Figure 1. Example Current Weather Product

INTEGRATING REAL-TIME WEATHER INTO AN INTERNET LEARNING ENVIRONMENT:WW2010 CURRENT WEATHER PRODUCTS

Daniel J. Bramer, David P. Wojtowicz, Joel Plutchak, Robert B. Wilhelmson, and Mohan K. RamamurthyDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

1. INTRODUCTION

Many university coursesutilize Internet resources tosupplement lecture material and/orprovide a laboratory setting forlearning outside the classroom, butoften find ‘web-books’ containingonly text with few or no examples.The problem with this – especiallywithin meteorology – is thataccurate, useful, and if possible,real-life examples of weatherphenomena are necessary to bestenhance the educational process.

The implementation ofcurrent weather products into theWeather World 2010 (WW2010 –http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/)web server (example product inFigure 1) offers such real-lifeexamples of educational materialin the atmospheric sciences.Furthermore, WW2010 places thisuseful reference information oneclick away from each weather product. Thiscreates a unique interrelationship and provides avisual learning experience to the learner.

2. EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL

WW2010’s educational content includesonline case studies, instructional modulesspanning topics from the hydrologic cycle tosatellites to El Niño, and weather map tutorials.Each of these contain text content supplementedwith examples in the form of movies, diagrams,and photographs – offering instructors andstudents alike an ideal Internet learningenvironment (Bramer, et al. 1998).

2.1 Helper Pages

Each of these instructional modules isself-contained, yet all are cross-linked throughintermediate helper pages. These helper pagesare part of the user-friendly navigation inWW2010. Users can access definitions,illustrations, and examples of meteorologicalkeywords that are found in another part ofWW2010 without getting lost; offering theopportunity to return to the original page if desiredor to continue in the new area of WW2010.

2.2 Advancements in Multimedia Technology

WW2010 developers have made strides tofurther push the envelope of technology within theeducational framework. Streaming videos canexplain atmospheric observations, forces, andprocesses. Advancements have been made increating a web-based virtual-reality learning

* Corresponding author address: Daniel J. Bramer,Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 e-mail: bramer@atmos.uiuc.edu

4.3

environment (VRLE) as a means to furtherenlighten teachers and students by offering 3-Dexplorable environments of atmosphericphenomenon. More details on this subject can befound in two companion papers (Ramamurthy, etal. 1999; Plutchak, et al. 1999).

3. CURRENT WEATHER PRODUCTS

The new current weather productsdeveloped by WW2010 are simple in design yetvery effective. They are meant for anyoneinterested in weather, and are easy to utilize.However, advanced products are also available tothe most avid weather enthusiast.

3.1 User Interface

The current weather products have afront-end interface (example in Figure 2) thatoffers the user various choices in productselection. He or she can choose from varioustypes of weather maps – ranging from surface toupper air; from satellites to forecasts. Also, aseparate list of novice selections is available togive introductory students a smaller and simplerset of choices.

Figure 2. WW2010 Current Weather Interface

3.2 Product Features

Choosing a product from the selection listgenerates the desired map within a new browserwindow. Special buttons have been placed belowthe map to allow user-navigation through time or

create a recent animation. Each subsequentproduct the user requests emerges within a newbrowser window. This allows multiple products tobe displayed simultaneously. Clicking the exitbutton can terminate the product window. Moredetails on the products themselves can be foundin a companion paper (Wojtowicz, et al. 1999).

4. TWO-WAY INTEGRATION

The integration of WW2010 weatherproducts into this environment creates a dynamictwo-way effect where a student can use theavailable educational content as a reference forthe weather products and vice versa.

4.1 Products linked to WW2010 LearningModules

Under each weather product is a helpbutton. This is to be pressed if the learner wants tounderstand more about what he or she isobserving, or what they should be looking for.Clicking on this button launches a new browserwindow with one of WW2010’s helper pages. Anexample helper page is shown in Figure 3. Thecurrent weather map is placed side-by-side withan example map and descriptive text below. Thetext instructs the user about potential features tolook for. The example is described briefly in thetext, and the current image is shown next to it sothe student can see if there are similar features atthe present time. In short, clickable access fromreal-time weather maps to the helper pages allows

Figure 3. Example current weather producthelper page

instructors and students easy access to thedefinitions, explanations, and examples they need.

4.2 Learning Modules Linked to Products

However, even more useful -- and uniqueto WW2010 -- is the ability to provide weatherproducts as real-world examples linked to theinstructional materials. Scattered throughout theWW2010 educational material on relevant pages,there are markers in the navigation menu (Figure4, bottom left). Upon clicking these markers, a newbrowser window opens with the relevant weatherproduct inside. For example, on a page thatdiscusses how infrared satellite images areinterpreted, one click can present the latestinfrared satellite image on the screen.

Figure 4. Example of WW2010 page with currentweather link at bottom left

5. APPLICABILITY TO THE WW2010 CD-ROM

This new technology is still compatiblewith our already existing CD-ROM. Students canaccess the current weather from their CD-ROMover the Internet, and return to the local computerfor information and insight into the weatherproducts. At all times, a user of the CD-ROM willhave the ability to access the instructional pageson these weather products from their local disk.

6. FUTURE WORK

Future plans include building a currentweather example section that will provide simplepages of recent weather in the news – accessible

also from relevant educational pages. This givesstudents the ability to cognitively translatebetween educational topics and current events,such as hurricanes and severe storms.

Future work is also intended to create aninteractive environment where teachers andstudents would be able to customize and createtheir own weather maps. This environment wouldpossess the same ability to link to WW2010educational helper pages that the current weatherproducts have. This highly interactive environmentwill provide the learner with an even more hands-on approach to viewing weather maps.

7. CONCLUSION

The combination of WW2010’s previouslyexisting educational framework and the newcurrent weather products will increase thelearner’s level of understanding in the atmosphericsciences. This integration will be effective inclassroom and laboratory settings within universityintroductory level courses and laboratories, as wellas to others interested in learning more about thescience behind the weather maps.

8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project is funded in part by NSFGrant #RED-9454729, NASA Grant #NCC 5-106and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences atthe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagn.

REFERENCES

Bramer, et al., 1998: The Status and Future ofHybrid Multimedia in Education: The WW2010Experience. Proceedings of the 7th Symposiumon Education. Phoenix, Arizona, AmericanMeteorological Society.

Plutchak, et al., 1999: Advanced Multimedia forEducation on the Internet. Proceedings of the15th IIPS Symposium. Dallas, Texas, AmericanMeteorological Society.

Ramamurthy, et al., 1999: A Virtual RealityLearning Environment. Proceedings of the 8th

Symposium on Education. Dallas, Texas,American Meteorological Society.

Wojtowicz, et al., 1999: A New Generation of WebBased Weather Products for Education andForecasting Proceedings of the 15th IIPSSymposium. Dallas, Texas, AmericanMeteorological Society.