Tips for prospective enrollees

It may be helpful to you in making your enrollment decisions to know the following about GEO 324-V.

• GEO 324 is a technical course designed to teach the basic knowledge and skills expected of entry level employees by the various mapping, planning, and natural resource agencies that make extensive use of remotely sensed aircraft or satellite images. Also, we must be sure that enrollees who go on to take GEO 424 and other advanced remote sensing courses have this basic knowledge and the requisite skills. Therefore, the course covers a substantial amount of material and includes fairly rigorous testing of both technical knowledge and image interpretation skills.
• The technical essentials are summarized and explained in the online lessons and then used in actual image interpretation (online lab) exercises. Knowledge of the lesson material is tested by lesson portion of the three exams. Individual image interpretation and problem solving skills are tested by the exercise portion of the three exams. The third exam, even though it is not cumulative, will be administered during the University-designated final exam period.
• The rate at which material is covered and the manner in which skills are progressively built up means that regular "attendance/participation" in lessons and labs is essential to achieve a passing grade. Most prospective enrollees should, therefore, avoid taking this course during semesters when they have exceptionally heavy loads, other lab courses, or class or work schedules that prevent full participation in all the lessons and exercises.
• The online lab-exercises and lab-portions of exams use a problem solving approach. Enrollees are required to give typed answers (and calculations) to questions based on their interpretation of image features. Students who do not enjoy making careful observations, weighing evidence, and then deducing logical answers sometimes find this process too demanding.
• The course includes the use of elementary mathematics to calculate scale, distances, areas, heights, etc. Students who have difficulty with high school-level mathematics should enroll in this course only after taking any required college math courses and during a term when they can spend a little extra time "brushing up" on their basic math skills.