Introductory Soil Science Courses at Iowa State University: Putting the Student in Charge of the Learning Process.

“Introductory Soil Science Courses at Iowa State University: Putting the Student in Charge of the Learning Process” The philosophy behind our instruction of soil science, The Student Oriented Individualized Learning of Soil Science (SOILS) at Iowa State University is that student learning is enhanced when they feel in control of their own learning. The course structure and information delivery are therefore made more student-centered rather than teacher centered. We also appreciate that students have different learning styles and we try to manage students by exception by using the hybrid form of instruction. Students are given the opportunity to use the audio visual information placed on the World Wide Web or they have the option of attending recitation sessions. The system also permits us to simultaneously teach multiple courses. This paper will discuss the approaches to the development of course ware, the logistics for daily running of the course and evaluate the effect of student profiles and key ingredients that make them successful in these online courses.