Astronomy Distance Learning Systems

It is generally acknowledged that in many areas, students are more creative and learn better in collaborative environments. However, there is a difficulty with getting studnets to work together in specific areas in large numbers, as bringing them together is very prohibitive. To encourge students collaboratiton, Cybernet proposes to develop, deploy, and evaluate a virtual reality based modeling kit that will enable students to collaboratively build, co-habit, and present virtual models of the solar system within a web-based inquiry framwork. Cybernet, collaborating with top researchers at the University of Georgia, is uniquiely qualified to develop this system based on their years of experience with virtual reality, distance learning and human-computer interaction. We believe that this instructional approach and base technolgoy will open up an entirely new mode of instruciton that will be extendable to many other mathmatics, science, and technology domains. For the Phase II effort, we will enhance our eduational Phase I contacts, expand the user interface, complete ther terrain system, and implement full testing, evaluation, and enhancement to lead the full pre-prodction prototype of the system.