Geography

Introduction to Remote Sensing
GEOG 4435
GEOL 5310 (graduate level)*
Spring 2001
Dr. Michael A. McAdams
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 11:00-11:50 A.M. (lecture)
Wednesday: 1:00-3:50 P.M. (lab)

Administrative:
Office Hours: To Be Announced

Please contact me to set up an appointment if you can not meet with me during my normal office hours.
Phone Number: 593-3588
E-mail: kfmam02@tamuk.edu
Home page: http://www.tamuk.edu/geo/rem00.htm
Blackboard homepage: http://courseinfo.tamuk.edu/courses/GEOG4435/
(This is the quest access for the page. All students should be enrolled in Blackboard and the course. Otherwise, you can not participate fully in the course.)
Required textbook:
Jenson, John R., Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective.2000. (ISBN0-13-48733-1)

Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to:1) give the students a basic knowledge of air photos and digital images; 2)develop basic skills to interpret air photos and digital images; and 3) serve as an adjunct to the GIS courses.

Grading:
Students will be graded according to one take-home examination; an individual project; and lab exercise participation.

Assignment	Number	Points	Total	Percent of Grade
Exam	1	100	100	20%
Lab Exercise Participation	15	10	150	30%
Project	1	250	250	50%
Total			500	100.0%

Use of the Internet
This class uses the internet extensively. All material will be posted on my web page. If you have never used the web, I will schedule small group session during laboratory times. An e-mail address is required for this class. You should provide me an e-mail address by the end of the first week. This can be a TAMUK e-mail account or any other type (i.e. hotmail, yahoo, AOL, CompuServe, Geocities etc.) that is secure. This is one of the best means to communicated with me. It will also be a vehicle to communicate items of interest to the class. Be sure to check your e-mail often

You are also required to subscribe to the ListServ for the class at http://remote1.listbot.com. This should be done in the first week of class. The ListServ will be one of the primary means that I communicate with the class. The class is also encouraged to use the ListServ to communicate with the class (i.e. interesting remote sensing links, problems with software, questions on readings etc.)

For the first time, this course will utilize Blackboard to be the major vehicle for coursework information. All students are required to be enrolled in Blackboard and the course. There are several unique functions of Blackboard that I think will enhance your learning experience. We will discuss these later in class. To login to Blackboard, go to http://courseinfo.tamuk.edu/ If you are a new user, go to left menu and click on the button labeled "Create Account." You will then be led to a menu that will ask you pertinent information. You must answer some of the information, as indicated by asterisks. I would also like to put in your phone number in case we need to contact you. The instructor is the only one that will have access to the phone number. After enrolling in Blackboard., click on this course in the course catalog and then click on the button "Enroll in Course" Remember you username and password.

Examinations:
Examinations will be in the form of take-home examinations. They will posted on my homepage approximately one week prior to the due date. Responses are expected to typed and double spaced and well constructed and organized. You may use outside resources, but they must be properly referenced according to the common reference manual of your profession (i.e. Chicago Manual of Style.)

Individual Projects and Presentations:
All students are required to work on a project. If you desire you can do an individual project or a group project (composed of up to three persons. This will be a modest project and will allow you to apply the remote sensing skills you have acquired to a topic in your area of interest. The elements of this project include:1)an abstract; and 2)development of a simple web page for presentation purposes and a paper in Adobe PDF format to be posted on the web page. This will explained later in the semester and additional instructions added to the web page for this course.

The paper for undergraduate will be ten (10) pages in length double-spaced. The paper for the graduate level class will be twenty (20) pages in length double-spaced. .

Prerequisites:
Rudimentary knowledge of computers including spreadsheets, word processing and Internet experience will be the minimum requirements. It would desirable for the students to have some knowledge of statistics.

Credit:
This course will be worth four (4) undergraduate or three (3) graduate credit hours.

Labs Structure
The lab is scheduled for Wednesday from 1:00 to 3:00. All students are expected to attend lab unless there is a schedule conflict or if the class is being taken remotely. You are expected to complete the schedule lab assignments within the week indicated. During the laboratory hours, I will be available for consultation. At other times, the laboratory is open for students if not scheduled for other classes Monday to Friday from 8:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. All students will be issued a pass for the lab so that they can use it after hours.

All students are expected to acquire a basic knowledge of ArcView Image Analyst and ERDAS. The project will reflect the ability of the student to apply their knowledge of these programs. The graduate students will have accelerated lab assignments so to concentrate more on the use of ERDAS.