S186 31 Jan 2008 12:12 am
S186 First Impressions
S186 – Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis – is my latest foray into the Science Short Course collection. The course author is David Rothery – he was also responsible for S196 Planets: An Introduction, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I have high hopes for this one. The subject’s a little off what I’d normally be interested in, but the OU are dangling the Certificate in Contemporary Science over my head. What can I say – I’m a sucker.
The main component of this one is another of Rothery’s books, Teach Yourself Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis (Get it here…
There’s also a hefty course book with additional materials and activities, and a DVD-ROM with a selection of video clips to back up the other materials. There actually seems to be quite a bit to the course – if you took the time to watch all the videos, you’d be doing terrible things to the time required to complete the course, I reckon – but the OU seems to have worked hard to give you everything needed to get the points taught by the course across.
So first impressions are good. The ECA result will be the true test of that, though…
on 11 Mar 2008 at 15:37 1.lee said …
I’ve just registered for this course today to start in may when S103 ends I look forward to hear what you think.
Lee
on 11 Mar 2008 at 22:16 2.Bryan Morton said …
Depressingly, I haven’t had the chance to look at it again since I wrote this piece – M359 has gotten horribly in the way. That said, I’ll hopefully have M359-TMA01 out of the way this week, which should give me a chance to get to it.
on 14 Mar 2008 at 18:24 3.lee said …
I know that feeling!!!! good luck.
on 15 Apr 2008 at 16:52 4.Laura said …
I’m going to sign up for this later in the year, just as a fun filler as I’ve already passed S260/SXR260. I just want to learn about tsunami’s!
on 15 Apr 2008 at 21:52 5.Bryan Morton said …
Haven’t got that far yet – still working through the early chapters, which is all plate tectonics and volcanism – but it’s fascinating stuff. Just what short courses should be.