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CE becomes ec, or continuing education for 21st century geoscientists

Consultant, Sugar Land, Texas, U.S.

James Disiena

Unocal Corp., Houston, Texas, U.S.

Steve Henry

GeoLearn, Houston, Texas, U.S.

Joseph Mills

Seismotech Geophysical and Houston Community College, League City, Texas, U.S.

Corresponding author: rodcotton@aol.com

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Geoscientists of the 21st century must continue to learn throughout their careers to maintain a contemporary understanding of their discipline and their role in the ever-changing E&P market. To satisfy this requirement, we envision continuing education built around distance learning made possible by low-cost multimedia PCs and high-speed Internet connections.

"By the time they are 30, most scientists are trapped in their own expertise."

—Francis Crick

So let's transform the traditional CE, for Continuing Education, to ec for electronic communication (and also to mean "everyone contributes"—writers, presenters, instructors, professors, service providers, and learners themselves).

In 1900, a bachelor's degree in an established discipline meant employment until retirement without significantly adding further knowledge. Today, knowledge expands so rapidly that a college degree's half-life is a few years. Consequently, as Peter Senge noted in The Fifth Discipline, companies and institutions must reinvent themselves as learning organizations.

	CE and the geoscientist

 
Over the last 20 years, computers have driven a continuous evolution on how geoscientists approach data and the whole subject of interpretation. Moreover, the new data-rich, low-risk E&P environment forces us to access large amounts of diverse information, apply novel processes, and assemble integrated pictures of the subsurface. To meet these demands, the CE needs of geoscientists range from basic instruction to advanced topics in several disciplines.

This relates to basic-training the work force, adapting it to evolving practices, and retooling the highly skilled geoscientist when he or she moves between assignments, provinces, and companies.

	Media

 
Available media for CE include conventional classroom instruction, correspondence courses, and interactive computer-based training (CBT). In all methods, hands-on exercises and "practice" of techniques are critical to learning. Also, evaluation of comprehension is important. Digital and Web-based versions of these methods are developing in the "e" world, occasionally with unique solutions.

Classroom instruction remains an efficient means of knowledge transfer, . . . [Full Text of this Article]