Review by: Reichert, Raimond (2004-06-23)

There are subjects in science education which are fascinating, but for which many schools do not have the necessary resources. One such example is astronomy; most schools do not have the telescopes needed to explore the heavens. This paper describes the evolution of the MicroObservatory Network project since 1995, a network of automated telescopes providing teachers and students remote access via the Web. They access the telescopes through an easy-to-use web site which allows them to point the telescopes, set date and time for picture taking, adjust filters, exposure times and more. Images are archived at the website so that other users can look at them as well. The website also provides a number of challenges that are easy to formulate, but hard to answer. The project is very popular in the U.S.; at least 18,000 students haved used the telescopes during the first three years of the project, and as of 1998, 17,000 images were downloaded per month.

The article describes an interesting, even fascinating example of a remote experiment for educational use. It provides insights of interest for other such projects, even though its focus is on the technical development of the observatory network. The first insight concerns the amount of work the project required: More than 7 person-years of software development, and 2.5 person-years of website development. Other insights are educational. For example, one finding is the importance of students’ “ownership” of their images. This factor overwhelmed all other considerations in the use of the telescopes: the self-described satisfaction that the students could themselves control what they did with the telescopes. Another finding is the importance of having the opportunity to fail; students took pride when they succeeded in taking pictures, because they often failed at first attempts.

Though the article does not once mention elearning per se, the project described covers different aspects of elearning in innovative ways. It provides students with a web-based educational experimentation environment connected to the real world. Students can easily collaborate remotely on picture taking through this web-site; all they need is a browser and an instant messenger or chat tool. For teachers, the project offers workshops via web to introduce them to the MicroObservatory Network; between sessions, they work collaboratively on projects. Overall, this project can serve as best-practice for other educational remote experimentation environments.