2009 Institutional Report

Representative

Steven Earle

Programs/Courses

Thompson Rivers University - Open Learning Division offers 2 introductory geology courses, GEOL-120 - Introduction to Earth Science (with a lab), and GEOL-101, a similar course without a lab. GEOL-120 is offered in both a print version and a web-based version. GEOL-101 is offered only in a print version. Both courses are available on a continuous-entry basis; students can start at any time and have 6 months to complete. Total 2007, 2008 and 1 st -quarter 2009 enrolments are listed in the following table.

 Enrolment Trends

Enrolments in 2008 are down slightly from 2007 but up from previous years. If projected linearly from the 1 st quarter data, enrolments for 2009 may be higher than in 2008.

Many of the students taking GEOL-120 are hoping to get into a teacher education program and are in need a lab science, and a significant proportion are TRU-OL Bachelor of Business Administration students who are required to take a science course. Most all of the students in both courses are resident in BC, but approximately 20% are from elsewhere, including other provinces (especially Ontario), but in some cases from outside of the country. It appears that the number of out-of-province students is gradually increasing.

The text for both courses is Physical Geology (Plummer, McGeary and Carlson). Both courses are taught by Steven Earle.