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Book Description
The continued growth in general studies and liberal arts and science programs online has led to a rise in the number of students whose science learning experiences are web-based. However, little is known about what is actually going on in web-based science courses at the level of the disciplines within liberal arts and sciences or the corresponding course design features.

Online Science Learning: Best Practices and Technologies reviews trends and efforts in web-based science instruction and evaluates contemporary philosophies and pedagogies of online science instruction. This title on an emergent and vital area of education clearly demonstrates how to enrich the academic character and quality of web-based science instruction.

About the Author
Kevin F. Downing, PhD is an associate professor at DePaul Universitys college for adult learners, the School for New Learning. His research interests include the investigation of Miocene fossil mammals in the western United States and Pakistan, the character of small mammal diversity and paleoecolgy through volcanic disturbances and global cooling maxima, the record of stratigraphic and paleogeographic change during the Himalayan Orogeny, and the application of 3-D virtual laboratories for geological instruction in distance learning settings. He was one of the three faculty tasked with establishing the Distance Education program for adults at DePaul, is the author of several science course guides for the DE program, and regularly teaches online science courses. Dr. Downing has published widely in paleontology and stratigraphy, and has presented papers on the application of 3D learning objects to online geoscience education. Dr. Downing received BS degrees in Astronomy and Geology from the University of Illinois at Urbana, a Master of Science in Teaching degree in Geology from the University of Florida, and a PhD in Geoscience with emphasis in Paleobiology from the University of Arizona.

Jennifer K. Holtz, PhD is an assistant professor at DePaul Universitys college for adult learners, the School for New Learning. Her areas of interest include the actual act of research and characteristics of researchers, how creativity affects both teaching and learning in the sciences and the implications of brain research to learning. Since joining DePaul University, she has authored multiple distance course guides in the sciences and teaches almost exclusively online, including the mentoring of distance students. Dr. Holtz has published widely in clinical sciences, clinical education, and in distance learning and assessment in the sciences. Her PhD is in Adult and Continuing Education with emphasis in research education, from Kansas State University; her Masters is in Gerontology with clinical emphasis, from Wichita State University, and her Bachelors is in Biology with emphasis in human biology, from Kansas Newman College (now Newman University).