 
of their understanding?  Would the questions motivate their curiosity?  
Would it inspire group collaboration?  Or perhaps competition?  
Would either of these be advantageous or detrimental to learning?   
Might the questions deter users from requesting images?  
Might they distract students from the task at hand?  
What are your thoughts?

Thursday, 7/31
TOPIC:  
We will return today to a discussion on images.  
Now that you've been experimenting 	
for a while, what new issues or problems (technical or otherwise) 
have arisen?  For  example, what should you expect particular 
images to look like?  Have you discovered which settings 
work best for the images you're planning to take, in terms of focus and 
filters?  What else can you share (or ask about) to help you 
improve the quality of your images?

Friday, 8/1
TOPIC:  
For today's session we would like to get an idea of 
1)  where everyone stands with regard to their MO projects:  
Give an overview of the project/s you described in your 
questionnaire, for others to hear:  The subject area of the project, 
the learning goals, the person/people with whom you are working, 
your progress on the project thus far, 
and your plans for implementing the project in class; 
2) your thoughts about the workshop:  
What was it like to learn the skills needed for using 
MO without the benefit of in-person interaction with an instructor; 
how did the online conversations help /hinder your progress; 
what might be the next step in carrying forward the things you 
learned in these last 3 weeks?